{1:35 minutes to read} On July 11, 2016, the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) initiated a pilot program called The Post-Prosecution Pilot Program (P3). Under this program, once an applicant files an after final response, a panel of examiners, including the examiner of record, will conduct a conference with the applicant to review […]
{1:40 minutes to read} A significant case for the patent law industry is currently on appeal before the Federal Circuit court. The case, Immersion Corp. v HTC Corp., could decide what happens when an application is filed before the patenting of its parent application. Oral arguments for this case will be heard by the court […]
{2:15 minutes to read} In Avid Technology, Inc. v. Harmonic, the Federal Circuit found that Harmonic did not infringe on the patent and that the district court—based on a statement made during the prosecution of the underlying patent—had erred in construing a claimed term too narrowly. During prosecution, to distinguish the claimed subject matter over […]
{2:25 minutes to read} The new case Lexmark v. Impression addresses the right to import, reuse, and resell patented articles. Specifically, this case reaffirmed that: A seller can use its patent rights to block both resale and reuse of a product. Authorized sales of a product abroad does not exhaust the US patent rights associated […]
{3:30 minutes to read} In the recently decided case In re Urbanski, the Federal Circuit Court upheld the decision of the United States Patent & Trademark Office’s Trial and Appeal Board, which had found obvious the claims of Urbanski’s patent application. Urbanski had argued unsuccessfully that the cited references taught away from their combination. However, […]
{2:30 minutes to read} The Patent Trial and Appeal Board of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has just announced another new pilot program designed to reduce the backlog of ex parte appeals waiting to be heard by the Board. It will allow small or micro-entity appellants with only a single appeal pending […]
What happens to the patent term extension in patents that are terminally disclaimed? The Hatch-Waxman Act establishes a patent term extension for patents that are related to certain products subject to regulatory delays that could not be marketed prior to regulatory approval. What happens if, during the prosecution, the applicant files a terminal disclaimer that […]
{Read in 1:15 minutes} You realize you made a mistake when you filed a patent application. What recourse do you have? It depends on the type of error made. Was it a typographical error in the application number or the wrong priority dates? An error in the initial filing documents can be corrected by submitting […]
{Read in 5:20 minutes} In Akamai v. Limelight, the District Court awarded Akamai almost $50 million after finding that Limelight directly infringed a patent. The patent at issue covered a method of delivering electronic data using a content delivery network (CDN). Limelight, a CDN operator, did not carry out all of the steps of the […]
{Read in 3:05 minutes} The Supreme Court just issued a landmark ruling in the case Commil USA v Cisco Systems, holding that a good faith belief that a patent is invalid is not a viable defense to inducement of its infringement. The decision strikes a huge blow against Cisco and is certain to have major […]