Patent Law

Friday IP Round-Up

By Stephen Albainy-Jenei

Negotiations in the Senate on patent reform bill S. 1145 seemed to break down this week after Sen. Arlen Specter released a statement saying:

The Chairman [Sen. Leahy] and I differ on a number of aspects of the proposed patent reform legislation. . . . . The principal sticking point is the issue of how to assess damages in patent infringement lawsuits. We thought we had reached an agreement on this matter, but the language continued to shift, so we do not yet have a deal on the package. I am hopeful that we can reach an agreement, but more work has to be done to get it right.

The crumbling continued after Sen. Jeff Sessions apparently withdrew his support for an amendment to the patent reform bill that would exempt banks that unlawfully use patented check imaging technology from paying damages. The provision would have required the federal government to pay $1 billion to DataTreasury over 10 years as compensation for taking its property under the amendment (read: your tax dollars). Now Sessions says he will no longer support the amendment because of questions about its constitutionality.

Amici briefs for and against software and business method patents are flying at the CAFC over Ex Parte Bilski. The sides are lining up pretty much as you’d expect as everyone tries to influence an en banc Federal Circuit panel that will reconsider the scope of patentable subject matter as it relates to business methods. Most of these briefs support Bilski and urge the CAFC to not change section 101 — that is, keep a relatively broad view of what is patentable subject matter. A good summary on the briefs is at Patently-O.

This probably won’t end the heated debate over the threshold for patentable subject matter, though, as many parties are just flat out against patenting of business methods. Among the questions to be answered are: When does a claim that contains both mental and physical steps create patent-eligible subject matter? Whether a method or process must result in a physical transformation of an article or be tied to a machine to be patent-eligible subject matter under section 101?

A controversy has been brewing over the MBA degree of Heather Bresch, Mylan’s COO, after a Pittsburgh newspaper questioned it. West Virginia University officials awarded her an MBA retroactively last October. (via Pharmalot)

Cincinnati Reds inked a deal to hold spring training in Goodyear, Ariz., in 2010. The Reds and Cleveland Indians will share a 10,000-seat stadium.

The Federalist Society has just put the latest edition of its journal Engage online, with individual webpages for separate articles, so as to make it easier for bloggers to link to us. I?m sending you the journal in case you find something of interest.

Fortunately for bloggers, we can now get aromatherapy with our laptops. (via Securing Innovation)

All I want now is my 3G iPhone.

Full post as published by Patent Baristas on April 11, 2008 (boomark / email).