A flurry of developments in late January 2025 has caused quite a buzz in the AI world. On January 20, DeepSeek released a new open-source AI model called R1 and an accompanying research paper....more
Artificial intelligence is rapidly reinventing the research and development process, but until recently, patentability remained a major uncertainty. That’s until the United States Patent and Trademark Office stepped in and...more
4/3/2024
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Copyright ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Inventions ,
Inventors ,
Patent Applications ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Research and Development ,
Software Patents ,
Technology Sector ,
USPTO
In This Issue -
Transformative Fair Use: Does Andy Warhol Qualify?
On March 28, 2022, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Andy Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith, a case concerning whether Andy Warhol’s use of Lynn...more
8/9/2022
/ Abandonment ,
Appeals ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Fair Use ,
Misappropriation ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
SCOTUS ,
The Copyright Act ,
Trade Secrets ,
Trademark Expiration ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademarks ,
Transformative Use
In This Issue -
Artificial Intelligence: Deepfakes in the Entertainment Industry —
Advances in “deepfake” media techniques that use deep learning AI—from uncanny impersonation videos of Tom Cruise and other...more
2/1/2022
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Digital Copies ,
Employees ,
Entertainment Industry ,
Ex Partes Reexamination ,
Expungement ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Prior Art ,
The Copyright Act ,
Trade Secrets ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademark Modernization Act (TMA) ,
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO
Illumina has now filed its brief in opposition, completing the certiorari petitions/responses for all parties in the concurrent American Axle and Ariosa patent eligibility cases. True to form, neither of the filings in...more
For more than a decade, this blog has covered the topic of patentable subject matter. Over the years, we’ve addressed various issues regarding business methods, abstract ideas and other various topics. The “laws of nature”...more
Sharply differing majority and dissenting opinions in the Federal Circuit’s recent American Axle & Manufacturing v. Neapco Holdings decision present yet another case where the Federal Circuit appears to be in need of further...more
My last post focused on definitions for the terms “well-understood,” “routine,” and “conventional”—or W-URC—from the subject matter eligibility test set forth in Mayo and further described in Alice. Those terms relate to one...more
The Federal Circuit has now had enough opportunity to address Mayo’s “well-understood, routine, conventional” test that we should have a good understanding of it. We don’t (or at least I don’t).
...more
In reading post-Mayo/Alice decisions, some seem more comfortable than others. I’ve been having a tough time getting my head and heart around a recent decision from Judge Leonard Stark of the District of Delaware. The case is...more
3/15/2018
/ Abstract Ideas ,
Auto Parts ,
Bilski ,
CLS Bank v Alice Corp ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Invalidity ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent-Eligible Subject Matter ,
Patents ,
Section 101
Crowdsourced Content in Video Games: How Ownership Issues Almost “Ganked” a Copyright Case -
In Blizzard Entertainment v. Lilith Games (Shanghai) Company, a federal court denied a motion for partial summary judgment for...more
1/5/2018
/ Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Crowdsourcing ,
Domain Names ,
Foreign Jurisdictions ,
Gaming ,
Genericide ,
Google ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Life Technologies Corp v Promega Corp ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Trademark Application ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO ,
Video Games
The press is all abuzz with reactions to Judge Mayer’s concurring opinion bluntly stating that “claims directed to software implemented on a generic computer are categorically not eligible for patent.” Intellectual Ventures...more
On September 4, a Massachusetts district court issued an interesting ruling that calls into question many of the recent preliminary stage Alice-based invalidations we’ve seen over the past year. The decision, the latest...more
There has been significant commentary, both before and after the Supreme Court’s decision in Alice, that the various judicially created exceptions to patentability under 35 USC § 101 are not only sound, but are also...more
On June 25, 2014, just six days after the Supreme Court decided Alice Corp. Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank Int’l, 134 S. Ct. 2347 (2014), the USPTO issued its Preliminary Examination Instructions (“Guidance”) in view of the case. ...more
A recent episode of NPR’s “Planet Money” was entitled “The Case Against Patents.” Several notable commentators in that episode questioned whether patents help or hinder innovation, whether history supports the benefits of a...more
In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court held that patent claims directed to abstract ideas do not become patent eligible by the “mere recitation” of generic computer elements. Alice Corp. Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank Int’l, No....more
6/23/2014
/ Alice Corporation ,
CLS Bank ,
CLS Bank v Alice Corp ,
Mayo v. Prometheus ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent-Eligible Subject Matter ,
Patents ,
Popular ,
Risk Mitigation ,
SCOTUS ,
Software ,
USPTO
Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank is out and the result is not unexpected:
1) Alice's patents for computer-implemented methods and systems for financial risk intermediation are invalid.
2) The patents claim abstract idea,...more
Right of Publicity? First, Let Me Take a Selfie -
“Oh, he wants to do a selfie,” President Barack Obama observed with amusement before gamely posing with Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz. Ortiz snapped the...more
6/11/2014
/ Domain Names ,
Endorsements ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
gTLD ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
Internet ,
Inventors ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Popular ,
Right of Publicity ,
Trade Secrets ,
UTSA