2009 November

The Midwest Intellectual Property Symposium was held November 19 & 20 at the University Hotel and Conference Center in Indianapolis, IN.  The event was sponsored by the Indiana Continuing Legal Education Foundation and featured presentations by speakers in a variety of intellectual property areas, including patent prosecution, trademark prosecution, biotechnology practice, intellectual property litigation, and ethics.  Woodard Emhardt Trial Practice Group Co-Chair, Holiday W. Banta, served as moderator for the event.  In addition, the following Woodard Emhardt attorneys were featured among the presenters and panelists (click on the topic titles to access presentation materials):

T.J. Cole
Hot Topics in Patent Law

Thomas Q. Henry
Top Patent Prosecutors Roundtable:  Prosecution and Client Management Tips from Indianapolis’ Leading Practitioners

Charles P. Schmal
Current Topics Concerning Corporate Ownership and Licensing of Intellectual Property

Kenneth A. Gandy (material preparation), Gilbert T. Voy (Eli Lilly & Co., presenter)
Patenting Therapeutic and Diagnostics Medical Methods Around the World:  Practices and Pitfalls in Divergent Systems

James R. Blaufuss
Hot Topics in Trademark Law – Part 1
Hot Topics in Trademark Law – Part 2

Daniel J. Lueders
‘You Really Should Settle This Case’ – Do the Courts Practice What They Preach?

The Symposium was a huge success, with over one hundred faculty, attorneys, and IP professionals from around the world in attendance.  Special thanks go out to all of the individuals involved who helped with organizing and presenting at the event.

Related Links:
Midwest Intellectual Property Symposium, Nov. 19-20, 2009

Patent searching is typically the first step in determining whether to pursue patent protection for an invention.  On November 11, 2009, Woodard, Emhardt attorneys Chuck Schmal and Doug Gallagher presented a class on techniques for conducting patent searches using the US Patent & Trademark Office’s Public Web-based Examiner Search Tool (PubWEST) System to members of the Indiana Inventors Association and the Central Library staff.  The PubWEST System allows the public to access the same computer databases used by Examiners at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria, Virginia.

The hour-long program included a general overview of the PubWEST System and a tutorial on conducting patentability searches.  Topics included basic search concepts and recommendations for organizing a search, recommendations for which PTO databases to use, specific techniques for conducting various types of searches (word, party, citation, and classification), and the various ways of viewing the information using PubWEST.

This program was conducted in conjunction with Woodard, Emhardt’s donation of upgraded PubWEST search terminals at the Library.  The class was provided as a companion resource to inventors as part of Woodard’s effort to improve patent searching capabilities at the Central Library.  For more discussion on the search terminals, please see Dedicated Patent Searching Terminals Available at the Central Library

Monday the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the highly anticipated Bilski v. Kappos case.  The Court’s decision in this case, which is expected by the spring of 2010, will shape what types of technology is and is not eligible for patent protection.

A transcript of the hour-long oral argument is available here.

ICANN (the body responsible for regulating domain names) is planning to expand the domain name system to better reach an international audience.  Domain names consisting of non-latin characters are currently set to be launched on November 16, 2009.  These characters will include Chinese, Arabic, and Hebrew.

In addition, ICANN is considering removing the cap on the current number of generic top level domains (gTLDs) (e.g., .com, .net, .gov) to allow for an unlimited number of gTLDs.  The current proposal would allow applicants to register domain names with any extension such as “.car”, “.restaurant”, or “.movie”.  Given the proposed opening of this new online frontier, ICANN will attempt to address current brand owner’s concerns by implementing a “sunrise” period which would allow verified mark owners first access to domains including their mark as well as expanded WHOIS listings and dispute resolution policies.  ICANN is currently accepting comments on these proposed policies.

In the event ICANN’s proposed policies are adopted, we will likely see a flurry of activity as brand owners seek to protect their brands and third-parties seek to establish their place in this newly opened space.  However, given the nearly unlimited number of combinations, prioritization will almost certainly be a key strategy.