IP(DC) Podcast: Patent Battles – New Patent Initiatives on the Hill & Notable CAFC/SCOTUS Decisions
Podcast: Patentable Subject Matter in 2019
While courts have often warned that hindsight bias should be avoided when assessing whether a patented invention would have been obvious to the skilled person, the application of this principle can be challenging in practice....more
In Matco Tools Corporation v Canada (Attorney General), 2025 FC 118 (Matco Tools), the Federal Court found that a decision by the Commissioner of Patents to refuse to reinstate a patent application following the failure to...more
On September 3, 2024, the Federal Circuit issued a precedential decision affirming a district court decision where claims relating to “video-on-demand” systems did not constitute patentable subject matter because the claims...more
As we move into the second half of the year, we are alerting you to 11 patent cases that you should look out for during the second half of 2024. This judicial mix touches on a range of industries and interests, such as...more
In the 1950’s, Alan Turing famously asked, “Can machines think?” Decades later, artificial intelligence—a term coined after Turing’s death—has become a facet of our everyday lives. Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be used...more
It has been four years since amendments to the Patent Act and Patent Rules were made, bringing the Patent Law Treaty (PLT) into force in Canada. The most consequential changes have proven to be the handling of missed...more
Artificial intelligence is transforming drug design — but it could also disrupt intellectual property law. To realize AI’s full promise, the US may have to reconsider its approach to issuing patents....more
In a much-anticipated ruling issued on May 18, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s reading of the longstanding enablement requirement of U.S. patent law in the...more
Dr. Stephen Thaler, Ph.D., a computer scientist and inventor, has petitioned the Supreme Court of the United States to consider the question of whether the Patent Act restricts the definition of an "inventor" to human...more
Steven Thaler filed two patent applications naming “Device for the Autonomous Bootstrapping of Unified Science” (DABUS) as the sole inventor. DABUS is an artificial intelligence software system. The U.S. Patent and Trademark...more
As part of the recovery from the global COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit took steps to return to normal operations. It began requiring live oral arguments in August 2022 and, by November,...more
Historically, claim fees have not been payable at any time during the pendency of a Canadian patent application or term of the patent. This changed on October 3, 2022, and the present article discusses strategies for...more
Can an artificial intelligence (AI) system be an inventor? Not in the eyes of the Federal Circuit and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). ...more
Courts have long struggled with determining what makes an invention eligible for a patent by applying broad and ill-defined “I know it when I see it” tests that sometimes prevent breakthrough technologies from receiving...more
PATENT CASE OF THE WEEK - Thaler v. Vidal, Appeal No. 2021-2347 (Fed. Cir. Aug. 5, 2022) - In its only precedential patent decision this week, the Federal Circuit answered a question that had long occupied the musings...more
In three previous blog posts, we have discussed recent inventorship issues surrounding Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) and its implications for life sciences innovations – focusing specifically on scientist Stephen Thaler’s...more
Our previous blog posts, Artificial Intelligence as the Inventor of Life Sciences Patents? and Update on Artificial Intelligence: Court Rules that AI Cannot Qualify As “Inventor,” discuss recent inventorship issues...more
Recently, a federal judge in the Eastern District of Virginia issued a memorandum opinion in the ongoing dispute over whether artificial intelligence (“AI”) machines may be properly identified as inventors on U.S. patent...more
The Leahy-Smith “America Invents Act” (hereinafter, “AIA”) was signed into law ten years ago, on September 16, 2011. We have learned extensively from the enactment and this article is part of a series of lessons learned. ...more
The ongoing artificial intelligence (“AI”) inventorship case of Thaler v. Iancu, et al. (No. 1:20-cv-00903) took another turn on April 6th when U.S. District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema of the Eastern District of Virginia...more
The importance of medical diagnostic technologies has been brought to the fore with the COVID-19 pandemic. Rarely does a day pass when the media does not report on matters of approval and availability of tests, testing...more
The extensive amendments to the Patent Act and Patent Rules that came into force on October 30, 2019 have complicated the practice for responding to an Office Action (i.e. an “Examiner’s Report”) issued by the Canadian Patent...more
Those applying for Canadian patents will be pleased to learn of a recent decision by the Federal Court of Canada invalidating the patent office’s controversial problem-solution approach to patent claim construction. The...more
The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2007 decision in KSR International v. Teleflex altered the obviousness inquiry under 35 U.S.C. § 103 in determining whether a claimed invention passes muster under the Patent Act. The KSR Court...more
Use of artificial intelligence has grown enormously in recent years. A decade ago, machine learning was a new and exotic technology—at least, for mainstream commercial applications—with few companies patenting ML-based...more