Patent Law

Does the doctrine of first sale immunize a buyer against trademark tarnishment?

Posted on March 04, 2010
From the Bridgewater, NJ library lot on March 4, 2010.Back in 2007, IPBiz illustrated the flaws in Hamilton, NJ being a "safest city" by illustrating a car parked in the library lot with six bullet holes in its side. In 2010, IPBiz shows the more subtle things that one finds in the Bridgewater library lot...

"Coalition for Patent Fairness" whacks new patent reform proposals

Posted on March 04, 2010
From Tech Giants Pan Patent Reform Deal:?It?s fair to say the high-tech community is highly alarmed by the draft of the compromise we?ve seen,? said Mark Isakowitz, a lobbyist who represents the coalition. ?The patent counsels reviewed the draft compromise and believe that it not only doesn?t accomplish our goals for patent reform, but actually is worse than current law...

Plagiarism: blame the staffer!

Posted on March 04, 2010
Related to a recent accusation that Connecticut Republican Senate candidate Rob Simmons' "plan for prosperity" contained portions copied without attribution from talking points on the Web site of the National Federation of Independent Business, the AP reported:"The campaign manager for Simmons, a former U...

Blogging judge

Posted on March 03, 2010
From Judge Gertner's entry in wikipedia: Gertner is to date the only Massachusetts judge to post to a personal blog. Though this has resulted in some criticism, Gertner maintains that judges are often too silent on issues they should publicly address...

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Pro se appellant outmaneuvers TTAB

Posted on March 03, 2010
Super Bakery, Inc. (Super Bakery) filed a Petition for Cancellation of U.S. Registration No. 2,966,255, owned by Mr. Benedict, on July 25, 2007. Mr.Benedict did not comply with discovery requests but did file a summary judgment motion. The TTAB rendered a default judgment based on discovery noncompliance against Mr...

Locke on the USPTO: "In some ways, it's like a Ponzi scheme"

Posted on March 03, 2010
Within an article by Chris O'Brien in the Mercury-News, one has the text:Still on the agenda is rethinking the way the patent office is funded. Filers pay a fee upon submitting an application, and then another fee if the patent is approved."In some ways, it's like a Ponzi scheme," Locke said...

Apple goes after HTC at ITC and in D Del

Posted on March 03, 2010
On March 2, 2010, Apple filed complaints against HTC with the U.S. International Trade Commission, and the U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Del., which can award damages and grant an injunction against HTC to stop sales.HTC makes the Nexus One, G1 and myTouch 3G, which use the free, rival Android mobile operating software from Google Inc...

March 2 NCIS "Mother's Day" brings back M. Allison Hart

Posted on March 03, 2010
One month after the Masquerade episode, NCIS brought back the "M. Allison Hart" character [played by Rena Sofer ] in the Mother's Day episode. This time it was Gibbs who called her, to represent his mother-in-law, played by Gena Rowlands.Allison got in a lawyer line about first year law school, and truth being over-rated, which could have been the tag line for this episode, wherein the real killer walks...

Patent attorney escapes malpractice assertion in Ohio

Posted on March 02, 2010
The case HEATHER A. DAVIS v. BROUSE MCDOWELL, L.P.A has much of interest to patent attorneys. First, it is a legal malpractice case AGAINST a patent attorney. Second, the subject matter of the patent applications at issue itself related to intellectual property: The IP-Exchange as a social networking platform targeted at ?intellectual property professionals and non-professionals alike...

Memorabilia card found obvious over Rader's dissent

Posted on March 02, 2010
Both the ?501 and ?532 patents are drawn to an invention that ?provide[s] an actual piece or portion of an item in combination with a photograph or the like of a famous figure having a relationship to the item.? ?501 patent col.1 ll.58-61; ?532 patent col...

Inconsistent verdict on obviousness

Posted on March 02, 2010
In COMAPER v. ANTEC, INC., the CAFC found problems with both jury verdicts andwith the district court's analysis.On a jury grasping patent law points:The jury found that independent claims 1 and 12 of the ?955 patent were not obvious. However, it also found that claims 2 and 7, which depend from claim 1, and claim 13, which depends from claim 12, were invalid as obvious...

The significance of current patent reform efforts

Posted on March 02, 2010
In an article titled Time growing short for patent reform, DOUG SHERWIN manages to entirely miss the boat on the latest round of patent reform. Of the textHe [Rosenberg] said the current provisions in the bill are focused on litigation reform.IPBiz notes that once Arlen Specter walked, there has been no "focus" on litigation reform in the patent reform bill...

Convincing third parties of the value of your invention

Posted on March 02, 2010
The Washington Post has an article on the Myriad patent case, titled: Lawsuit attacks patent giving company control over genetic test for cancer risk.IPBiz found interesting the emphasis on the following in a quote of Richard Marsh, executive VP of Myriad:"It is an expensive test; affordability is a concern...

Chicago Tribune picks up on false patent marking case

Posted on March 02, 2010
The Chicago Tribune on March 1, 2010 noted that Thomas Simonian of Geneva, Ill had filed 28 false patent marking suits in ND Illinois:His suits are against manufacturers of everyday consumer products, such as Advil pain reliever, Claritin-D allergy pills and Dr...

Men at Work's "Down Under" stolen from Australian teacher

Posted on February 05, 2010
Reuters notes:But Australia's Federal Court ruled on 4 Feb 2010 that part of the song's melody came from the children's ditty "Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree," written 70 years ago by Australian teacher Marion Sinclair for a Girl Guides competition...

Katie Couric does "Hide the Decline" on February 4

Posted on February 04, 2010
Katie Couric presented a fair amount of the "Hide the Decline" satire of the work of Penn State's Michael Mann. Although there was the usual professor saying "it's still all right" and labeling of the opposition as skeptics, one saw enough of the video to get the drift...

Justice Thomas recalls "Pitchfork Ben" Tillman

Posted on February 04, 2010
In comments related to President Obama's comments on the Supreme Court during the State of the Union speech, Justice Thomas gave some details on the first federal campaign finance law, the Tillman Act:[Thomas] added that the history of Congressional regulation of corporate involvement in politics had a dark side, pointing to the Tillman Act, which banned corporate contributions to federal candidates in 1907...

NFL blinks on "Who dat" trademark claim

Posted on February 04, 2010
From NBC New York via USA Today: On Tuesday [Feb. 2] night, the NFL appeared to bow to pressure by admitting, in writing, it did not have exclusive rights to the "Who Dat" phrase, fleur-de-lis symbol or the Saints black and gold team colors.See alsohttp://ipbiz...

NCIS Feb. 2 "Masquerade" brings back M. Allison Hart

Posted on February 03, 2010
The 2 February 2010 episode of NCIS titled "Masquerade" returned the "M. Allison Hart" character. Of interest in the plot was the role of outsourcing of intelligence services. The ultimate "bad guy" was the private sector guy receiving the outsourced money, trying of course to get more money...

Fee diversion: from a fortune cookie to Joff Wild

Posted on February 03, 2010
A comment from Joff Wild to an IPBiz post ended with the following text expressing surprise that AIPLA, IPO, and AUTM did not express outrage at the latest fee diversion from the USPTO by Congress:I remain surprised that none of these organisations seem to have spoken out against what is effectively a budget cut at the USPTO...

On the value of webcams

Posted on February 03, 2010
from news.yahoo:A woman admiring the sunset on a tourist webcam in northern Germany spotted a man who was lost on the frozen North Sea and probably saved his life by alerting authorities, police said Feb. 3, 2010. (...)Unable to locate the beach, the man began using his camera to flash for help...

Myriad case on Feb. 2 in SD NY

Posted on February 03, 2010
The headline at USAToday on Feb. 2's Myriad case in SD NY was Medical groups assail patenting of human genes and there was text:The suit is supported by groups such as the American Medical Association, the March of Dimes and the American Society for Human Genetics...

How to value patents: in the eye of the beholder?

Posted on February 02, 2010
In a recent post, the IAM blog, in discussing patent valuation by the National Science Foundation [NSF], noted:Patents on inventions for which protection is sought in the United States, the EU, and Japan require substantial resources for obtaining and maintaining them...

On the claim that Apple's iPad is a copy of the Chinese P88

Posted on February 01, 2010
On the claim that Apple's iPad is a copy of the Chinese P88, see Wired.As to the trademark dimension of the intellectual property involved in the iPad, note the issue with prior rights to the name iPad owned by Fujitsu. Ian Paul at computerworld discusses some of the issues in a post iPad: Just the Latest Apple Trademark Dispute ...

Captain Renault lives on?

Posted on February 01, 2010
One of the memorable exchanges in the movie Casablanca was:Captain Renault: "I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here." Emile: "Your winnings, sir." Captain Renault: "Thank you very much." In 2010, Congress diverts fees from the patent office and the IAM blog is shocked that no one is outraged?Poseurs masquerading as Claude Rains? A note to the IAM blog on its post, Where is the outrage? :In the initial sentence of the IAM post, there is reference to a Patently-O post of 21 Jan 2010 [Director Kappos on the USPTO's (lack of) Funding]...

Trademarks: " Aerosmith without Steven Tyler is like the Rolling Stones without Mick Jagger "

Posted on January 31, 2010
What would the typical consumer associate with the name Aerosmith? Within news.yahoo one has the text:Contrary to all common sense, you are seeking to bring about the replacement of Steven Tyler. Aerosmith without Steven Tyler is like the Rolling Stones without Mick Jagger, or U2 without Bono...

No, "open innovation" isn't the answer

Posted on January 31, 2010
Back in March 2009, IPBiz discussed "Promoting Intellectual Discovery: Patents Versus Markets", written by Debrah Meloso, Jerney Copic, and Peter Bossaerts.Flash forward to 28 Jan 2010, and Jeffrey H. Toney writes in blog.nj:I believe, in part by replacing the current patent system that is founded in exclusive (intellectual) property rights...

Ironic use by IPCC's Pachauri of term "voodoo science"

Posted on January 31, 2010
Back around 2000, Bob Park had a book titled Voodoo Science: The Road from Foolishness to Fraud which had much to say, among other things, about Joe Newman's perpetual motion machine. An editorial review at amazon.com includes the text:Park is less forgiving of scientists (especially Edward Teller) when he thinks they've fallen down on the job, a job that should include helping the public separate the scientific wheat from the voodoo chaff...

On "innovation-less" endings

Posted on January 31, 2010
Recalling the three mentions of "innovation" in the State of the Union speech on 28 Jan 2010, remember the text on the demise of Howard Johnson's: "The Case of Howard Johnson's Restaurant Chain: Schumpeter's Creative Entrepreneurial Beginning and "Innovation-less" Ending"See Historyville HoJo's for pictures of the three remaining HoJo restaurants.

More problems with IPCC report surface

Posted on January 31, 2010
Further to the problem with the report on Himalayan glaciers receding, other difficulties with the IPCC report have surfaced.See UN climate change panel based claims on student dissertation and magazine article

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