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Posted on Jun 23, 2015 in Blog

The age of the internet and digital media has created new problems in protecting personal privacy. The viral nature of online intimate and explicit images allows for any individual image to quickly spread across the internet. Once an image has spread across the internet, there are a limited number of ways to stop its further distribution.

Posted on Jun 22, 2015 in Blog

In Ariosa Diagnostics, Inc. v Sequenom, Inc. (No. 14-1139 (Fed. Cir. Jun. 12, 2015)) the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“CAFC”) upheld a decision by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California invalidating a patent covering a ground breaking technique for fetal testing and diagnostics.

Posted on May 27, 2015 in Blog

On May 26, 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States, in Commil USA, LLC v CISCO Systems, Inc. in a 6-2 split decision, held that an alleged infringer’s good-faith belief that the patent-in-suit is invalid is not a defense to a claim of induced patent infringement. Justice Kennedy wrote the majority opinion. Justice Scalia and Chief Justice Roberts dissented. Justice Breyer did not take part in the decision.

Posted on May 5, 2015 in Blog

If you own a U.S. patent and would consider selling it, Google has instituted an experimental “Patent Purchase Promotion” from May 8 – May 22, 2015. During this “open period”, patentees can submit a Patent Order Submission Form for each patent (one per patent), which allows the patentee to describe his/her patent , along with the offer price to sell it to Google.

Posted on Apr 24, 2015 in Blog

The April 19, 2015 episode of HBO’s Last Week Tonight featured a critique of the U.S. patent system by host John Oliver. After emphasizing the importance of patents to the funding of companies as evidenced by everyone’s favorite investors, the “sharks” of ABC’s Shark Tank, Oliver proceeded to provide an entertaining, albeit simplistic, overview of the economic harm caused by overly broad and vague patents asserted by non-practicing entities, which are more commonly known as “patent trolls”.

Posted on Mar 25, 2015 in Blog

The Supreme Court on March 24, 2015 decided that rulings of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as to likelihood of confusion are binding on District Courts.

Posted on Feb 23, 2015 in Blog

U.S. applicants interested in protecting their designs outside the U.S. will soon have the option of filing a single international design patent application under the Hague Agreement. The Hague Agreement goes into effect in the U.S. on May 13, 2015.

Posted on Jan 23, 2015 in Blog

An ad interim injunction passed by the Honorable Delhi High Court (on January 19, 2015) against Glenmark restrained infringement of Symed’s Process Patent Nos. IN 213062 and IN 213063.

Posted on Jan 20, 2015 in Blog

On Tuesday, January 20, 2015, in Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. et al. v. Sandoz Inc. et al., case number 13-854, the United States Supreme Court, in a 7-2 decision by Justice Breyer abolished the CAFC’s en banc practice that claim construction rulings of the district court be reviewed de novo. Instead, the Court ruled that these ruling must be entitled to deference of the district court’s factual findings as Teva had requested in a dispute regarding its highly profitable Copaxone product for multiple sclerosis.

Posted on Dec 18, 2014 in Blog

In light of the relatively recent Supreme Court decisions in the area of patent subject matter eligibility, the United States Patent and Trademark Office has been attempting to provide guidance to its Patent Examiners to use in determining whether claims are directed to patent eligible subject matter. Further to that end, the Patent Office has released new Interim Guidance on Patent Subject Matter Eligibility, which was published in the Federal Register on December 16, 2014.