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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.

The 2024 holiday season is upon us, and for those still shopping for the IP attorney in their lives, we’ve compiled a list of gift ideas for your last-minute shopping needs. Each year, we reach out to a few industry insiders for gift ideas that are practical, humorous or professional in nature. From smart calendar displays to marble run model kits, the following list offers several options for rounding out your gift giving plans. 

This year saw the start of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) issuing substantive decisions. As of December 9, the UPC has issued over 20 decisions on the merits, primarily involving infringement actions, and numerous decisions relating to provisional measures. The Court has granted injunctions in all cases where a patent has been found to be valid and infringed (including Standard Essential Patent (SEP) cases). The Court has been effective in resolving cases within a year. Key legal principles were clarified, including claim construction and requirements for the granting of provisional measures. The UPC’s approach to added subject matter so far aligns closely with European Patent Office (EPO) practice but its approach to inventive step differs.

With respect to patents subject to a commitment regarding licensing on a Fair Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory (FRAND) or Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory (RAND) basis, 2024 saw several notable developments impacting the United States. Interestingly, some of the most notable developments involved attempts to have U.S. courts limit the enforcement of foreign patents, as well as attempts to have the rates for U.S. patents determined abroad. This year also saw another election in the United States, the results of which will likely impact government policy on such matters.

A 2024 Republican election victory marks the end of the four-year Neo-Brandeisian antitrust experiment at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department Of Justice (DOJ). Spearheaded by FTC chair Lina Khan and DOJ attorney general for antitrust Jonathan Kanter, their movement sought to upend antitrust’s longstanding bipartisan consumer welfare-focused consensus. Instead, they focused on punishing businesses for bigness; opposing mergers and other business practices based on speculative rather than probable theories that of competitive harm; and orienting antitrust toward policy considerations outside economic competition, such as income redistribution, labor, and environmentalism.

It has been quite an eventful year for intellectual property law so far; from a new presidential administration coming into power in the United States, to movement on major patent legislation and a slew of rules packages being proposed (and occasionally finalized) by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the IP community has been kept on its toes.

This week in Other Barks & Bites: OpenAI files a response letter denying it deleted evidence in its copyright dispute with The New York Times; Google and the Department of Justice make their final arguments in online ad monopoly case; music economist Will Page releases report claiming music copyright industry is in a boom time.

Inventions are inspired by the problems and aspirations of the time they are made. They are also inspired by the fears. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, many people were terrified by the thought of being buried alive, and there was good reason for this. Although cremation and embalming existed, most people were simply washed, dressed, and buried at home. They were also buried quickly, typically within three days after death, to avoid decomposition.

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) established World IP Day (WIPD) 19 years ago to celebrate the day on which the WIPO Convention entered into force: April 26, 1970. And this year, WIPO has set as the theme for World IP Day 2024, “IP and the SDGs: Building our common future with innovation and creativity.” According to WIPO’s website, in order to reach the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), “we need to re-think how we live, work and play.” Intellectual property is, of course, a major part of this as the engine for “innovative and creative solutions that are so crucial to building our common future.”

Today, Judge Pauline Newman celebrates 40 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC). Newman was appointed to the court on January 30, 1984, by then-President Ronald Reagan and officially assumed office on February 28, 1984. Newman was the first judge to be appointed directly to the Federal Circuit; all of the standing judges at that time attained their position through the merger of the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals and the appellate division of the United States Court of Federal Claims. She filled the Federal Circuit vacancy created at that time by Judge Philip Nichols Jr., who had taken senior status.

On day one of the new year, we continue the IPWatchdog tradition of asking readers what they would like to see happen if their every IP wish could come true. Some commenters stuck with more realistic asks, such as for patent eligibility reform to move forward or that an extension of the waiver of IP rights under the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (TRIPS) will be opposed. Others went out on a limb by pulling for a new central patent court based in Hawaii or that congress will get its act together, for instance. Of course, the most popular dream articulated below is once again that patent eligibility certainty will be restored, either by the courts or congress.

We are less than 24 hours out from 2024 and, after reflecting on what mattered in 2023 and other year-in-review recaps, it is now time once again to ponder what lies ahead. From exciting patent legislation to Supreme Court trademark and copyright cases that could have big implications, here is what the IPWatchdog community will be keeping on its radar in the new year. 

In Part I of this article, we recapped some of the most notable trade secret cases of the past year that dealt with issues such as proving secrecy and exercising reasonable efforts, as well as the publication of a key judicial resource for trade secret cases. Below, we continue with some of the top trade secret cases and subject matter the courts addressed in 2023.  

The most significant development in IP in Europe in 2023—indeed arguably the most significant in nearly 30 years—was the launch of the Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court on June 1. The full implications of this are explored here. Beyond the UP and UPC, however, there were a number of. important developments in Europe affecting all the main IP rights.