Patent Law

The BPAI decision in Gutta relating to Bilski

Posted on December 25, 2009
The "12:01 Tuesday" blog draws attention to the precedential BPAI decision on 35 USC 101 contained in Ex parte Gutta.

"It's a Wonderful Life"

Posted on December 25, 2009
A December 23 post by yahoo movies entitled Surprising Facts About 'It's A Wonderful Life' included some interesting facts but made a salient intellectual property omission. The facile dissemination of the movie arose in large part because the copyright was not renewed and the movie was thought to have entered the public domain...

Microsoft smoked at CAFC in i4i/Word case

Posted on December 25, 2009
A news report states:Microsoft Corp., the world's biggest software maker, must alter its popular Word software or stop selling the product after it lost an appeal of a $200 million patent-infringement verdict.The conclusion of the CAFC's decision in the Microsoft/i4i case states:The district court?s claim construction is affirmed, as are the jury?s findings of infringement and validity...

Plagiarism vs. aliasing

Posted on December 24, 2009
Dennis Wyatt of the Manteca Bulletin writes:Plagiarism is inexcusable but it is no better than people trying to submit letters using aliases. As ironic as it may sound, at one point one reader addressing the plagiarism issue sent in two different letters on the same subject that originated from the same address...

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NLJ on patent reform

Posted on December 22, 2009
Note the article by Sheri Qualters titled IP War's Latest Volley: Groups Seek Changes in Patent Reform Bill.The discussion about post-grant review and first to file is more of a big guy/little guy thing, with major organizations like AIPLA and IPO backing the "big guy" position...

Mylan sued by Schering over Simvastatin

Posted on December 22, 2009
In a Hatch-Waxman action, Mylan has been sued by Schering Corporation and MSP Singapore Company in connection with Mylan's filing of an Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) [with a paragraph IV certification] with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Ezetimibe and Simvastatin Tablets, 10 mg/10 mg, 10 mg/20 mg, 10 mg/40 mg and 10 mg/80 mg.

Derivative plagiarism doesn't fly

Posted on December 20, 2009
from the Philly Inquirer:The death of influential, Nobel-winning economist Paul A. Samuelson led us to review his life and ideas. We discovered he was uncle to President Obama's top economic adviser, Lawrence Summers.Atlantic interview. This June interview with Samuelson at the Atlantic Monthly site shows how sharp the 94-year-old was...

Microsoft's 20090309891: truth in avataring?

Posted on December 20, 2009
Claim 1 of US published application 20090309891:A method of interacting with a virtual environment, comprising:accessing a physical characteristic nonvolitionally obtained from a user;assigning an attribute corresponding to the physical characteristic to an avatar identified for the user; andfacilitating user interaction with a virtual environment via the avatar as constrained by the assigned attribute...

On securing Ben Nelson's vote

Posted on December 20, 2009
from the Washington Post:Nelson also secured full and permanent federal funding for his state to extend Medicaid eligibility to everyone below 133 percent of the federal poverty level. The bill would require all states to do so, but Nebraska alone would not be required to pay a portion of the additional cost after 2016...

On labeling someone an expert in intellectual property

Posted on December 19, 2009
There is an assertion of plagiarism as to words used by one Lynn Vakay which were not attributed to Hillsdale College Professor Gary Wolfram. What caught the eye of IPBiz was the following text:USC Professor Jonathan Aronson, an expert in intellectual property, said Vakay's column constituted plagiarism - despite the fact Wolfram had given her permission to use his ideas...

Intel sued by FTC on Dec. 16

Posted on December 16, 2009
Intel, a member of the Coalition for Patent Fairness, has been sued by the FTC, who alleges the chip maker engaged in a decade-long campaign to stifle competition and strengthen its dominant position in the microchip market. Among other things was a charge of secretly redesigning key software in a way that deliberately stunted the performance of competitors' chips.

Interference declared over US Patent Number 7,510,876

Posted on December 16, 2009
There will be an interference over US U.S. Patent Number 7,510,876 (Novocell) with Geron the other party.

Expert witness failure

Posted on December 16, 2009
In INTELLECTUAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, INC v. Sony, the CAFC affirmed a grant of summary judgment against plaintiff-patentee. At issue was a means plus function claim: For a means-plus- function claim term, the term literally covers an accused device if the relevant structure in the accused device performs the identical function recited in the claim and that structure is identical or equivalent to the corresponding structure in the specification...

CBS copies "Law & Order," again

Posted on December 15, 2009
Back on October 11, IPBiz noted that the CBS show "Cold Case" had knocked off a plotline from Law & Order.See Oct. 11 "Cold Case" a knock-off of Law & Order SVU .In the December 15 episode of "The Good Wife," [titled Lifeguard]a judge (Baxter) channels juvenile offenders to Palgrave Academy...

"You don?t mess with US lawyers"

Posted on December 15, 2009
In a post titled Climategate: the lawyers move in ? those scientists are toast!, James Delingpole writes of ClimateGate issues:God bless America and ? can I really be saying this? ? God bless the legal profession! Despite the best efforts of the Obama administration, most of the world?s other governments (save the plucky Canucks), the United Nations and the Mainstream Media (MSM) to sweep Climategate under the carpet, the lawyers are putting this shoddy scandal where it belongs: in the dock...

Microsoft's Juku Plurk'd in China

Posted on December 15, 2009
Reuters reports that Microsoft has taken down its MSN Juku site after complaints from Plurk that about 80 percent of the client and product codebase for Microsoft's Juku appears to be a copy of its own service. [See Microsoft suspends Juku after plagiarism claims ]David Gelles of Financial Times wrote:From the graphics to the navigation, MSN Juku appears nearly identical to Plurk, which launched last year...

Gobsmacked!

Posted on December 15, 2009
In a patent context, the term "gobsmacked" was related to the patents of BlackBoard:Michael Feldstein is translating Backboard's patents into plain English and will post the results soon; "When you see what they are actually claiming to have invented, you will be well and truly gobsmacked...

IAM blog on permanent fee hikes at the USPTO

Posted on December 14, 2009
In a piece titled Bleak times at the USPTO make big fee hikes more likely , the IAM Blog paints a dark future for the US Patent Office.IAM notes:On top of the 2.3% decrease in patent filings, the annual report states - on page 49 - that maintenance fees, "the largest source of earned revenue by fee type", were down nearly 3% in financial year 2009...

Interpreting claim terms

Posted on December 14, 2009
One recalls the words of the CAFC in Chef America v. Lamb-Weston: "a nonsensical result does not require the court to redraft the claims of the patent."In ULTIMAX, the CAFC noted of anhydrous calcium sulfate, written in the patent app as?soluble calcium sulfate anhydride?: contrary to the district court?s conclusion, interpreting the claim term to mean ?soluble anhydrous calcium sulfate? is not rewriting the claim or correcting a typographical error...

ClimateGate: PR disaster or beginning of openness?

Posted on December 13, 2009
Within Yale Environment 360, one has a discussion of ClimateGate, entitled Climategate: Anatomy of a Public Relations Disaster by one Fred Pearce, described as a freelance author and journalist based in the UK. Mr. Pearce has an entry in Wikipedia, although there is no mention whatsoever of his educational background, as to what degrees, if any, he holds...

"60 Minutes" features Anthony Atala and regenerative medicine

Posted on December 13, 2009
"60 Minutes" on 13 Dec. 09 had a piece on regenerative medicine, which began with the work of Dr. Anthony Atala of Wake Forest.Also featured were Blair Jobe of the McGowan Institute as well as Stephen Badylak and Steven Wolfe on extracellular matrix (ECM) technology...

Bridgewater, NJ High School declared safe after bomb threat of 11 Dec 09

Posted on December 13, 2009
In a post titled Bridgewater school declared safe after bomb scare arrests , Tanya Drobness of The Newark Star-Ledger reported on Dec. 13:Three days after Bridgewater-Raritan High School was closed because of a bomb scare and two Bridgewater teens were arrested after a stash of bomb-making materials was discovered in one of their homes, the district?s superintendent said it is safe for students to return to campus Monday, Dec 14...

Unlikely events in December 2009?

Posted on December 12, 2009
LBE showed up at a Wal-Mart for an oil change early on 12 Dec 09. After waiting for 45 minutes, was told that Wal-Mart had no oil filters for his car, one of the ten most popular in the US, but that he could go out and buy one, which Wal-Mart could install...

1950's tv teaching law?

Posted on December 12, 2009
Of the 1950's tv show The Adventures of Robin Hood [starring Richard Greene], wikipedia writes:[I]n "A Year and A Day", a refugee peasant explains that, under English law, a peasant who escapes serfdom and lives in a city for "a year and a day" is a free man, given the man lives openly, not in hiding...

AP on ClimateGate: Science not faked, but not pretty?

Posted on December 12, 2009
According to "an exhaustive review by The Associated Press":**Mark Frankel [of AAAS] saw "no evidence of falsification or fabrication of data, although concerns could be raised about some instances of very 'generous interpretations.'"**One of the most disturbing elements suggests an effort to avoid sharing scientific data with critics skeptical of global warming...

An attribution issue in Woods matter

Posted on December 11, 2009
Of the alleged criticism of Tiger Woods by two pro golfers reported in Life & Style, yahoo.sports notesProvocative stuff, PGA players criticizing the Tour's greatest draw. There's just one problem: it now appears that it didn't happen, at least not the way Life & Style said it did...

"Patent filings are a very controllable expense"

Posted on December 11, 2009
Within an article by Dave Goldman at CNN:"Our patent filings were down 25% this year, and it was a direct macroeconomic issue," said Joe FitzGerald, deputy general counsel for tech security firm Symantec. "The overall company reduced spending, and patent filings are a very controllable expense...

The APS strikes back!

Posted on December 11, 2009
Following an email to certain APS members suggesting changes in an APS policy statement post-ClimateGate, the APS President ( Cherry Murray) sent out an email to APS members on December 10, 2009 which included the text: Recently, you may have received an unsolicited email from Hal Lewis, Bob Austin, Will Happer, Larry Gould and Roger Cohen regarding the APS and climate change...

CSI NY "Death House" episode depicts revenge of an inventor against crooked backer

Posted on December 10, 2009
On December 9, 2009, CSI NY, in an episode titled "Death House", depicted the revenge of an inventor ripped off by a "venture capitalist", in the year 1923. The inventor (Harding) was ripped off by a backer (Jones) and invited Jones to his home in Manhattan, where, in re-arranging a puzzle (on the floor) of a "fallen angel", Jones is impaled by knives, roughly in the shape of angel's wings...

Google: Don't be evil?

Posted on December 07, 2009
Included in an article titled Google - from friend to foe? is a reference to the Google Books/copyright issue:Google Books is a prime example, Rob Enderle said. It's an open debate whether the plan to scan millions of books and make them searchable online will prove the benefit to humanity that Google promises - or hand it a monopoly over certain digital works, as opponents allege...

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