Protecting Your Brand in China
What the First-to-File Patent Change Means (And What IP Strategists Should Do About It)
The Corporate Law Report: First-to-File Patents, Hiring for Cultural Fit, Roth Conversions Post-Fiscal Cliff, and Global Corporate Insights
One of the wonderful (as in, it makes one wonder) and frustrating (which needs no explanation) aspects of patent law is that just when you think a question is settled it either isn't or the conventional interpretation is...more
Four subjects stood out in patent litigation in Texas in April 2023: (1) applicability of the customer-suit exception to the first-to-file rule; (2) the level of ties a reasonable royalty methodology must have to the facts of...more
Expiration of a Patent Does Not Always Trigger Application of Phillips Standard on IPR Appeal - In Immunex Corporation v. Sanofi-Aventis U.S. LLC, Appeal No. 19-1749, the Federal Circuit held that expiration of a patent...more
In what seems to be a pattern, the week before argument week was again light on output at the Federal Circuit. The Court issued just two opinions and two dispositive orders. Below we provide our usual weekly statistics and...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court’s decision to dismiss a first-filed declaratory judgment complaint, finding that equitable considerations warranted departure from the first-to-file...more
PATENT CASE OF THE WEEK - Communication Test Design, Inc. v. Contec, LLC, Appeal No. 2019-1672 (Fed. Cir. March 13, 2020) - This week’s Case of the Week explores two important procedural issues: a court’s discretion to...more
Chief Judge Rodney Gilstrap of the Eastern District of Texas issued a decision addressing motions to stay a patent infringement case under the “customer-suit exception” to the general first-to-file rule. Judge Gilstrap...more
Today’s patent practice is rapidly transforming. The practice is undergoing sea changes in patent eligibility, enforcement strategies, and damages. Now more than ever, innovative companies need to adopt best practices to...more
Post-Grant Review Proceeding Filings Ramp Up In addition to inter partes review (IPR) and covered business method (CBM) review proceedings, the America Invents Act (AIA) provides for post-grant review (PGR) proceedings. PGR...more
To date, activity in the PGR (post-grant review) field is insignificant compared to activity in the IPR (inter partes review) or CBM (covered business method review) fields. For example, while there have been 3,953 petitions...more
A recent decision by the PTAB, Inguran v. Premium Genetics, demonstrates that a Petitioner may subject an apparent “pre-AIA” patent, having at least one priority date before and at least one priority date after March 16,...more
The America Invents Act (AIA) came into law back in September 2011, but it was not until last March that its provisions were completely phased in. The changes last year included not only the switch from a “first-to-invent” to...more
Over the last few years, companies have increasingly recognized the value of design patents, which are directed to the ornamental (non-functional) appearance of a product....more
In September 2011, the America Invents Act (AIA) reformed the United States patent statutes. One of the most significant reforms is the change from a "first-to-invent" system to a "first-inventor-to-file" system for new...more
President Obama signed into law H.R. 6621 on January 14, 2013, enacting a number of technical corrections to the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act and title 35, United States Code. In addition to correcting a number of...more
On January 1, 2013 — immediately after passing the fiscal crisis bill — the House of Representatives agreed by voice vote (at 11:13 PM) to approve the Senate's Amendments to H.R. 6621. A controversial provision that would...more
September 16, 2012 marked the second wave of implementations of the America Invents Act. The first wave of implementations took place a year ago, September 16, 2011, and included changes to false marking, fees,...more