Iowa Inventors and Nobel Prize Winners While there are many significant inventions by people with Iowa roots, there are at least two Iowans whose inventions and discoveries led to the prestigious Nobel Prize. These inventors and their work may not be well known to the general public, but their work clearly was special. Robert A. Millikan was born in 1868 in […] Read Post →
The BIRDIE Act: Copyrights for Golf Courses The Bolstering Intellectual Rights against Digital Infringement Enhancement (a.k.a. the BIRDIE Act) is a non-partisan bill introduced by Congressmen Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Jimmy Panetta (D-Ca) on February 5, 2024 to provide copyright protection for architectural designs of golf courses. The bill proposes to amend the copyright laws by amending the definition of “architectural works” […] Read Post →
Cool Iowa Products Competition COOLEST THINGS MADE IN IOWA MVS is celebrating our 100 year anniversary, and Iowa inventors have been making great inventions in a wide variety of technologies and industries for all of these decades. Some examples of Iowa related inventions that changed the world include the first gasoline powered tractor invented in Waterloo by John Froelich […] Read Post →
U.S. Design Patent 1,000,000 On September 26, 2023, the United States Patent and Trademark Office granted the 1 millionth design patent to Agustina Huckaby from Fort Worth Texas. The title of this invention is Dispensing Comb, and it looks like this: Design patents protect the ornamental appearance of an object, apart from its functionality. The term for a design […] Read Post →
Bill Introduced in Congress to Fix Patent Eligibility Mess Last week, Senators Chris Coons (D-DE) and Thom Tillis (R- NC), both long time members of the intellectual property subcommittee, introduced a bill entitled “Patent Eligibility Restoration Act of 2023.” This bill, if enacted, would eliminate the historical judicially created exceptions to patent eligibility. The law on patent eligibility has been in disarray for at […] Read Post →
Court Battles in U.S. End for AI Inventorship On April 24, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to accept the case to consider the question of whether artificial intelligence can be the named inventor on a patent application. Dr. Stephen Thaler, who filed two patent applications in 2019 naming his computer (whom he calls “DABUS”) as the sole inventor, had petitioned the Supreme Court […] Read Post →
Patent Office (Again) Seeking Comments on AI Inventions On Feb. 14, the United States Patent and Trademark Office published a notice in the Federal Register requesting comments by May 15 from stakeholders regarding the current state of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and inventorship issues. Acknowledging that AI is playing a greater role in the innovation process, the USPTO is seeking input for incentivizing […] Read Post →
2022 U.S. Patent Filings Statistics The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office received 646,855 patent applications in fiscal 2022 (October 1, 2021 – September 30, 2022), according to preliminary data from the USPTO. This is a slight decrease over filings in 2021. These filings include 589,155 utility applications, 54,476 design applications, and 918 plant applications. In addition, 147,339 provisional applications were filed […] Read Post →
Congressional Bill on Patent Eligibility Receives Judicial Support Proposed legislation to fix the patent eligibility mess has been endorsed by two retired judges from the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, former chief judge Paul Michel and former judge Kathleen O’Malley. The bipartisan legislation, introduced in August and entitled The Patent Eligibility Restoration Act, is co-sponsored by Senator Thom Tillis (R – N.C.) and […] Read Post →
New Organization Created to Promote Strong IP Rights The Council for Innovation Promotion was launched on September 22 as a bipartisan coalition to promote strong and effective intellectual property rights. The organization was formed by a team of leaders in intellectual property: Frank Cullen, former V.P of U.S. Policy, Chamber of Commerce Global Innovation Policy Center; Andrei Iancu, former Under Secretary of Commerce […] Read Post →
Third Retired CAFC Judge Laments Patent Eligibility Mess Last week, retired Chief Judge Randall Rader, of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, expressed concern over the ongoing problem with patent eligibility. Rader, whose 24 years on the Court ran from 1990 – 2014, stated that his former court is contributing to the confusion and flaws on the eligibility issue. Rader blames, […] Read Post →
Supreme Court Punts on Patent Eligibility Despite having the ball and everyone cheering for them, the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to go for a win, and denied a grant certiorari in American Axle & Manufacturing v. Neapco Holdings, LLC. Despite overwhelming support for the Court to take up this case to provide clarity to the ongoing uncertainty of patent eligibility, […] Read Post →
Conflicting Precedent for the Supreme Court in American Axle The U.S. Department of Justice is encouraging the Supreme Court to grant certiorari to American Axle to clarify U.S. patent eligibility law. Thus, it appears that the chances are better than ever for this issue to get some much-needed attention. American Axle & Manufacturing, Inc., v. Neapco Holdings LLC involves a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals […] Read Post →
New Head for U.S. Patent & Trademark Office Confirmed by Senate On April 5, 2022, the U.S. Senate confirmed Kathy Vidal as the new Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the US Patent & Trademark Office. The position had been vacant for over a year following President Biden taking office, though Drew Hirshfeld had been informally fulfilling the duties of the director. […] Read Post →
Retired Federal Circuit Judge Seeks Patent Law Clarification With her retirement from the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on March 11, 2022, Judge Kathleen O’Malley feels the need to express her sentiments on several patent law issues that need attention from the Supreme Court or from Congress. She served on this Court (which has exclusive jurisdiction for patent appeals from U.S. […] Read Post →
Law Firms Pull Out of Russia In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, many multi-national law firms are closing their Russian offices. At least two dozen big law firms have decided to stop business for the foreseeable future. This affects upwards of 1000 attorneys practicing in Russia. Some firms are moving their Moscow-based attorneys out of the country, at least in […] Read Post →
Nintendo Game Console Creator Passes Away Masayuki Uemura, the lead engineer of the Nintendo popular home video game system, passed away on December 6, 2021, in Japan at the age of 78. With an electronic engineering degree from Chiba Institute of Technology, Uemura initially worked at Sharp Corporation. He went to work at Nintendo in 1971 and became head of hardware […] Read Post →
Congressman/Inventor Introduces Legislation to “Fix” U.S. Patent System On November 4th, Kentucky Representative, Thomas Massie, who is the named inventor on two dozen patents, has introduced a bill to the House Judiciary Committee which, if passed, would significantly change U.S. patent laws. The bill seeks to nullify some provisions of the America Invents Act (AIA) passed in 2011, as well as reverse some […] Read Post →
Design Patents Just Got Easier In a short, four page, precedential opinion issued on October 4, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that design patents are limited to specific articles of manufacture, and not a design in the abstract. In re Surgisil, L.L.P., case number 2020-1940. The patent applicant, Surgisil, filed a design patent […] Read Post →
THE FIGHT IS ON: MOHAMMAD ALI V. ALIBABA The U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board will referee the thriller action between two giants over the rights to the trademark/name ALI. In case number 91269471, Alibaba Group Holding Limited has challenged application serial number 90/203382 filed by Mohammad Ali Enterprises, LLC. Alibab’s opposition filing is 419 pages long, including a 20 page brief and […] Read Post →
Inventor of Revolutionary Cassette Tape Passes Away The inventor of the cassette tape, Lou Ottens, passed away at 95 last week. The Dutch mechanical engineer began working for Philips in 1952, and became head of the product development department in 1957. Seeking an improvement to reel-to- reel recording spools and their problem with loose tape, Ottens’ goal was an enclosed case which […] Read Post →
Letters To and From Senators Express Concern Over Patent Eligibility Problems The Intellectual Property Owners Association, a trade group representing patent owners, recently sent a public letter to U.S. Senators who are on the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property and on the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet in the House, voicing concerns over the current state of the law on patent eligibility. […] Read Post →
“Safe Harbor” Act May Save Pfizer From Infringement for Covid Vaccine Clinical Trials In October, 2020, Allele Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals sued Pfizer, Inc. for infringement of U.S. patent 10,221,221 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. The pre-Covid ‘221 patent, entitled MONOMERIC YELLOW – GREEN FLUORESCENT PROTEIN FROM CEPHALOCHORDATE, issued on March 5, 2019, and claims priority to a provisional application filed on July […] Read Post →
Congress Rescues Injunctions for Trademark Owners On December 27, 2020, as part of stimulus package approved by Congress, the Trademark Modernization Act (TMA) was signed into law. This law revived the presumption of irreparable harm for trademark owners against trademark infringers. Prior to 2006, trademark owners enjoyed a presumption of irreparable harm when infringement was proven. Then the U.S. Supreme Court […] Read Post →
Praised Patent Office Director Resigns United States Patent and Trademark Office Director Andrei Iancu resigned as director of the agency, receiving high praise from the Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Thom Tillis (North Carolina). Senator Tillis told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Jan. 19 that Iancu’s leadership was the “gold standard,” and that Iancu […] Read Post →
World Trade Organization Considers IP Rights for Covid Vaccines Today, December 10, 2020, the World Trade Organization (WTO) meets in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss proposals that, if approved, would waive or block some worldwide intellectual property rights regarding Covid 19 vaccines. In October, India and South Africa raised this IP issue with WTO, arguing that in view of the pandemic, freeing the vaccines from […] Read Post →
UK Court Decision: Artificial Intelligence Machine Is Not An Inventor DABUS, the artificial intelligence machine named as the sole inventor on two UK patent applications, has been denied the status of inventor by the Patent Court of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales. In an appeal from the UK Patent Office by the applicant, Stephen Thaler, the Court ruled on September 21, […] Read Post →
Gore-Tex Inventor Passes Away Robert W. Gore, who invented the waterproof material called Gore-Tex, passed away on September 17, 2020. Gore was born in 1937 in Salt Lake City, Utah. He earned a bachelors degree in chemical engineering from the University of Delaware in 1959, and received master and PhD degrees in Chem E from the University of Minnesota […] Read Post →
PIXEL PIONEER PASSES The computer scientist who created the pixel in 1957 passed away on August 11 in Portland, Oregon. Russell Kirsch was 91 years old. His first digital image using pixels was a 2”x 2” black and white photo of his three month old son, with only 30,976 total pixels (176 per side). In comparison, cell phone […] Read Post →
US Patent Office Sued For Requiring Human Inventor on Patent Applications On August 6, 2020, Stephen Thaler sued the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, case number 1:20-cv-00903 for requiring him to name a natural person as the inventor on two patent applications which he filed relating to a light beacon and a […] Read Post →
Bayh-Dole Act Turns 40 The Patent and Trademark Law Amendments Act, commonly known as the Bayh-Dole Act, was passed by Congress in 1980. The primary sponsors were Senators Birch Bayh (D. Indiana) and Senator Robert Dole (R. Kansas). This act relates to research funded by the federal government. Prior to passage of the Act, inventions developed with federal dollars […] Read Post →
Artificial Intelligence and WIPO On May 21, the World Intellectual Property Organization, a global forum for IP services, policy, information and cooperation, issued a revised paper on intellectual property policy and artificial intelligence (AI). Acknowledging that AI is a general purpose technology that has widespread applications, WIPO held an initial “conversation” with interested parties in September, 2019. WIPO then […] Read Post →
Open Covid IP Pledge The Open Covid Pledge is a recent initiative to assist in finding solutions to the corona virus. In essence, companies that sign on to the pledge agree to provide royalty free, limited time licenses to their intellectual property, so that others may research, develop, use, and make publicly available technology that may fight the corona […] Read Post →
Iconic Green Jacket Is A Golf Trophy and A Registered Trademark The famous green sports coat given each year to the winner of the prestigious Masters golf tournament is now a registered trademark. On March 3, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued registration number 6000045 to Augusta National, Inc., which filed the registration application on February 21, 2019. The mark includes three gold buttons on […] Read Post →
Early Computer Programming Guru Passes Away The inventor of the ubiquitous “cut- copy- paste” function for digital documents, Larry Tesler, passed away on Feb. 16 at the age of 74 at his home in Portola Valley, California. Tesler, who grew up in the Bronx, became interested in computers in the 1950’s, as a new emerging technology, when he saw them as […] Read Post →
2019 U.S. Patents Hit All Time High he U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a record number of patents in 2019. The 333,350 patents granted in 2019 was a 15% increase over 2018. As usual, IBM led the way with 9,262 new patents in 2019. This is the 27th consecutive year that IBM was the #1 patentee for U.S. patents. The other top […] Read Post →
U.S. and Mexico Patent Offices to Collaborate Yesterday, January 28,2020, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) signed an agreement which is expected to expedite issuance of patents in Mexico for owners of US patents. The two agencies will now cooperate in a process that lets the IMPI have access to USPTO examination […] Read Post →
Supreme Court Passes on 101 Patent Eligibility On January 13, the US Supreme Court denied the petition for certiorari by Athena Diagnostics seeking the highest Court’s review of patent eligibility under 35. USC 101. The petition relates to the en banc decision by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Athena Diagnostics v. Mayo on July 3, 2019, wherein the appellate Court […] Read Post →
SUPREME COURT DENIES USPTO ATTORNEY FEES UNDER 35 USC 145 On December 11, 2019, the US Supreme Court ruled against the US Patent & Trademark Office’s recent practice of demanding its attorney fees for patent applications appealed to the U.S. District Court, regardless of whether the Patent Office won or lost. See Peter v. Nantkwest, Inc., No. 18-801. 35 U.S.C. 145 provides that a patent applicant dissatisfied […] Read Post →
Faster Patent Application Examinations for 2019 The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has been working for many years to improve patent examination times. Processing and examining patent applications in a high quality and timely manner has been an important aspect of the USPTO 2018-2022 Strategic Plan. For the 2019 fiscal year ending in September, the USPTO has met their goal for […] Read Post →
A Simple Fix to §101 with Arbitration This summer’s decision by the Federal Circuit in Athena Diagnostics, Inc. v. Mayo Collaborative Services, LLC, highlights the consensus that something needs to be done regarding the current state of the law of patent eligibility under 35 U.S.C §101. In particular, the judicially created exceptions to patentability under 101 are laws of nature, natural phenomena, […] Read Post →
Patent Judges Agree that Patent Eligibility Law Needs Fixing: Part 2 In the first part of this series posted last week, I discussed the majority and concurring opinions in Athena v. Mayo decided by the Federal Circuit Court on July 3, 2019. In part 2 of the series, I will review the four dissenting opinions for this case. In the first dissent, Judge Moore (joined by […] Read Post →
Patent Judges Agree that Patent Eligibility Law Needs Fixing: Part 1 On July 3, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued an interesting, though not surprising, opinion discussing patent eligibility for inventions and discoveries. In Athena Diagnostics, Inc. v. Mayo Collaborative Services, LLC, all 12 judges of the Court considered whether the full court should rehear an appeal of a patent regarding […] Read Post →
3 Reasons to Build your Patent Portfolio A strong patent portfolio provides many benefits to the owner. Patents are an asset that have value, and that value can come in different forms. 1. Patents force competitors to design around the patented invention. As your company spends resources, including time and money, in research and development (R & D), the resulting inventions are […] Read Post →
First Draft from Congress on Section 101 Reform On Wednesday May 22, 2019, the Senate and House Subcommittees on Intellectual Property released for comment their initial draft of legislative reform for Section 101 of the patent statutes. The biggest focus of this proposed legislation is an abolishment of the Supreme Court’s judicially created exceptions to patent eligibility, namely, abstract ideas, laws of nature, […] Read Post →
Markman for §101 Eligibility Patent attorneys know the importance of Markman as applied to interpret patent claims. Claim interpretation is critical to infringement and validity analysis, and often is decisive in patent litigation. It is axiomatic that claim terms be construed using the common, ordinary meaning of the words, as understood by a person having ordinary skill in the […] Read Post →
Judicial Exceptions to IP Statutes: Are They Dead? On January 8, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court decided a case involving the Federal Arbitration Act that could have a significant impact on patent law. The Arbitration Act, signed into law in 1925, allows parties to agree to submit disputes to arbitration, rather than litigating in court. Although, sometimes parties disagree as to whether an arbitration […] Read Post →
Congress Considers a Patent Eligibility Overhaul Some members of Congress have met at least twice to discuss the current difficulties and frustrations with patent eligibility under Section 101 of the patent statutes. While these meetings have been closed-door, attorneys and others representing businesses and industries, have attended. These meetings, in December of 2018 and February of 2019, have been initialed by […] Read Post →
Protecting Creativity by Artificial Intelligence: Part 3 Artificial intelligence (AI) inventions and discoveries discussed in part 2 of this blog series, which may be protectable with patents, are only one form of creativity by computers. AI can also generate written documents, music, and other creative works of authorship. See for example, CLOEM and AllTheClaims.com. Even software now exists that allows computers to […] Read Post →
Protecting Creativity by Artificial Intelligence: Part 2 U.S. Patent laws usually have two objectives: 1) To disclose inventions for the benefit of mankind; and 2) To incentivize inventors and investors. Thus, patent protection serves a social benefit and a personal benefit. Currently, thousands of patent applications are being filed in the U.S. Patent Office for inventions directed to AI, and despite the […] Read Post →
Protecting Creativity by Artificial Intelligence: Part 1 Artificial intelligence has progressed to a state where, based upon software and algorithms written by humans, the computer itself can solve problems and discover new and better ways to accomplish desired results. Artificial intelligence is being used in many industries, including agriculture, education, manufacturing, and medicine. The inventions and creations of the computer itself, rather […] Read Post →
Palm Restaurant Dispute Leads to Big Monetary Damages A lawsuit filed in New York State court in 2012 on behalf of minority shareholders of the famous Palm Restaurant has a recent court decision awarding over $71 million to the plaintiffs against defendants for breach of fiduciary duty. This dispute among family members is premised upon 54 undervalued intellectual property licenses and a reasonable […] Read Post →
Coffee by Drone Delivery The use of drones in various business applications is becoming common. For example, drones with cameras are used to inspect farm crops, to search natural disaster areas, to provide news coverage, and to make Hollywood films. Historical business are being reinvented and new businesses are being developed by the use of these unmanned aerial vehicles. […] Read Post →
Patent Eligibility: Hope from the PTO Director On Monday, September 24th, the Director of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, Andrei Iancu, stated in a speech to the Intellectual Property Owners Association that his agency is working on new guidelines that address the “mushed up” and “muddled” case law on patent eligibility under 35 USC 101. Once again, Iancu has acknowledged that […] Read Post →
Federal Circuit Judge Calls for a Fix to the “Abstract Idea” Mess: Part 4 Below you’ll find the last and final post of this blog series concerning the “abstract idea”. To read the previous posts, please view Part 1 of the series, Part 2 of the series, and Part 3 of the series. Prior blog posts illustrate concern from judges of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit regarding […] Read Post →
Federal Circuit Judge Calls for a Fix to the “Abstract Idea” Mess: Part 3 This abstract idea case continues to stir up important matters that we all need to keep a close eye on. Below you’ll find part 3 of this blog series concerning the “abstract idea”. To read the previous posts, please first view Part 1 of the series, and then view Part 2 of the series. The […] Read Post →
Federal Circuit Judge Calls for a Fix to the “Abstract Idea” Mess: Part 2 Last week, I began a blog series on the “Abstract Idea” and hope you will continue to follow this critical topic. The previous post from last week can be found here. The concerns regarding the current state of the law regarding patent eligibility raised by Judge Plager in his recent dissent in the decision by […] Read Post →
Federal Circuit Judge Calls for a Fix to the “Abstract Idea” Mess: Part 1 I will be posting for the next several weeks in a series regarding the infamous “Abstract Idea” Mess. Stay tuned for next week’s series follow-up! In a decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) dated July 20, 2018, and including AOL, Apple, Google and Yahoo as defendants, Judge Plager […] Read Post →
U.S. Patent Number 10 Million Last week, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) reached a new milestone, with issuance of patent number 10 million. This patent is entitled Coherent LADAR Using Intra-Pixel Quadrature Detection, and relates to a laser detection system for various industries, such as medical imaging and autonomous vehicles. The patent is owned by Raytheon Company, of […] Read Post →
Fraudulent Invention Development Company Banned Last month, the Federal Trade Commission announced the settlement of a lawsuit against an invention development company which permanently enjoins the company from further business due to fraudulent and deceitful conduct with inventors. Scott Cooper and his companies, World Patent Marketing and Desa Industries, Inc., used bogus success stories to get clients to pay thousands […] Read Post →
Federal Circuit Judges Encourage Congress to Act on Patent Eligibility Patent eligibility under 35 U.S.C 101 has been a hot topic in the past few years and in view of several U.S. Supreme Court decisions, including the 2014 caseAlice Corp. Pty. Ltd. V. CLS Bank Int’l, 134 S. Ct. 2347. In Alice, the Supreme Court concluded that abstract ideas are not patentable, absent something more, […] Read Post →
World Intellectual Property Day 2018 On World Intellectual Property day (April 26), President Trump proclaimed his administration’s goal of improving intellectual property rights in the United States. This is similar to the pledge earlier this month by the new director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Andrei Iancu, in his recent speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to […] Read Post →
Patent Office Director Pledges Improvements to U.S. Patents In a speech to the US Chamber of Commerce, the newly appointed head of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Andrei Iancu, expressed his concern over the current state of the U.S. patent system, and pledged to make improvements within the Patent Office to strengthen and increase predictability. New laws, courts decisions, and negative commentary […] Read Post →
Protecting Concepts: The Best in Their Businesses Do Battle Basketball superstar Lebron James has challenged perennial college football power Alabama over a sports talk show staged in a barbershop. During last year’s NBA finals, James’ multi-media business, Uninterrupted, premiered its show “The Shop” on ESPN featuring James and other professional players discussing basketball in a barbershop. Alabama recently promoted its show “Shop Talk,” which […] Read Post →
Patent Proposals in Congress Since the creation of patent reviews at the Patent Office Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) by the America Invents Act of 2011, a very high percentage of reviewed patents have been declared invalid. Now, a bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives which could change these statistics. The bill also could revive issuance […] Read Post →
Time to Consider Patent Protection in China In the past decade, the Chinese government has made substantial policy changes regarding protection for intellectual property, both for obtaining rights and enforcing rights. These policies are generally favorable to patent owners and are intended to incentivize innovation. In December, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) published statistics for worldwide patent application filings for 2016, […] Read Post →
Protecting Your Company’s Innovations In 2017, over 600,000 patent applications were filed with the U.S. Patent Office, the most in its history. Clearly, a business plan for intellectual property may provide substantial value to your company, or you may be leaving substantial value on the table. Failure to plan is, in essence, a plan to fail. A thorough plan, […] Read Post →
U.S.P.T.O. Remains Open Despite the shutdown of a significant portion of the federal government, the United States Patent and Trademark Office will remain open, at least for the short term.This government agency is self-funded through user fees, and therefore will continue business as usual for the next two weeks. If the government shutdown continues into February, the PTO […] Read Post →