Posts in Government

In a new, interesting and exciting twist, green technology companies are joining the debate about whether Congress should enact sweeping changes to the US patent laws and are concluding that the Patent Reform Legislation submitted in both the US House and Senate is flawed and should not be enacted.  This is a potentially monumental event in the patent reform saga…

There is a lot of money sitting on the sidelines just waiting for the climate to change enough to warrant investment.  By some estimates the amount of capital lying in wait is perhaps as much as $10 trillion.  With no end in sight on just how low the Dow will fall, fears that banks will become nationalized have spooked investors. …

The Chairman of the Coalition for 21st Century Patent Reform, Gary Griswold, released the following statement after the introduction of The Patent Reform Act of 2009, in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives. The bills introduced in the House and Senate today contain several provisions that did not have sufficient support to become law because of the potential…

U.S. Reps. Don Manzullo (R-IL) and Mike Michaud (D-ME) today said the latest patent reform bill introduced in the House and Senate this afternoon would actually weaken intellectual property protections for American manufacturers and put hundreds of thousands more Americans on the unemployment lines.

PRESS RELEASE: Suffern, N.Y., March 4, 2009 – General Patent Corporation (GPC), a leading patent licensing and enforcement company providing assistance to small inventors and entrepreneurs throughout the United States, announced its disappointment with the latest Congressional initiatives to reform America’s patent laws. With the nation expecting more from the new Congress and the newly-elected Obama administration, it was hoped…

PRESS RELEASE: Washington, D.C, March 3 – The Manufacturing Alliance on Patent Policy (MAPP) released the following statement regarding introduction of legislation to modify the U.S. patent system. Chief among our concerns is the language that reduces penalties on those who take the intellectual property of others. While we appreciate the sponsors’ willingness to hear our concerns, the legislation as…

Rob Clarke, the Director of the Office of Patent Legal Administration at the United States Patent and Trademark Office, just finished his presentation at the 3rd Annual Patent Law Institutesponsored by PLI.  It was an extremely interesting presentation with quite a number of interesting factoids coming out.  Chief among them is that the Patent Office is extremely worried about its…

It is almost impossible to believe that given all the turmoil  our economy is facing, with trillions of dollars being spent by the US government as if the US dollar were some kind of Monopoly money, but patent reform legislation is likely to be introduced this week, perhaps as early as Monday, March 2, 2008.  Why is Congress thinking about…

Hello everyone.  I am coming to you live from a Hampton Inn located just south of Cleveland, Ohio, in a town named Independence.  I have to tell you that I am staying at the nicest Hampton Inn I have ever stayed at.  I have a living room, full kitchen and a jacuzzi all for $130 a night, so if your…

Earlier today I was contacted by the Wall Street Journal asking whether I had heard about the United States Patent and Trademark Office laying off employees in such a way that it would create problems for the Office with respect to keeping up with the growing backlog of patent applications.  From what I can tell this rumor was started by…

Earlier today more than 130 US manufacturing companies sent a joint letter to President Obama detailing their serious concerns about the economic impact that enactment of patent reform legislation would have on the US economy should such reform look anything like what was proposed during the 110th Congress last year. The letter sent to President Obama coordinated by the Manufacturing Alliance on Patent…

The Patent Docs are reporting that on February 3, 2009, Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI) introduced legislation into the Senate titled the Preserve Access to Affordable Generics Act, which would prohibit brand name drug companies from compensating generic drug makers for delaying the entry of generic drugs into the market.  This bill is in response to a lawsuit initiated by the FTC…

I have been critical of Jon Dudas and the way that the USPTO was run during his Administration.  I think much could have been done better, including working together with the patent bar to attempt sensible fixes to the US patent system.  Now that Jon Dudas has entered private it is time to move forward and attempt to continue efforts…

John Doll has wasted no time moving forward to try and put his stamp on the United States Patent Office.  One week ago today Doll, who became Acting Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Acting Director of the United States Patent & Trademark Office when Jon Dudas resigned, announced in the Federal Register that the USPTO will hold a…

Not long ago the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a decision in Abbott Laboratories v. Sandoz, Inc., a decision that just screams for Congress to codify Rule 56 and settle once and for all the duty of candor that is owed to the Patent Office during the patent application process. To be perfectly clear, it…