Posts Tagged: "Guest Contributor"

This episode of IP Goes Pop! ®, takes you on a journey through the iconic world of the Barbie universe and brand, exploring its deep-rooted connections with pop culture and intellectual property law. Hop in the dream car and journey with Volpe Koenig Shareholders and podcast hosts, Michael Snyder and Joseph Gushue to a land of pink corvettes, with a few pitstops at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Kicking off with a discussion of the recent cinematic triumphs of the Barbie movie released this year (2023), your hosts delve into how this classic brand has been brought to life on the big screen captivating audiences around the globe.

Privacy and data security issues can scuttle a deal or at least cost the parties a lot of money. For example, in the due diligence process involving the 2017 acquisition of Yahoo by Verizon, Yahoo disclosed two serious data breaches that compromised over a billion accounts. Yahoo had previously attempted to cover this up. The deal went ahead for nearly $4.5 billion but not before Verizon knocked $350 million off the transaction price and Yahoo paid over $100 million to settle SEC fraud charges and class action lawsuits.

Brazil is among the countries currently in the spotlight in the automotive sector. The nation was ranked sixth, according to a survey published in January 2023 by Motor1, among the countries with the highest number of vehicles sold in 2022, and the market for electric vehicles (EVs) is emerging, as the number of EVs sold in Brazil increased by 58% in the first semester of 2023 compared to the same period last year..

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a field of computer science that creates software or models that mimic human reasoning or inference. Machine learning is a subset of AI which uses algorithms trained on massive amounts of data to allow the computer to learn with gradually improving accuracy without explicitly being programmed. The biopharmaceutical and healthcare fields produce massive amounts of data, including properties and characteristics of drug compounds, biological, genomic, and clinical data, efficacy of treatments, adverse events and risks, and electronic health records. The data may come from many sources, both public and proprietary. AI systems trained on such data can streamline and optimize the drug development process, including drug discovery, diagnosing diseases, identifying treatments and risks, designing clinical trials, and predicting safety and efficacy profiles, leading to increasing efficiency and reducing costs. 

Friends and former colleagues: If one of the members of our judicial “family” suffers some kind of health event, our first action should be to rush to help. Kindness and brother/sisterhood requires no less. If I can recall some history on our circuit, when Dan Friedman or Giles Rich or others were suffering from declining health, we rushed as their friends and colleagues to offer help, support, and comfort. As Chief Judge, I visited Dan in the hospital once or twice a week for months and then reached out to other colleagues to ensure someone visited him every day. By the way, the most willing participant in our court support network was Judge Polly Newman.

A recent decision out of the Eastern District of Texas granted the plaintiff patent owner summary judgment with respect to the defendants’ counterclaim that the plaintiff breached licensing related obligations owed to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) by not communicating with the defendants prior to suing for infringement…. While the result is reasonable, the explanations provided by the court raise several questions.

Famously, section 337 investigations before the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) are fast. By statute, the ITC must conclude section 337 investigations “at the earliest practicable time . . .” 19 U.S.C. § 1337(b)(1). Investigations institute within 30 days after the Commission receives a complaint, evidentiary hearings (akin to trial) regularly occur within 8–9 months, and the ITC’s target dates for completing investigations routinely land at 14–16 months.

If a sanctions order is the stuff of a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) practitioner’s bad dreams, then the issuance of sanctions outright cancelling a client’s patent(s) qualifies as their worst nightmare. That nightmare happened to Longhorn Vaccine (“Longhorn”) in April of this year, when the PTAB canceled five  of its patents as sanctions for Longhorn’s violation of the duty of candor relating to withholding test data that the PTAB deemed relevant to the patentability of the challenged claims. A month later, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Director Kathi Vidal sua sponte ordered Director Review of PTAB’s sanctions order. We now await her decision. This article examines the PTAB’s unprecedented sanctions order in the context of Director Vidal’s recent crackdown on inter partes review (IPR) abuses and provides guidance as to what practitioners can do now to avoid accusations of misconduct before the PTAB.

Breakthrough discoveries often receive the spotlight and intellectual property (IP) protection. Unfortunately, lesser, yet nonetheless valuable, contributions often go unrecognized and unprotected. Determining when to contact your institution’s Technology Transfer Office in order for them to assess research projects for IP protection is vital. Reaching out to Tech Transfer early and often will help researchers protect their accomplishments and receive the recognition they deserve.

The period following the filing of a section 337 complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) can be chaotic. During this period, the Commission “examine[s] the complaint for sufficiency and compliance with” its rules, 19 C.F.R. § 210.9(a), routinely asks the complainant to provide additional information, and typically decides whether to institute an investigation within 30 days after the complaint is filed, see 19 C.F.R. § 210.10(a)(1). The complainant must address the Commission’s requests for additional information while preparing for the coming investigation. The named respondents must scramble to find counsel, assess the allegations, and ready for battle. And all section 337 litigants confront a series of strategic decisions that can send them on the path to success or failure in the investigation.

The Canadian Federal Court of Appeal (FCA), in Attorney General of Canada v. Benjamin Moore & Co. [2023 FCA 168], a 3-0 decision, recently set aside the test on subject matter eligibility of computer-implemented inventions laid down by the Federal Court [2022 FC 923] last year. Acclaimed by patent professionals as a “favorable decision for Canadian applicants who have computer-implemented inventions,” the test had, for the first time, presented a declaratory relief and guidance for examining subject-matter eligibility, particularly for computer-implemented inventions. While the setting aside of the test relays subject matter assessments back to the procedure set by the Commissioner of Patents (Canada), the FCA clarified some key areas associated with the claim construction and patentability analysis.

The Hatch-Waxman Act (“the Act”) was designed to strike a delicate balance between pharmaceutical innovation and faster access to affordable drugs. However, one aspect of the Act, the patent listing process, when used improperly, can knock this balance out of whack. Unfortunately, in the present environment, the potential for improper patent listing is high, and current remedies are insufficient.

The Supreme Court’s decision in Amgen Inc. v. Sanofi, 143 S. Ct. 1243, 1248 (2023), found that antibody claims defined by their binding and blocking function lacked enablement…. The Supreme Court’s decision relied highly on the unpredictability of the art—scientists cannot always predict how substitutions of even single amino acids will affect the binding and/or blocking function of an antibody. The disclosed methods of identifying species within the scope of the claim were little more than “trial and error.”… The consensus seems to be that Amgen generally forecloses broad genus claims in the biotechnology field. The remaining questions are: Are patent applicants limited to claiming species (e., sequence listings)? What steps may a patent applicant take to obtain broader coverage?

Regulatory Law in the Life Sciences and Agribusiness sector plays an essential role in balancing scientific innovation and the protection of public interests. In Brazil, a country recognized for its vast biodiversity and potential for scientific research, regulation in this field is crucial to ensuring responsible access to genetic resources and to address emerging issues, such as cannabis regulation. Before commercializing products in the Brazilian market, a company must be able to navigate a vast array of laws and regulations, especially in cases involving pharmaceuticals, seeds, pesticides, food or feed, cosmetics and medical devices. On top of that, when it comes to biotechnology related products involving genetically modified organisms (GMOs), or products derived from access to genetic resources or where traditional knowledge is associated, another layer of rules is applicable.

The regulatory framework for the inter partes review (IPR) process has long been the subject of criticism from both patent owners and petitioners. There is a growing consensus that the existing rules need to be revised to address loopholes and unintended consequences that have developed over the 10 years the America Invents Act (AIA) has been in effect. To that end, both the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and Congress have proposed changes in the regulatory framework. While the two disparate approaches seek to change the IPR playing field, their purpose and approach are significantly different. This article discusses those similarities and differences.