On April 3, 2024, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a notice of rulemaking setting out the fees that it proposes for the fiscal year starting on September 29, 2024. Although the proposed fees are...more
17 USC 102(a) provides copyright protection for original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated,...more
Hitherto, if cancellation or invalidation proceedings were brought against the United Kingdom designation of an International design or trademark where no representative had been appointed in the United Kingdom, the owner...more
3/16/2023
/ Design Patent ,
EU ,
European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) ,
Hague Agreement ,
Intellectual Property Litigation ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
International Design Application (IDA) ,
International Trade Commission (ITC) ,
Trademark Cancellation ,
Trademark Invalidity ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademarks ,
UK ,
WIPO
On February 17, 2023 Germany has deposited its instrument of ratification of the Unified Patent Agreement making it definite that the agreement will come into effect on June 1, 2023 and that the sunrise period will commence...more
The Administrative Council of the new European Unified Patent Court stated that the target date for the EU Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court to come into effect will be on April 1, 2023. However, there is still a...more
In 1973, in response to concerns about the costs of securing patent protection in Europe, the European Patent Convention was signed to set up a common patent office to examine patent applications for any European country that...more
A number of countries have now issued decisions on whether a patent can be granted to Dr. Stephen Thaler for an invention made by a machine named DABUS.
In response to a request by the United Kingdom Intellectual...more
On July 31, 2020, in American Axle v. Neapco, the Federal Circuit split 6-6 on the question of whether to grant en banc review of a panel decision on patent eligibility seen by many as an unwarranted extension of the...more
2/5/2021
/ Appeals ,
En Banc Review ,
EU ,
Patent Invalidity ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent Ownership ,
Patent-Eligible Subject Matter ,
Patents ,
SCOTUS ,
United States ,
USPTO
On August 26, 2020, the United Kingdom Supreme Court handed down its unanimous combined decision in the cases of Unwired Planet v. Huawei and Huawei v. Conversant. Both cases involved questions of:
1. Whether the...more
1/18/2021
/ China ,
EU ,
FRAND ,
Germany ,
Huawei ,
Infringement ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
IP License ,
Litigation Strategies ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
SCOTUS ,
Small Employer Plans (SEPs) ,
UK
The question of whether the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals has any right to examine a decision of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) to institute inter partes review or post...more
11/24/2020
/ § 314(d) ,
§ 315(b) ,
§314(a) ,
§314(b) ,
America Invents Act ,
Appeals ,
Cuozzo Speed Technologies v Lee ,
Dissenting Opinions ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
Judicial Review ,
Non-Appealable Decisions ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patent Validity ,
Patents ,
SCOTUS ,
Thryv Inc v Click-To-Call Technologies LP ,
Time-Barred Claims ,
Vacated
On August 11, 2020, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a decision of Judge Koh sitting in the Northern District of California that certain of Qualcomm’s business practices relating to its standards essential patents...more
10/5/2020
/ Anticompetitive Behavior ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Competition ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FRAND ,
IP License ,
Patent Royalties ,
Patents ,
Qualcomm ,
Sherman Act ,
Standard Essential Patents
Is there a patent crisis? It depends on whom you ask. Neither Europe nor China seem to see more than relatively minor difficulties in particular areas, although there are some issues looming in patent-heavy sectors such as...more
The eagerly anticipated decision of the European Court of Justice in the case of Sky v. SkyKick [Case C 371/18] was delivered on January 29, 2020.
...more
On June 20, 2019, the United States Supreme Court held that government entities could not be considered “persons” entitled to challenge patents owned by others before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB)....more
9/23/2019
/ Administrative Agencies ,
America Invents Act ,
Covered Business Method Patents ,
Government Entities ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
IP License ,
Mail ,
Patent Ownership ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patent Validity ,
Patents ,
Post-Grant Review ,
Return Mail Inc v United States Postal Service ,
SCOTUS ,
USPS
The fight between insurers and car manufacturers as to whether and, if so how, to protect the design of spare parts for cars delayed the implementation of an EU regulation on design protection for well over a decade and ended...more
9/23/2019
/ Audi ,
Auto Repair Regulations ,
Automotive Industry ,
Design Patent ,
EU ,
Ford Motor ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
International Trade Commission (ITC) ,
Motor Vehicles ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patents ,
Popular ,
Porsche ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Trademarks
On July 20, 2018 in Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe, Allergan, Inc. v. Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc., a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Dyk, Moore and Reyna JJ) held that Native American (“Indian”) Tribes do...more
7/16/2019
/ Allergan Inc ,
America Invents Act ,
Appeals ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
Motion to Withdraw ,
Mylan Pharmaceuticals ,
Native American Issues ,
Patent Ownership ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Sovereign Immunity ,
Tribal Governments ,
USPTO
In Helsinn Healthcare S.A. v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc, the United States Supreme Court held that a prior public sale of a patented product could destroy the novelty of a patent for that product even though there was no...more
1/30/2019
/ America Invents Act ,
Appeals ,
Assignment of Inventions ,
Confidentiality Agreements ,
Helsinn Healthcare SA v Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc ,
Inventions ,
On-Sale Bar ,
Patent Applications ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patents ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Pharmaceutical Patents ,
Public Use ,
Reaffirmation ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Section 102 ,
Third-Party Relationships
On July 20 in Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe, Allergan, Inc. v. Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc., a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Dyk, Moore and Reyna JJ) held that Native American (“Indian”) Tribes do not...more
7/27/2018
/ Allergan Inc ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
Mylan Pharmaceuticals ,
Native American Issues ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Pharmaceutical Patents ,
Sovereign Immunity ,
Tribal Governments ,
USPTO
On June 22, 2018 in WesternGeco LLC v. Ion Geophysical Corporation, the Supreme Court held in a 7 – 2 decision written by Thomas J with Gorsuch and Breyer JJ dissenting that the loss of foreign profits resulting from the...more
6/28/2018
/ 35 U.S.C. § 271(f)(2) ,
35 U.S.C. § 284 ,
Appeals ,
Damages ,
Domestic Injury ,
Extraterritoriality Rules ,
Foreign Sales ,
Lost Profits ,
Patent Act ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patents ,
Remand ,
SCOTUS ,
Vacated ,
WesternGeco LLC v Ion Geophysical Corporation
2017 saw a bumper crop of Supreme Court decisions on intellectual property matters around the world including eight by the United States Supreme Court, two by the Canadian Supreme Court, and two by the United Kingdom Supreme...more
4/12/2018
/ Apple v Samsung ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Huawei ,
Impression Products v Lexmark International ,
Life Technologies Corp v Promega Corp ,
Matal v Tam ,
NVIDIA ,
Oil States Energy Services v Greene's Energy Group ,
On-Sale Bar ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Popular ,
Samsung ,
Sandoz v Amgen ,
SCA Hygiene Products Aktiebolag v First Quality Baby Products ,
Star Athletica v Varsity Brands ,
TC Heartland LLC v Kraft Foods ,
Teva Pharmaceuticals ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademarks ,
Young Lawyers
In its decision of July 12, 2017 in Actavis v. Eli Lilly, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom for the first time formally adopted the concept of a doctrine of equivalents when considering what constituted an infringement...more
3/19/2018
/ Actavis Inc. ,
Appeals ,
Doctrine of Equivalents ,
Eli Lilly ,
EU ,
Extraterritoriality Rules ,
Indirect Infringement ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Patent Applications ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Pharmaceutical Patents ,
Prescription Drugs ,
UK ,
UK Supreme Court
In the case of Google Inc. v. Equustek, the Supreme Court of Canada has upheld the grant of a preliminary injunction by the Court of Appeals of British Columbia ordering Google to de-index on a global basis websites of a...more
On June 12, 2017, in a unanimous decision authored by Justice Thomas in Amgen Inc. v. Sandoz Inc., the United States Supreme Court considered the complex statutory scheme that attempts to expedite resolution of patent...more
8/21/2017
/ Amgen ,
Biologics ,
Biosimilars ,
BPCIA ,
Commercial Marketing ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Hatch-Waxman ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Life Sciences ,
Patent Dance ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Pharmaceutical Patents ,
Popular ,
Sandoz ,
Sandoz v Amgen ,
SCOTUS
In 1628, Lord Coke in his “Institutes of the laws of England” summarized the common law on restraints on the alienation of chattels stating that any attempt by a seller to restrict resale or use of the chattel after selling...more
7/13/2017
/ Breach of Contract ,
Chattel ,
Exports ,
Foreign Sales ,
Imports ,
Impression Products v Lexmark International ,
IP License ,
Patent Exhaustion ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Resales Agreements ,
SCOTUS ,
Single-Use/No Resale Restriction ,
Stream of Commerce
In its decision of May 22, 2017 in Heartland v. Kraft, the United States Supreme Court held that the specific venue provisions applicable to Patent infringement (28 U.S.C. 1400 (b)) limited the courts in which a domestic...more
5/30/2017
/ Food Manufacturers ,
Forum Shopping ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Multidistrict Litigation ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Personal Jurisdiction ,
SCOTUS ,
State of Incorporation ,
TC Heartland LLC v Kraft Foods ,
Venue