Intellectual Property Law

Copyright Reform?, House IP Committee Nixed, Patent Terms Extended

By Brian Wm. Higgin

Calling for Copyright Reform

• "Given where we are on the patent reform debate, is it time to move patent reform off the table and work on copyright reform?" That is the question posed by Kristie Prinz at the Silicon Valley IP Licensing Law Blog.

No More Committee on Intellectual Property

• "House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) will abolish the Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property in the new Congress and instead keep intellectual property issues at the full committee level, a Judiciary aide told Congress Daily today." (source: Congressional Daily)

District Court Clarifies How PTO Should Compute Patent Terms

• Wyeth v. Dudas, No. 07-1492 (D.D.C. 2008): on September 30, 2008, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a decision concerning 35 U.S.C. § 154, the procedure the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) uses to calculates a patent's term.  Sec. 154 states that a patent grant shall be for a term beginning on the date on which the patent issues and ending 20 years from the date on which the application for the patent was filed in the United States or, if the application contains certain specific references to an earlier filed application or applications, from the date on which the earliest such application was filed. The 20-year term may be adjusted by the PTO to account for certain delays during prosecution. The Wyeth decision means that the PTO must alter its methods for adjusting patent terms, especially where prosecution lasts longer than three years as measured from the filing date. For a detailed analysis of Wyeth, see Down a Rabbit Hole: Court Slaps Down Patent Office’s ‘Explanation’ of PTA Rules (Patent Baristas).

Full post as published by Maryland Intellectual Property Law Blog on November 15, 2008 (boomark / email).