Posts in IPWatchdog Articles

Earlier today Kevin Noonan of Patent Docs posted an article titled Falsehoods, Distortions Lies in the Gene Patenting Debate.  In the article’s first paragraph Noonan explains that ever since the filing of a complaint by the ACLU challenging the propriety of certain gene patents owned by Myriad Genetics, the debate regarding gene patents has gone mainstream.  He wrote: Thus, there…

About a week ago I received a fairly typical e-mail from an individual who was inquiring about whether I could help provide certain services.  As you can probably imagine, I get inquiries from people looking for all different kinds of legal services, and I also get a lot of e-mails from those who have great ideas and want to sell…

My position is that software must be patentable, or 500 years of patent laws make no sense. The reason that software must be patentable is that software can be an inseparable part of both manufacturing processes and electronic devices. A patent for such items must crucially include the software components of the invention, or the patent would be incomplete.

In 2006, Peter Orszag, the current head of the Office of Management and Budget, observed in an article he co-authored for the Brookings Institution: Because the U.S. is at the frontier of modern technological and scientific advances, sustaining economic growth depends substantially on our ability to advance that frontier. Orszag is, of course, correct. Unfortunately, without meaningful and near immediate…

Monday I wrote about how the United States Patent Office is holding innovation hostage, and is treating applicants unfairly, at least insofar as some applicants seem to have their cases advance quickly and other applicants seem to wait for many years without any action whatsoever. I have gone on record saying that I believe the Patent Office is taking important…

So, your creative muse is singing away but is her voice silenced as soon as you begin working for someone else, either as an employee or as an independent contractor on a commissioned piece? Well, that depends. Generally, intellectual property which you create while on the job working as an employee, creating items such as cartoons, comics, computer software programs,…

By now you have probably heard that the United States Supreme Court lifted the stay Ordered by Justice Ginsberg late on Monday and the bankruptcy deal that will give Chrysler to Fiat, UAW workers and the US and Canadian governments is now clear to go through, most likely on Wednesday, June 10, 2009.  I will not call this deal a…

Yesterday I posted an article titled Innovation Held Hostage by the Patent Office.  In the article I detailed some troubling things I have learned regarding what appears to be best explained by patent examiners taking cases out of order.  The Patent Office is a first-in-first-out (FIFO) system, or at least it is supposed to be.  A couple patent attorneys have…

What follows is a copy of the remarks of Senator Orrin Hatch, delivered at the World Copyright Summit earlier this morning at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, DC.  It is great to hear Senator Hatch discuss the importance of protecting intellectual property rights against the actions of infringers.  In my opinion, intellectual property rights are essential to guarantee continued…

The June 15, 2009, edition of Business Week has an interesting article about innovation by Michael Mandel, which concludes that during the last decade US innovation has failed to deliver on the hyped promises, and this failure of innovation may have contributed to the economic woes we are now experiencing. Indeed, this article is interesting for many reasons. First, how…

The National Association of Patent Practitioners (NAPP) will be holding the 2009 Annual Meeting and Nuts & Bolts Short Course at The Embassy Suites San Diego Bay, in beautiful downtown San Diego, California, from July 18, 2009 to July 21, 2009.  I will be heading from the PLI Patent Bar Review Course in Orange County, California, which runs from July…

Borden Larson appealed the decisions of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida that granted summary judgment in favor of Defendants-Appellees Correct Craft, Inc. William Snook, and Robert Todd. Larson originally filed suit in Florida state court, alleging multiple fraud-based claims under state law, seeking rescission of several patent assignments he executed and requesting declaratory judgments…

Adjustable elevated serving tray for pets US Patent No. 7,207,290 Issued April 24, 2007 Now I think I have officially seen everything!  An adjustable serving tray for pets?  What is even more surprising is that according to the Background of the Invention this is a fairly crowded field of technology, with elevated pet feeders being well known.  Who knew?  Apparently…

The Invisible Edge is a book by Mark Blaxill and Ralph Eckardt, two Boston Consulting Group Economists, that tries to explain how Intellectual Property can be considered as assets that have very real effects on business valuations. Starting with an analysis of how materials and design can improve sports performance, the book argues that the Industrial Revolution would not have…

As soon as I learned that the date for requesting rehearing or en banc consideration of the Federal Circuit ruling in the GSK and Tafas appeal of the claims and continuations rules was pushed back to June 3, 2009, I said to myself, of course!  Important things always seem to pop up while I am on the road teaching the…