Other Barks & Bites for Friday, February 10: Drug Pricing and Anticompetitive Practices Bills Pass Judiciary Committee, Lawsuit over Meta Logo is Dismissed, Study Finds Merger Activity Has Not Lowered Patent Grants

This week in Other Barks & Bites: The Senate Judiciary Committee passes a number of bills that aim to reduce drug prices and anticompetitive practices by pharmaceutical companies; the USPTO opens its nomination period for a prestigious technology award; the U.S. Copyright Office tells a district court it acted reasonably in denying Stephen Thaler’s AI-created artwork; and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce releases a study on the impact of mergers on innovation and patent applications.

Bites

Bills to Reduce Drug Prices Pass Senate Judiciary Committee

On Thursday, February 9, five bills aimed at reducing drug prices and anticompetitive practices among pharmaceutical companies passed the Senate Judiciary Committee by voice vote. The bills are called the Preserving Access to Affordable Generics and Biosimilars Act, the Stop STALLING Act, the Interagency Patent Coordination and Improvement Act of 2023, the Prescription Pricing for the People Act of 2023, and the Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act of 2023.

The Preserving Access to Affordable Generics and Biosimilars Act would curb “pay-for-delay” deals that allow drug companies to pay brand name companies to delay the release of generic substitutes. The Stop STALLING Act would limit companies’ ability to file “sham” petitions with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to impede the approval of similar drugs. Read more here.

Eleventh Circuit Finds that Intellectual Property Did Not Merge in L3Harris Case

On Wednesday, February 8, the Eleventh Circuit ruled that the legalese in the L3 Technologies and Harris Corporation reverse triangular merger did not merge the intellectual property held by Harris at the time. Thus, the circuit court affirmed a previous ruling from a Florida court that ruled in favor of L3Harris Technologies in its intellectual property lawsuit with GSE Consulting. GSE Consulting sent L3Harris a $4 million invoice post-merger and subsequently filed a lawsuit against the tech company when it failed to pay intellectual property fees as part of a consulting agreement. However, the circuit court ruled that “GSE’s alternative argument is unavailing” due to how the contract was written.

Meta Logo Lawsuit Dismissed

On Monday, February 6, Meta and blockchain nonprofit Dfinity Foundation ended the nonprofit’s trademark lawsuit in a joint dismissal filing in a California district court. Dfinity sued Meta last year over its “infinity loop” logo, but a judge dismissed it, citing a lack of similarity between the two logos. Dfinity subsequently submitted an amended complaint, which has now been dismissed by both parties.

Barks 

CAFC Affirms PTAB Decision in Ideahub case

On Friday, February 10, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) released a nonprecedential opinion affirming the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) decision ruling a patent from Ideahub as unpatentable. In the PTAB’s Final Written Decision, the board called the patent obviously unpatentable, giving a win to Unified Patents who filed the legal proceeding. 

Bank of America Announces Record-Breaking Patent Year

On Thursday, February 9, the Bank of America announced in a press release that 2022 was a record year in patents granted for the bank. It saw a 19% increase in patents granted with a total of 608 patents granted, adding to its total portfolio of 5,837 active patents. The bank said that the patents covered a range of areas including, “artificial intelligence, machine learning, information security, data analytics, mobile banking, and payments.”

Study Finds Increased Merger Activity Has Not Caused Drop in Patent Applications

On Tuesday, February 7, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce released a study evaluating the impact of mergers on innovation and patent applications. The study found that instead of decreasing competitiveness and innovation, during an increased period of merger activity between 2008-2020 R&D spending and patent applications increased significantly.

USPTO Opens Nomination Period for National Medal of Technology and Innovation

On Tuesday, February 7, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) opened the nomination period for the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the nation’s highest honor for technological achievement. The medal can be awarded to individuals, teams, or companies for their contributions to the nation through the development of technological products. Applicants can submit nominations through May 26.

U.S. Copyright Office Asks District Court to Dismiss AI-Generated Art Copyright Case

On Tuesday, February 7, the U.S. Copyright Office (USCO) filed a cross motion for summary judgment in a case between the office and Stephen Thaler, the software engineer behind an AI-generated art software. Thaler has previously argued that AI-generated art should be protected by copyright law, however, the USCO has said that art authored by a machine is not protected. The USCO wrote that it acted “reasonably and consistently with the law when it refused to extend copyright protection” for the AI-generated artwork.

This Week on Wall Street

Yahoo Announces Layoffs

On Thursday, February 9, Yahoo announced plans to lay off over 20% of its workers in a restructuring move. Up to half of its employees in its ad tech division will be let go. Yahoo claimed the move is not just a financial one but also a strategic consideration that will see the company stop trying to keep up with giants like Google.

Google Announces ChatGPT Competitor

On Monday, February 6, Google announced Bard, its AI competitor to ChatGPT, in a blog post. According to the tech giant, Bard is an experimental conversational AI service that will be opened up to testers in the coming weeks. Google also emphasized its new AI services utility for innovators, “over time, we intend to create a suite of tools and APIs that will make it easy for others to build more innovative applications with AI.”

Quarterly Earnings – The following firms identified among the IPO’s Top 300 Patent Recipients for 2022 are announcing quarterly earnings next week (2022 rank in parentheses):

• Monday: Palantir (234)
• Tuesday: Ecolab (298)
• Wednesday: Cisco (46), Analog Devices (187)
• Thursday: Applied Materials (52)
• Friday: Deere & Company (96)

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Author: zetwe