Posts in Holiday Posts

On Saturday, February 8, 2025, IPWatchdog’s very own Chief Barking Officer and Director of Employee Enrichment, Lady Luna Bella, along with her partner, and IPWatchdog’s Director of Puplick Relations, Count Loki of Spotsylvania, along with their parents, Renée and Gene Quinn, welcomed six adorable German Shorthaired Pointers into this world. After 11 hours of labor, her puppies, three girls and three boys, were born between 3:09 PM EST and 6:53 PM EST, and ranged in size from 484 grams to 602 grams in weight.

Three significant bills that would alter patent law were considered by U.S. legislators in 2024: the “Promoting and Respecting Economically Vital American Innovation Leadership Act” (PREVAIL Act); the Realizing Engineering, Science, and Technology Opportunities by Restoring Exclusive Patent Rights Act (RESTORE Act);  and the “Patent Eligibility Restoration Act” (PERA). Each bill had bipartisan sponsors and was intended to benefit patent owners.

Yesterday, we heard what our readers would like to see happen in their wildest IP dreams this year, but some wishes are more likely than others to come true. So we start the New Year off today with some educated predictions about the year to come in IP, based on what courts have said, prospects for new leadership under the next presidential administration, changes to practice due to new fees and rules enacted at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in the previous year, and more.

As we do each year, we’re dedicating the last day of December to readers’ comments on what the IP landscape would look like to them if a little thing called reality was not an issue. So, below are our participants’ heartfelt IP wishes for 2025.

The past year has included some monumental developments in the world of IP – and adjacent to IP – that will affect law and practice for years to come. From the Supreme Court’s decision to abrograte the Chevron decision, thereby changing the standard for agency deference by the courts, to movement on some of the most potentially game-changing patent legislation to be introduced since the America Invents Act, there is a lot to choose from when it comes to what mattered in 2024. As we do each year, we reached out to readers for their input on what mattered most to them, and here is what they had to say.

“The art challenges the technology, and the technology inspires the art.” Such is the conundrum facing the U.S Copyright Office in this era of rapidly expanding generative artificial intelligence technology. Human creativity has been the cornerstone of copyright protection for original works of authorship ever since the U.S. Constitution recognized copyright as a fundamental right to be protected for limited times. But the tenet that originality exists only when a human is primarily responsible for creating works of authorship is currently in flux and subject to extensive debate. Nowhere is this tension more visible than within the Copyright Office itself, which has been grappling with the core issue of what defines human creation when sophisticated technology like generative AI plays a significant role in creating works of authorship under the direction of a human creator.

For Christmas Day—and this year the start of Hanukkah as well!—IPWatchdog is back with its annual list of top technologies from patents issued this year by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). This time around, the list features a host of semiconductor technologies, reflecting the critically important nature of computer chips to today’s international economy. Artificial intelligence is another recurring theme that often intersects with microprocessor innovations, as this year’s list underscores. A few of this year’s selections also reflect the still uncertain nature of patent validity law, which may or may not wind up threatening some of the patent rights featured below.

With the process for requesting Director Review formally codified as of October 31, 2024, the evolving landscape of intellectual property law continues to be shaped by another avenue of decision-making from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Among the developments in the second half of 2024, USPTO Director Review decisions addressed issues ranging from obviousness determinations and claim construction to procedural considerations under 35 U.S.C. § 325(d). These decisions not only refine the parameters of inter partes review (IPR) but also illuminate broader implications for patent practitioners and stakeholders navigating the patent system. This article explores Director Review decisions from the second half of the year, providing insights into their practical consequences for practitioners.

The past year was marked by change around the world, from significant geopolitical events and elections with far-reaching implications to the dramatic acceleration of AI adoption, which is quickly changing many aspects of how we live and work. Standard Essential Patent (SEP) licensing was no exception, as the space saw a number of new trends and shifts that may have an impact for a long time to come.

In 2024, America’s legislators continued their effort to fight against the harmful impact of counterfeit products being sold to American consumers. Counterfeit sellers often detract from the revenue of American businesses, infringe upon U.S. trademark owners’ intellectual property, and threaten the safety of U.S. consumers. America’s elected officials are trying to protect their constituents, along with their businesses, via legislation intended to make it more difficult for counterfeit sellers to operate in the United States. Congress resolved to expand civil liability for e-commerce platforms offering counterfeit goods, create a task force within the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice, and prohibit any executive agency, including the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), from enforcing any trademark that was stolen. This article provides highlights of legislative activities undertaken in 2024 in this regard.

Even though trade secret rights are governed today almost entirely by statute (the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA) in every state except New York, and the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act [DTSA]), its operative principles are rooted in common law traditions of tort and the twin policy objectives of “maintenance of standards of commercial ethics and the encouragement of invention.” Kewanee Oil Co. v. Bicron Corp., 416 U.S. 470, 481 (1974). Therefore, the Restatement (of Torts, from 1939, and of Unfair Competition, from 1995) can hold sway with courts even when they are engaged in statutory interpretation…. Here is a selection of those decisions, along with other resources, which have come out during (approximately) the past year and which I believe provide helpful guideposts about important aspects of trade secret law and practice.

Copyright law provided an arena for some of the most interesting legal battles in 2024. We review some highlights from 2024 below, as well as some cases to watch in 2025.  

In 2024, two U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Director Review decisions addressed multi-defendant inter partes review (IPR) petition scenarios before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). These key decisions clarified when a co-defendant relationship is significant enough to constitute a follow-on petition for discretionary denial purposes and when a relationship might rise to the level of real party in interest (RPI) or privy for purposes of applying the IPR time-bar of 35 U.S.C. § 315(b).

This year was a busy one for U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) policy changes, with a number of proposed rules packages introduced, proposed legislation being considered by Congress, and several U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and Supreme Court decisions that are likely to have lasting impacts on the USPTO. Now, we await potentially significant changes under the incoming Trump Administration and a new Director. Below, we’ve recapped a number of the more significant changes and proposed changes.