Intellectual Property Rights in the UK After Brexit
August 01, 2016
While the dust continues to settle from Brexit, questions abound regarding how the United Kingdom's historic vote to leave the European Union will affect the future. Intellectual property owners have a variety of mechanisms available for the protection of their patents, designs and trademarks, and Brexit has different significance depending upon how intellectual property protection in the UK was obtained.
<i>Kirtsaeng</i> Clarifies Attorney's Fees Standard In Copyright Cases, Injects More Uncertainty Into Availability of Fee Awards
July 01, 2016
Issuing its second decision in Supap Kirtsaeng's long-standing dispute with John Wiley & Sons ' and its first copyright decision in nearly two years ' the SCOTUS recently clarified the applicable standard for evaluating the appropriateness of an attorney's fee award under Section 505 of the Copyright Act, holding that a district court should give substantial weight to the objective reasonableness of the losing party's position, while also taking into consideration all other circumstances relevant to the attorney's fees inquiry.
IP News
July 01, 2016
Federal Circuit Remands PTAB Decision Due to Claim Construction Change <br>Supreme Court Restricts Challenges to PTAB's Institution Decisions and Upholds Broadest Reasonable Interpretation Standard in IPR Proceedings
Patent Agent Privilege Exists, But Is Limited
July 01, 2016
In <i>In re: Queens University at Kingston,</i> the Federal Circuit determined that there is a "patent agent privilege" that protects communications between patent agents and their clients, so long as the communications relate to the patent agent's limited authority to practice law. While this is a promising protection for patent agents and their clients, the scope of the privilege is limited and uncertain, so reliance on the privilege should be discouraged.
New USPTO Rules for Post-Grant Trials
June 01, 2016
New changes to rules for post-grant administrative trials before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) went into effect on May 2, 2016, after much public comment and gnashing of teeth. Among the plethora of rule changes that were announced, two in particular stand out as most substantive for both patent owners and their challengers.
App-portionment In the Supreme Court In <i>Apple v. Samsung</i>
June 01, 2016
The Supreme Court granted Samsung's request, in <i>Apple, Inc. v. Samsung,</i> for certiorari to consider whether Section 289 of the Patent Act requires an apportionment of profits for only the infringing feature(s) of the accused product, or instead contemplates profits for the entire product.
IP News
June 01, 2016
Federal Circuit: A Computer Database Logical Model Is Not an Abstract Idea If Directed At a Specific Implementation of a Solution to a Problem In the Software Arts <br>Federal Circuit: In Claim Construction Analysis, Plain Term Meanings and Presumption of Claim Differentiation Get Outweighed By Intrinsic Evidence and Prosecution History
Patent Venue Rule Remains the Same ' For Now
June 01, 2016
Outside of the patent litigation world, most people have probably never heard of Marshall, TX. However, patent litigants often find themselves defending patent infringement suits in Marshall and other remote locations, even though the litigant has virtually no connection to that jurisdiction.