Patent Law

Rolling Stones' music on Cold Case "Shattered" episode

Posted on May 02, 2010
The season finale of Cold Case on 2 May 2010 involves two plotlines intertwined via some previously-unreleased Stones' tracks, including "Slave" at a pivotal point in both investigations. In one of the plotlines, Jeffries goes after the murder of a girl (Wanda) in Philadelphia's Badlands in 1993, ultimately implicating one of the big bosses in the department (Doherty played by Keith Szarabajka who had previously been a thorn in the team's side)...

Remember "Joe Friday" when prosecuting

Posted on April 30, 2010
The CAFC in Bradford v. Conteyor noted:However, we also agree with the district court that Bradford is estopped from arguing for an earlier priority date for the ?096 patent by the prosecution history of that patent. In one of his earlier rejections, the examiner rejected the claims as obvious in light of the ?119 patent combined with the Rader patent...

Mentalist ripped from Philly headlines?

Posted on April 30, 2010
The opening of "The Mentalist" on April 29 involved a list of "who's going to be fired" at a newspaper, in the same week as there might be a really belt-tightening list at the newly-purchased Philly Inquirer.Letterman on April 29 led off with yet another Mentalist joke: being able to tell the difference between a Goldman-Sachs crook from a Goldman-Sachs weasel...

Plagiarism as a reputation-destroying mistake?

Posted on April 30, 2010
Within a piece on career no-no's, one finds the line:While some workers make big, reputation-destroying mistakes (think plagiarism or sexual harassment), the vast majority make a series of choices that can quietly build or ruin their professional image in the workplace...

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Newman on experts in B-K Lighting

Posted on April 28, 2010
In a separate opinion in B-K Lighting, Judge Newman writes:On cross-motions for summary judgment, the district court granted the motion of Fresno Valves & Castings (?FVC?), and ruled that United States Patent RE 39,084, owned by B-K Lighting, is invalid on the ground of obviousness...

DJ Robinson's SJ in Oracle vacated

Posted on April 28, 2010
In Oracle v. Parallel Networks, the CAFC noted that because a reasonable jury could find that the accused Oracle products meet the ?releasing? limitation, this court vacates the D. Del?s grant of Oracle?s motion for summary judgment of non-infringement and its denial of Parallel Networks? motion for summary judgment of infringement.

Plagiarism in Texas: wikipedia masquerading as de Tocqueville?

Posted on April 28, 2010
Plagiarism charges arise in interesting contexts and can involve tortured inquiries. One of the more interesting quests of 2010 involves a charge made by Dr. Michael Soto arising in the area of the Texas State Board of Education [SBOE]. The queblog details the twists and turns, but it leads to plagiarism of wikipedia, and false attribution to de Tocqueville...

Artie Rai does cameo on Patent Docs

Posted on April 28, 2010
Patent Docs had analyzed a USPTO "white paper" and, subsequently, posted comments by Artie Rai.Within the comments upon Rai's comments was the following by Noonan:I am happy Dr. Rai took the time to respond. To clarify, the Paper itself contained three references that appeared to be unavailable to the public, which is why we asked that they be made available...

Lost iPhone saga: "Initially it's just a theft investigation."

Posted on April 28, 2010
The worldview of IPBiz commenter James Katt on the "lost" iPhone seems to be coming true. Declan McCullagh writes at CNET of the search/computer seizure at gizmodo editor Chen's home:Stephen Wagstaffe, chief deputy district attorney in San Mateo County, CA: "My prosecutor who is handling it considered this issue right off the bat when it was being brought into him and had some good reasons why he and the judge felt the warrant was properly issued...

Shanzhai!

Posted on April 27, 2010
from the Montreal Gazette on theChinese pavilion at Expo 2010:The trouble started more than a week ago when Expo organizers were confronted with suspicions a high-profile promotional song advertising the World's Fair featuring action hero/singer Jackie Chan and a host of other Chinese stars, 2010 Waiting for You, borrowed freely from a 13-year-old Japanese tune, Stay the Way You Are, by Mayo Okamoto...

DDB targets Yahoo in WD Texas

Posted on April 27, 2010
DDB (Dr. David Barstow, Prez) is suing Yahoo in WD Texas.Seehttp://ipbiz.blogspot.com/2008/02/at-least-two-blogs-have-brought-up.html

Gizmodo computers snagged

Posted on April 27, 2010
ComputerWorld reported officials from San Mateo County, CA grabbed six computers belonging to Jason Chen, an editor of Gizmodo and the guy who wrote the story on the "lost/found" iPhone prototype.See ya...

Tokyo gets tough on plagiarists

Posted on April 27, 2010
Following up on the Anilir matter [Plagiarist prof's PhD goes poof ], the University of Tokyo promises tighter screening and tougher penalties in the Ph.D. exam process.In addition to plagiarizing about 40% of his thesis, Anilir falsely claimed to have graduated from the Illinois Institute of Technology [IIT].

Johnny Appleseed: Kazakhstan frontman?

Posted on April 26, 2010
In an article on genetic testing within Science [328 Science 298, 302], one finds the text:"Unfortunately, Chapman, no geneticist, had drawn on a narrow stock of European apples--itself a narrow selection of wild apples, which are native to Kazakhstan...

Obama disappoints with picks for bioethics panel

Posted on April 26, 2010
IPBiz almost fell off its chair reading the headline in Science of the article titled "Obama Picks Pragmatists for New Bioethics Panel," which included as a second sentenceThe 12-member group, selected more for practical advice than for philosophizing, as the last one was prone to, will hold its first meeting in Washington, DC in July...

More on Kagan role in Tribe plagiarism

Posted on April 26, 2010
In a post titled Supreme Court: Kagan Accused of Plagiarism Scandal Whitewash, the Institute for Public Accuracy brings up past discussion of Elena Kagan's role in the plagiarism by Laurence Tribe.One does not expect this story to get much traction. Joe Biden copied five pages of a law review article into a first year paper at Syracuse Law School and almost no one remembered or cared...

Mishandled software redactions: the Blagojevich subpoena request

Posted on April 26, 2010
In previous posts (e.g., Disasters with Word's "track changes" ), IPBiz has highlighted downsides to using the "track changes" feature of Word. In the recent matter of attorneys for former governor Rod Blagojevich's defense team asking on 22 April 2010 for a subpoena of President Obama, one sees the consequences of not handling redactions properly...

Further in the Pangilinan matter

Posted on April 26, 2010
Filomeno S. Sta. Ana III writes of the Pangilinan matter, and additionally brings up a student plagiarism matter involving applied physics students at the University of the Philippines, which students submitted a technical paper as part of the course requirement titled "Observation of biometric properties of leg movement and gait analysis using a geniometer...

More unintended consequences

Posted on April 26, 2010
In August 2009, IPBiz, in the post Unintended consequences of Clunkers program? , likened the unintended consequences of "Cash for Clunkers" program to the unintended consequences of the USPTO's "reject, reject, reject" philosophy.Another example of the government not working through something is found in new banking regulations; from the NY Times:Stringent new banking regulations ? aimed both at curbing tax evasion and, under the Patriot Act, preventing money from flowing to terrorist groups ? have inadvertently made it harder for some expats to keep bank accounts in the United States and in some cases abroad...

Apple's missing iPhone: First Amendment vs. lost property

Posted on April 25, 2010
Of the iPhone 4G left in a Redwood City bar, Apple is working with local authorities; according to CNET:Apple has spoken to local police about the incident and the investigation is believed to be headed by a computer crime task force led by the Santa Clara County district attorney's office, the source said...

Accidental plagiarism?

Posted on April 25, 2010
In describing a situation wherein a poet (later) discovered a substantial similarity between a poem he wrote and one in a book he owned, Tom Bartlett wrote:This kind of plagiarism?if that's even the right word?is a different beast entirely from the cut-and-paste variety...

Google's Street View a problem in Germany?

Posted on April 25, 2010
From The Register, of the problem:Google's roving Street View spycam may blur your face, but it's got your number. The Street View service is under fire in Germany for scanning private WLAN networks, and recording users' unique Mac (Media Access Control) addresses, as the car trundles along...

NJ jury smokes Teva on Protonix (pantoprazole )

Posted on April 23, 2010
On April 23, 2010, a New Jersey jury found claims of a Pfizer patent covering the Protonix acid reflux drug (pantoprazole ) valid and infringed by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries.See previous IPBiz post: Wyeth undercuts Teva on Protonix The original patent was to Swiss drugmaker Nycomed and was licensed to Wyeth, which is now owned by Pfizer.

Letterman highlights inventor Nissen

Posted on April 23, 2010
On 22 April 2010, Dave Letterman did a piece on George Nissen who developed the trampoline and trademarked the name.

"Tomorrow belongs to me"?

Posted on April 22, 2010
The episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation on 22 April 2010 titled World's End had a Nazi-related theme. [Note song "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" performed by students in uniforms wherein the teacher says: a romantic dream; you've got to do it like you have genocide on your minds, tho there's a more intense line later about banana eaters]In the real world, in Hamilton Township, NJ, on 20 April 2010, a man with a Nazi armband crossed WhiteHorse-Mercerville Road, going toward the library...

Artistic plagiarism from Winnipeg

Posted on April 22, 2010
The Winnipeg Free Press wrote:Two Winnipeg artists are involved in a copyright dispute that is earning national attention.The Globe and Mail reported Wednesday that the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art (MMCA) has stopped screening a film by New York-based artist Marcel Dzama after he was accused of plagiarism by experimental filmmaker Deco Dawson...

CAFC finds no 1338 jurisdiction in licensing case

Posted on April 22, 2010
In finding it had no jurisdiction in the licensing case involved in CLEARPLAY v. MAX ABECASSIS and NISSIM CORP, the CAFC quoted the Supreme Court in Christianson: ?a claim supported by alternative theories in the complaint may not form the basis for § 1338(a) jurisdiction unless patent law is essential to each of those theories...

Permanent injunction vacated over prosecution history disclaimer

Posted on April 21, 2010
In Ilight v. Fallon, a jury verdict is overturned, with the CAFC noting:For the foregoing reasons, we hold that the district court erred in its construction of the claim terms ?rod? and ?rod-like.? The jury should have been instructed that the claimed invention did not include ?hollow? structure for the waveguide and that, in order to infringe, structure in the accused Fallon products corresponding to the waveguide could not be ?hollow...

Odd Horten learns from inventor posing as diplomat

Posted on April 20, 2010
In the Norwegian film O'Horten, the character Trygve Sissener passes himself off as a diplomat who has an inventor brother diagnosed as a schizophrenic (but who may be merely shy). The brother held a patent on a sewing machine to sew up people, but no one would buy it...

Nike at the CAFC

Posted on April 20, 2010
The conclusion of the CAFC decision in Gillig vs. Nike states:we affirm the [ND Tex] district court?s judgment that the trade secret claims are barred by the statute of limitations. We reverse the court?s judgment that the inventorship claims are barred by res judicata (except as to Triple Tee?s claims based on the alleged 2000 assignment), and remand for further proceedings on those claims...

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