Alec Pronk

This week in Other Barks & Bites: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) extends its Climate Change Mitigation program until 2027; the Unitary Patent System and accompanying Unitary Patent Court launches in Europe; the Supreme Court again denies an opportunity to review 35 U.S.C. § 101.

Last week, retired U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) Chief Judge Paul Michel and law professor John F. Duffy filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of CareDx, Inc. and the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. The company and university are asking the Supreme Court to review a 2022 decision invalidating claims of its patents directed to detection levels of donor cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in the blood of an organ transplant patient. In the amicus brief, Michel and Duffy wrote, “this case concerns [us] because it represents a continuing trend of uncertainty and inconsistency in patent-eligibility jurisprudence…The outcome undermines the innovation promoting goals of U.S. patent law.”

This week in Other Barks & Bites: The USPTO releases a blog post detailing the success of its Patent Pro Bono Program and announces a proposed pilot for micro entity applicants; NBA superstar LeBron James puts his weight behind Taco Bell in its battle to cancel the “Taco Tuesday” trademark; and Gilead and Teva sign a deal with pharmacies to avoid an antitrust suit.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) issued a precedential decision affirming a district court ruling that denied attorney fees to oil drilling equipment company, FMC Technologies. OneSubsea, a competitor in the offshore oil extraction industry, originally sued FMC for patent infringement in 2015; FMC subsequently countersued. At the heart of the patent infringement dispute was whether fluid flows through FMS’s device, as in the OneSubsea patent.

This week in Washington IP news, Congress is having a relatively quiet week, but the House will further discuss the impact of Pharmacy Benefit Managers on patients and the pharmaceutical industry. Elsewhere the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is holding an event offering guidance on how women entrepreneurs can seek startup capital.

This week in Other Barks & Bites: Sanofi wins its patent case against Amgen in front of the U.S. Supreme Court; Open AI CEO Sam Altman asks Congress to regulate the AI industry; and a former Apple employee was charged for stealing autonomous vehicle trade secrets from the tech firm.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) today published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to the Federal Register that proposes a separate design patent practitioner bar. Design patent practitioners would only be able to participate in design patent proceedings. The USPTO is seeking public comments on the changes through August 14, 2023. Currently, there is only one patent bar that oversees those who practice in patent matters before the USPTO, including utility, plant, and design patents. Those already registered to practice in patent matters before the USPTO would not be impacted by the change.

This week in Washington IP news, artificial intelligence is the hot topic of the week with the Senate and House both holding hearings on the subject. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will testify before the Senate as the young tech entrepreneur becomes the face of the emerging industry. Elsewhere, the USPTO is hosting a day-long expo on innovation in the green energy sector.