Posts in IP News

On Tuesday, January 13, 2009, I wrote an article Nominating Gary Griswold for PTO Director.  In this article it was incorrectly stated that Steve Kunin was leaving private practice and was returning to the USPTO.  While my source was correct with respect to Kunin heading up a Reexamination/Reissue division, it is the Oblon Spivak Reexamination/Reissue Practice Group that Kunin will…

The owners of the trademarks on the popular American Idol TV program, FremantleMedia North America, Inc., have filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division.  This lawsuit came to my attention as I was watching Bill O’Reilly’s show on FOX, and his legal panel was discussing the merits of the lawsuit…

Over the past several months I have been nominating individuals who I think would make a good choice for the next Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property, also known as the Director of the USPTO.  It is my belief that the patent crisis that faces us requires that President-elect Obama nominate someone who is not only familiar with innovation and…

EDITORIAL NOTE:EDITORIAL NOTE: This post was originally published on October 14, 2008, by the PLI Patent Practice Center Blog. It has since become unavailable, so it is been republished here on IPWatchdog.com. As the Presidential election continues I want to put forth the name of another person that I think is qualified to be the next Under Secretary of Commerce…

EDITORIAL NOTE: This post was originally published on October 6, 2008, by the PLI Patent Practice Center Blog. It has since become unavailable, so it is been republished here on IPWatchdog.com. As the Presidential election continues to heat up it is time for me to start compiling names of those who I think are qualified to be the next Under…

Today you can hardly do a search on any search engine on the topic patents or trademarks without stumbling across an ad from LegalZoom.com, or one of the other numerous companies that promise to prepare and file patent or trademark applications on your behalf.  On September 15, 2008, the United States Patent & Trademark Office issued new rules that should have…

Microsoft is trying to patent a metered pay-as-you-go computing experience, which would give Microsoft exclusive rights to giving away computers for free, or virtually for free, and then charging a user fee for every hour the computer is used. What makes this application scary is not just the fact that Microsoft filed it, but that Microsoft has such a dominant position in the market that this could realistically become the future standard.

I hope and dream of the day when we get leadership at the PTO that will try and solve problems and reach out to the Patent Bar and see us as a part of the solution instead of the problem.  But as I said in my post yesterday on 7 reform suggestions for Congress, I doubt any of these will be…

After being told that patent reform in 2008 was all but a done deal, once again nothing happened.  I am happy that patent reform died in 2008 because the reforms that were being proposed were largely bad ideas, and they would have done absolutely nothing to address the many real and substantial problems that are facing the US patent system…

On November 17, 2008, I found a press release on Business Wire issued by AutoClear LLC discussing what allegedly transpired in a patent infringement lawsuit filed by American Science & Engineering, Inc. (ASE) against AutoClear in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.  The trouble with this particular press release was that it was apparently completely false,…

Yesterday the Wall Street Journal reported that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) fired MediaSentry, the Recording company it used to help it gather evidence for mass lawsuits it filed against people it claimed were illegally uploading copyrighted music. It would seem that the RIAA is finally coming to its senses and realizing that the way forward is not…

Popeye the Sailor, one of the most recognizable of all comic book characters, has recently fallen into the public domain in Europe, which means that anyone can use the image of the popular cartoon character throughout the European Union without having to pay royalties.  Of course, as with virtually any intellectual property news story the popular press did not get…

So far no one knows who President-Elect Barack Obama will appoint to be the Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property, a position known in the industry as the Director of the United States Patent & Trademark Office.  Right about now the appointment of a new PTO Director is likely the farthest thing from Obama’s mind given that recent reports suggest…

On Monday, December 22, 2008, Gatehouse Media, Inc. filed what can only be charaterized as a ridiculous and frivolous lawsuit against the New York Times alleging copyright infringement by the New York Times because one of the papers owned by the Time, namely the Boston Globe, was linking to original articles owned by Gatehouse Media.  The complaint filed by Gatehousealleges that the Boston Globe is…

It is that time of the year when everyone makes their resolutions, most of which are sure to be broken almost immediately in most cases, particularly when the resolution deals with losing weight or exercising.  Not to be deterred, I have made both of those resolutions myself and I am cautiously optimistic about the likelihood that I will stay the course…