Patent Law

White squirrel of Hamilton, NJ

Posted on November 28, 2008
This fellow was spotted on November 28.Of Hamilton landmarks no longer seen, one notes the absence of Fezziwigs and Patterson Chevrolet.

Publicizing shoplifters vs. publicizing plagiarists

Posted on November 27, 2008
A mall in Staten Island flashes pictures of convicted shoplifters:Every six minutes, digital billboards in the Staten Island Mall will flash the photos of five convicted shoplifters for 15 seconds. These ads will appear on eight and nine-foot-tall plasma screens dubbed "Smart Screens," that have a 65-inch digital display...

NPEs, trolls, and patent strategies

Posted on November 27, 2008
InfoWorld has a piece on "patent trolls" -- NPEs (non-practicing entities) . The name non-practicing entity implies that the entity does NOT practice the invention, but InfoWorld writes: As the name implies, NPEs do no research and hold no patents of their own making...

EPO/EBA say no to WARF on stem cell patent application

Posted on November 27, 2008
Reuters reported on Thursday, Nov. 27: European regulators on Thursday ruled against allowing a patent on developing human embryonic stem cells, a decision that could stifle research by stem cell companies for commercial purposes.The rationale: "European patent law prohibits the patenting of human stem cell cultures whose preparation necessarily involves the destruction of human embryos," the European Patent Office said in a statement...

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POPA meets on 4 Dec 08 to discuss patent issues

Posted on November 27, 2008
From the POPA newsletter:Discuss Patents Issues for the New Administration at THE POPA ANNUAL MEETING December 4, 12-1 p.m. Madison Auditorium

Doll of USPTO: wait till 2012

Posted on November 26, 2008
EETimes has the following quote from John Doll:"At our current rate in about 2012 filings may equal the number of cases we process, but we will probably have 800,000 cases in the backlog by then, so we need to gain efficiencies in the system, and that's what we are trying to do with some new programs...

Another university president plagiarizes

Posted on November 26, 2008
In bit of almost comic stupidity, President Raj Chopra of Southwestern University in California (Chula Vista) plagiarized a Thanksgiving greeting from the CEO of Southwest Airlines.The text was a trivial allusion to President Lincoln, but it copied too much:The paragraph in question reads:?Even during the dark days of 1863 during the Civil War, President Lincoln found much for which to be thankful: 'The year that is drawing towards its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies...

Barr to challenge Anesta over AMRIX (cyclobenzaprine)

Posted on November 26, 2008
MarketWatch: Barr Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (of Montvale, NJ) on Nov. 26 confirmed that its subsidiary, Barr Laboratories, Inc., has initiated a challenge of the patent listed by Anesta in connection with its Amrix(R) (cyclobenzaprine hydrochloride) extended-release capsules, 15mg and 30mg...

The directors of the IPO

Posted on November 26, 2008
Merely fyi, a link to pictures of the directors of the Intellectual Property Owners Association [IPO], Steven W. Miller of Procter & Gamble (current president) and David J. Kappos of IBM (current vice-president).

Whyte grants Rambus motion in DDR2 case

Posted on November 26, 2008
On November 24, Rambus won a (small) pretrial ruling in its case in ND Cal, of which Bloomberg had the following text in a Nov. 25 article:The ruling means Whyte ?already found one claim for Rambus that they won?t have to argue,? Jeff Schreiner, an analyst at San Diego-based Capstone Investments who doesn?t own Rambus shares, said today in a phone interview...

Ex parte Halligan

Posted on November 25, 2008
In setting up the obviousness analysis, the BPAI in Halligan wrote:The question of obviousness is resolved on the basis of underlying factual determinations including (1) the scope and content of the prior art, (2) any differences between the claimed subject matter and the prior art, (3) the level of skill in the art, and (4) where in evidence, so-called secondary considerations...

Patent Docs on Wegner complaining about Pinkos

Posted on November 25, 2008
Kevin Noonan at Patent Docs wrote:But in a series of e-mails sent to members of his extensive mailing list, Mr. Wegner, the dean of U.S. patent commentators, uncharacteristically excoriated the appointment of Stephen M. Pinkos to a position on the Patent Public Advisory Committee (P-PAC)...

EETimes on RPX, again

Posted on November 25, 2008
As was the case in September, 2008, EETimes promptly followed up on a story in the Wall Street Journal on patent acquisition companies, including RPX. There was text:"One of RPX's key value points is the speed of their decision making with respect to potential acquisitions, enabled by an independent team of professionals that does not require membership or investor approval," said Mike Mclean, vice president of professional services at Semiconductor Insights (Kanata, Ontario), part of United Business Media which publishes EE Times...

Allentown PA house atomized but people inside survive

Posted on November 25, 2008
An explosion in Allentown, PA on 25 Nov 08 atomized one house, and damaged some adjacent homes. There were at least two oddities:#1. Even though there was nothing left of the house, the two people who were INSIDE the house at the time of the explosion survived...

Apple accused of infringing US 7,441,196 with iPhone

Posted on November 24, 2008
EMG has filed suit against Apple in ED Texas for allegedly infringing US patent 7,441,196 with the internet navigation system of the iPhone.MacWorld wrote:EMG?s, patent, filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and given U.S. Patent number 7,441,196, describes an ?Apparatus and method of manipulating a region on a wireless device screen for viewing, zooming and scrolling internet content...

Hesco wins over Blue Marines

Posted on November 24, 2008
MarketWatch reported: Hesco Bastion Limited, the manufacturer of patented Concertainer(R) units used in military force protection, homeland security and flood protection, announced today that a U.S. federal court has issued a consent order and judgment, favorably resolving a case the company brought against Blue Marines Services, Inc...

Possibilities for USPTO director

Posted on November 24, 2008
Concluding that "half the names you're hearing are because of self-promotion and the other half are logical," a blog mentions several names for USPTO Director under Obama: Q. Todd Dickinson, Robert Armitage [by McCain maybe, but by Obama???], Gary Griswold [same, ?], patent attorneys Ray Millien and James Pooley, law professors Mark Lemley of Stanford and Arti Rai of Duke...

WSJ mentions RPX again

Posted on November 24, 2008
Don Clark, in an article titled Start-Up Takes on 'Patent Trolls' begins:A San Francisco start-up [RPX] is disclosing details of a new service to address patent risks facing technology companies, and has lined up Cisco Systems Inc. and International Business Machines Corp...

On conflicts and giving a lecture at the Ritz Carlton Golf Resort in Naples, Fla.

Posted on November 24, 2008
A New York Times story, based on an investigation by Senator Charles E. Grassley, reported that Dr. Frederick K. Goodwin, a former director of the National Institute of Mental Health and current host of the NPR radio program "The Infinite Mind" -->had received from GlaxoSmithKline $2,500 to give a promotional lecture for its mood stabilizer drug, Lamictal, at the Ritz Carlton Golf Resort in Naples, Fla...

Sandwich assembly tool

Posted on November 23, 2008
Note the following THREE published patent applications:#1. 20060134273, from 11/018989, filed December 21, 2004Abstract: The present invention relates to a sandwich assembly tool and methods of making a sandwich, which may be a hot or cold sandwich, quickly by pre-assembly of various sandwich components and simultaneous preparation of different parts of the same sandwich...

Hinman leading IP strategy at Verizon after stint at Allied Security Trust

Posted on November 22, 2008
In July 2008, IPBiz had a post on Brian Hinman then of Allied Security Trust.One month later, Hinman had moved to Verizon, with Reuters writing:Effective Sept. 1, [2008] Hinman will be responsible for leading the intellectualproperty strategy for the corporation, including both its Verizon Telecom andVerizon Wireless business groups...

Was Loye Young wrong in seeking public exposure of plagiarists?

Posted on November 22, 2008
Janet D. Stemwedel at scienceblogs discussed the Loye Young/Texas A&M International University plagiarism matter.She took an anti-plagiarism stance:I do want to think just a little about the larger question, though: How can we better discourage plagiarism?Clearly, warning students that plagiarism will earn them failing grades does not stop them from plagiarizing...

CAFC not citing law reviews very much

Posted on November 21, 2008
Patently-O has a post on citation to law review articles by the CAFC. The low abundance of cites has been discussed in the past.Also of note:Judge Plager takes on Nard and Duffy: easier to critique than to be originalhttp://ipbiz.blogspot.com/2007/05/do-academics-read-papers-they-cite...

Leader sues Facebook over US 7,139,761

Posted on November 19, 2008
Leader Technologies has sued Facebook in D. Delaware over US Patent 7,139,761.

Myriad wins partial victory at EPO over BRCA

Posted on November 19, 2008
An AFP story gives several quotes on the EPO decision concerning a patent to Myriad:"The problem in the Myriad case is not that they have a patent, but that they abused their monopoly," commented Dominique Stoppa-Lynnet, a professor of genetics at the Institut Curie in Paris who launched the legal challenge against the company in 2004...

Novartis makes plans for Diovan going off patent in 2012

Posted on November 19, 2008
MarketWatch reports: Novartis is working on several drugs that will combine its new heart medicine Rasilez and another drug in a single pill to prepare for the expected loss of revenue when the patent of its best-selling drug Diovan will expire in four years, the Swiss drugmaker said November 19, 2008...

Homewood Suites proves Jorge Santayana right

Posted on November 19, 2008
On 11 Sept. 08, IPBiz, in a post titled A must to avoid when in Baltimore , IPBiz recounted some of the horrors of a visit to Homewood Suites in Baltimore. The "good news" on a re-visit on 19 Nov. is that the toilet seat was in fact fastened down. The bad:Picture of fan...

PatentHawk posts Chamber of Commerce draft on patent reform

Posted on November 19, 2008
A portion (from page 5) notes do examinations right the first time . This paragraph includes "improper rejection" under the general rubric of poor quality examination.

Loyola of Chicago says no to unintentional plagiarism

Posted on November 19, 2008
Taking a stance in opposition to SIU, Loyola University of Chicago finds unintentional plagiarism to be a bad thing:At the Phoenix, we do not take the issue of plagiarism lightly - it is not tolerated in any way, shape or form. What constitutes plagiarism is not easily defined, but taking another writer's idea and structure - whether intentional or not - is an offense...

The PTO should wait for the courts on Tafas? Is there a choice?

Posted on November 18, 2008
The law review article entitled BAD MEDICINE: ECONOMIC DISADVANTAGE AND CLAIM LIMITATION IN AN AILING PATENT OFFICE [Elisabeth Marie Koehnemann, 15 J. Intell. Prop. L. 343] ends with the following conclusion:Whether or not the claim limitation rules proposed by the PTO are finally implemented, the significant problems present within the PTO will still burden the already sluggish patent prosecution system...

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