Intellectual Property Portfolio Development for BioTech Startups in the Plant Space [Webinar]
What Is a Patent and How Do I Get One
The World Intellectual Property Organization announced on May 24, 2024, a treaty on intellectual property, genetic resources, and associated traditional knowledge that was twenty-five years in the making. As WIPO’s press...more
If your business is keeping a valuable secret, you may be trying to figure out the best way to protect it. The question may turn on whether your secret is something like the secret Coke formula or a groundbreaking technology...more
On October 27, 2023, the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) released its third set of explanatory notes on essentially derived variety (EDV) protection. In this alert, we provide a brief...more
A patent does not give the owner the right to do anything. Rather, it gives the patent owner the right to exclude others from making, using, selling, offering to sell, and/or importing the claimed invention, which most...more
Unlock the Future of Cannabis Innovation at INCBA’s Global Cannabis IP Symposium at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Join INCBA for this groundbreaking two-day event dedicated to intellectual property in cannabis. Gain...more
It’s not surprising to hear talk of flowers in February, but it is unusual when that discussion is in a Federal Circuit opinion. This month the Federal Circuit decided a case involving whether the display of a flowering...more
Intellectual property is the foundation of a business’s unique value proposition. Understanding the different types of intellectual property protection available for patents, trademarks, and copyrights is crucial to...more
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ("PTO") provides extensive online resources on its website. While much of the content may be directed to patent and trademark practitioners to perform filings and access regulations, some...more
The cannabis industry is booming and as it continues to grow, new cannabis-related businesses are forming in various sectors of industry and new plant varieties, products and techniques are developed daily. Protecting...more
Mary Sylvia has nearly 30 years experience in microbiology and patent law. Trained initially as a molecular virologist, she focuses primarily on biotech plant and pharmaceutical patent law and the development of intellectual...more
You may be an inventor with an idea, a small business owner, or an international corporation. No matter your size, you could have an invention that is patentable. This video covers what makes inventions patentable, the types...more
One of the banes of any practicing patent attorney's professional existence is counseling clients on licensing agreements where the parties attempt to avoid setting forth definitive terms on contract provisions regarding...more
The United States patent system is built on a “carefully crafted bargain” between inventors and the public. In exchange for a disclosure teaching the public how to make and use an invention, the federal government grants the...more
Design patents vs. utility patents vs. plant patents - You made a discovery and now you’d like to protect it. The U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 1, Clause 8 empowered Congress to pass laws “to promote the progress of...more
USPTO and JPO Issue Joint Message - Yesterday, Director Andrei Iancu of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and Commissioner Akira Matsunaga of the Japan Patent Office issued a joint message to express the Offices' "most...more
A recent opinion issued by the Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBoA) of the European Patent Office (EPO) has established that plants and plant materials are not patentable if they are exclusively obtained by means of an essentially...more
Since the COVID-19 outbreak, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has tried to ease the burden on patent owners and applicants. The key USPTO initiatives are summarized below....more
Almost one year ago, the 2018 Farm Bill was signed into law, and, for the first time, hemp and hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD) were federally legalized. Under the statute, legal hemp is defined as “the plant Cannabis sativa L....more
Last month, the European Patent Office (EPO) issued the much anticipated Written Decision associated with case T1063/18. We have previously written about this case in our alert "EPO May Return to Patenting Plants Obtained by...more
General introduction - In the European Union (EU) plant variety protection – sometimes referred to as Plant Breeder’s Rights or PBRs - is provided by the Community Plant Variety Office (“CPVO”). The CPVO is “a...more
The Green Revolution of the 20th century increased agricultural production worldwide primarily through high-yielding plant varieties. However, in order to sustainably feed the estimated 9 billion people who will inhabit the...more
Technology Spotlight- Protecting Agricultural Products - The Green Revolution of the 20th century increased agricultural production worldwide primarily through high-yielding plant varieties. However, in order to...more
As evidenced recently in the United States, it may be difficult to tell what categories of inventions are eligible for patent protection in foreign jurisdictions. To further complicate issues, standards of eligible subject...more
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s Mayo and Alice decisions, uncertainty has surrounded what inventions are patent eligible in the United States. In Mayo and Alice, the Supreme Court developed a two-step test to determine...more
An important aspect of developing any intellectual property strategy and portfolio is deciding which method of intellectual property protection to pursue based on the advantages and disadvantages of each method. Plants may be...more