Patent & IP news for September 21, 2010

The Pegasus Compulsory Licensing Puzzle? from spicyipindia.blogspot.com

Pegasus earned the distinction of being one of the first MNC pharma patents to be granted in India in the wake of the 2005 amendments.

The drug (pegylated interferon for treating Hep C virus) underwent ...

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You want to complain? Just try finding where you can do so ... from ipkitten.blogspot.com

A somewhat harassed reader wrote to this weblog last week with the following message:

"Dear Kats - I have been scrabbling around Google's AdWords site for the last 30mins or so, trying to locate their ...

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Juries and IP damages: a random and unsettling factor? from ipfinance.blogspot.com

In "Don Johnson profit payout doubled to $51.2m", the BBC reported last week on the decision of a Los Angeles court to increase -- by a factor of rather more than two -- the quantum of ...

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Stella prize for sanitary towel competition: has the ASA boobed? from ipkitten.blogspot.com

An Advertising Standards Authority adjudication last week in the UK ruled that the promoters of a competition for their product can offer third party products as prizes even without the third party's consent. In ...

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Braking Wind: Court Stays Mitsubishi-GE Wind Patent Antitrust Case from greenpatentblog.com

In a previous post, I wrote about Mitsubishi’s wind patent-based antitrust suit against GE. 

In this case, Mitsubishi has alleged that GE filed baseless lawsuits against Mitsubishi asserting patents GE knows are invalid as ...

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Handbags at Dawn: Live Report 3 from ipkitten.blogspot.com


Following a hearty lunch, or a speed-eating lunch for this Kat, one of the two David's, David Musker of Jenkins, (picture, left) opened the afternoon proceedings. This Kat is always astonished by how extensive ...

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Shallow End of the Pool from www.patenthawk.com

Philips, Fujitsu, and LG Electronics are in a patent pool that claims wireless communication protocol standards. Netgear was the target of their "licensing" campaign. For summary judgment, "the plaintiffs argued that by simply complying with ...

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Handbags at Dawn: Live Report 2 from ipkitten.blogspot.com


After a brief coffee break which saw this Kat feverishly trying to edit her first post, Michael Edenborough QC of Serle Court (picture, left) commenced his oratory on Google Adwords. He commenced by suggesting that ...

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Handbags at Dawn: Live Report 1 from ipkitten.blogspot.com

Chairman Jeremy opened the proceedings with the usual household announcements before introducing Manny Silverman of Silverman Associates who was charged with opening the day's activities, or as he put it a "the Warm-Up Act ...

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Handbags at Dawn: Live Report 4 from ipkitten.blogspot.com

Katrin Vowinckel of Olswang (picture, left) was the final speaker of the day speaking on the topic of fashion brands, IP and the environment. She launched first by speaking on the evolution of sustainability. Vowinckel ...

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Can Rapid Reexamination Incentivize Humanitarian Technologies? from www.pharmapatentsblog.com

On September 20, 2010, the USPTO issued a “Request for Comments on Incentivizing Humanitarian Technologies and Licensing Through the Intellectual Property System.” The proposal under consideration would offer a “fast-track ex parte reexamination voucher” designed ...

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Assignments of Inventions by Former Employees from ocpatentlawyer.com

Departing employees pose a problem for former employers.  These employees may have been on the verge of discovering a new patentable product, formula, etc. during employment with the former employer.  When they depart, the information ...

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HP & Oracle case: follow the money from www.athenaalliance.org

Litigation over intangible assets -- especially proprietary information and IP -- is a fact of corporate life. But sometimes it is hard to know if intangibles are really the issue or just the pretext. A perfect example ...

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Job Hunt Due Diligence: A Two-Way Street? from www.iposgoode.ca

Amanda Carpenter is a JD Candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada has pointed to US polling showing that as much as 45 percent of employers use social ...

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More on S.515 (patent reform) from ipbiz.blogspot.com

An entry on govtrack on 14 September 2010:

This bill was considered in committee which has recommended it be considered by the Senate as a whole. Although it has been placed on a calendar of ...

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Post-expiry saisie-contrefaçon: only an issue in France? from patlit.blogspot.com

A Current Intelligence note on a recent French decision, "Validity of a ‘saisie-contrefaçon’ carried out after the expiry of the patent", by Marianne Schaffner and Romain Viret (Linklaters) will be published in a forthcoming issue ...

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Guest Post: Open Season on Copyright Infringement Claims? All Hail, or Hate, the “Troll”? from www.patentlyo.com

By Robert W. Zelnick, McDermott Will & Emery LLP

Is it me, or has there been a noticeable uptick in publicity about copyright infringement claims in 2010? There is the prolific new so-called "copyright troll," Righthaven ...

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Domestic Use Of Foreign Product Manufactured Using Patented Method Is Not An Act Of Infringement from docketreport.blogspot.com

The court granted defendant's post-trial motion for judgment as a matter of law that certain method claims were not infringed because one or more steps were performed outside the United States. "The asserted claims ...

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Infringement or Not? You Be the Judge. from www.infringementupdates.com

I received the following query from a reader today:

Situation:

Individual has successfully patented a cargo bar in 1991 (difference in his bar vs. all others is the use of a hydraulic pump to apply ...

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Perpetual Motion Machines from blawgit.com

As a patent attorney, I have always wanted a perpetual motion machine. Oh, I realize they do not exist, but the failed attempts are rife with both intricacy and artistry. Given my line of work ...

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Merely Being a "Sophisticated Company" Does Not Impute an "Intent to Deceive" for False Marking Claims from 271patent.blogspot.com

Herengracht Group LLC v. WM Wrigley, No. 10-21784-CIV (September 16, 2010)

Herengracht sued Wrigley for false patent marking under 35 USC 292(a) for the marking of Hubba Bubba Bubble Tape with a patent the ...

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Obviously Non-Obvious: Pay Congress from Surplus from ipwatchdog.com

This idea of revenue in exceeding revenue out is really not one that is in and of itself patentable though. Families and small businesses live with that reality every day of every week of every ...

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Own or Rent? The Ninth Circuit’s Guide to Used Software from tacticalip.com

By: Scott Nyman So you just purchased the new version of a software package for you business or personal use. Assuming there are no active installations of the older version, you should be free to ...

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Bed bug Summit at the Hyatt Regency from ipbiz.blogspot.com

CBS Nightly News on 9/21 did a final story on bed bugs with Cynthia Bowers presenting the piece from Rosemont, Illinois. Cameos included David Bohannon on bed bug sniifing dogs. Luggage wrappers. Freeze them ...

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From the Gunasekera hearing from ipbiz.blogspot.com

From a story in The Post about Ohio U's Jay Gunasekera :


"My reputation is completely tarnished," said Gunasekera, who added he has been unable to seek consulting jobs or conduct research since the incidents ...

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Changes to Class 386 - Classification Order 1900 from patentlibrarian.blogspot.com

The USPTO has changed the title of Class 386, Television Signal Processing for Dynamic Recording or Reproducing. The new title is Motion Video Signal Processing for Recording or Reproducing. These and other changes are detailed ...

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Prior Art Used to Construe Claim from www.717madisonplace.com

In Laryngeal Mask Co. Ltd v. Ambu A/S, 2010-1028 (Fed. Cir. September 21, 2010), the Federal Circuit dealt with some complicated claim construction issues.  One issue concerned the meaning of the word “backplate” used ...

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Boilerplate with attitude from allthingspros.blogspot.com

Check out this boilerplate from U.S. Pub. 20080087720:

[0037]The present invention includes several independently meritorious inventive aspects and advantages. Unless compelled by the claim language itself, the claims should not be construed to ...

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50 Years of Invention from www.lotempiolaw.com

Well I turn 50 years old today and I am looking forward to the next 50 years. I was wondering what were the best inventions in the last 50 years. Computers, VELCRO®, video games or ...

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