Intellectual Property Law

Patently-O Bits and Bytes No. 9Patent Law Blog (Patently-O)

• Bush Administration Opposes Aspects of Patent Reform: [LINK] (But will support an amended version)
• Additional Senate Comments on Patent Reform: [LINK (836 KB)]
• Senator Kyl: Congress should eliminate business method patents because they create monopoly costs without any new beneficial technology.
• Senators Spector & Brownback: The S.1145 ?remains a work in progress;? the damage apportionment language would create uncertainity and litigation ? especially determining an invention?s ?specific contribution over the prior art.?
• Senators Feingold and Coburn ? If the bill is passed without serious amendment ?Patents will be devalued and many inventors will opt for trade secrecy instead, undermining the Framers' intent to promote disclosure and public benefit through a strong patent system.?
• General Remarks from a minority of Judiciary Committee members: ?Primum non nocere is Latin phrase that means `First, do no harm.' ? In our opinion, the intervention the bill proposes will create real and certain damage to our patent system and the ability of America's inventors and innovation industries to protect their intellectual property rights.?
• The link above includes the formal Judiciary Committee report on the proposed patent reform legislation now pending in the Senate.
• Spare Parts: Spare parts manufacturers continue to lobby congress to include a special provision in the reform bill that would eliminate the potential of protecting automobile spare parts with design patents.  Several car companies are currently attempting to limit the off-brand repair market. http://www.qualitypartscoalition.com/
• KSR Rejections: PTO provides examples of how to use KSR to reject Business Method claims. [LINK] [via PatentHawk]
• See the Forest: A new IP analytics site titled ?See the Forest? is lets you create some interesting patent maps: http://see-the-forest.com.  The company behind the site is IPVision.

Full post as published by IP Law Daily on February 04, 2008 (boomark / email).