May 20, 2016

The last update to the USPTO’s guidance to examiners on patent subject matter eligibility was issued in July of 2015. The USPTO recently provided the next iteration, which includes a new set of life science examples, a memorandum to the…

April 28, 2016

The House on Wednesday passed the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 which would allow individuals and companies to fight trade-secret theft in federal court. The Senate already voted to approve the bill earlier this month, and President Obama is…

March 31, 2016

On December 1, 2015, new amendment to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure went into effect. For intellectual property practice, the most significant change may be the elimination of the “Forms” section of the rules and Rule 84. Previously, pleadings…

February 29, 2016

This presentation provides information concerning the recent In re Tam case in which the Federal Circuit held that the disparagement provision of §2(a) of the Lanham Act is unconstitutional because it violates the First Amendment right of free speech. It…

November 19, 2015

This presentation includes a discussion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and an in-depth explanation of copyrights from an international perspective. In particular, the presentation has information concerning what copyrights protect, examples of copyright protection, and the treaties involved such as the…

November 16, 2015

Today marks the 100th Anniversary of the design patent covering the classic Coca-Cola bottle. Developed in Terre Haute, Indiana, by the Root Glass Company, the classic Coca-Cola bottle was developed to provide a distinctive package for the popular drink. Versions…

November 5, 2015

General registration has begun for websites including the generic top level domains (gTLDs) .sex, .porn, .XXX, and .adult, thus allowing the public to purchase domain names ending with these extensions. Registration is on a first come, first serve basis and…

October 12, 2015

This presentation addresses common questions concerning intellectual property law, and explains why intellectual property (IP) is usually the most valuable asset for businesses. The presentation gives information about patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. It provides information about how to…

October 6, 2015

The After-Final Consideration Pilot 2.0 (AFCP 2.0) and Quick Path IDS (QPIDS) pilot have been extended to September 30, 2016. AFCP 2.0 authorizes additional time for examiners to search and/or consider responses after final rejection. The QPIDS pilot program eliminates…

October 1, 2015

The USPTO has announced the deployment of the Version 2.1 of the Next Generation Trademark Manual of Identification and Classification of Goods and Services (IDM-NG) available at tmidm.uspto.gov. The IDM-NG search system and results display have been updated to include…

September 11, 2015

The United States Patent and Trademark Office has launched a new website—the USPTO Patents Petitions Timeline. The new website provides the average pendency and success rates (over the past 12 months) for each type of petition that can be filed…

July 31, 2015

The Supreme Court addressed a number of patent law topics this year, including the standard of review for patent claim construction (Teva Pharmaceuticals v. Sandoz), royalties on expired patents (Kimble v. Marvel Enterprises), and defenses to claims of induced infringement…