Patent & IP news for January 17, 2011

USPTO Patent Grants: A Second Perspective from www.patentlyo.com

In yesterday's post, I wrote that the USPTO had granted more utility patents in 2010 than in any other year in history – 31% more than in 2009. The ramp-up is not due to increased ...

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Apple and Microsoft Fight Over “APP STORE” Trademark App from ipwatchdog.com

Back in 2008, Apple, Inc. filed an application for trademark for “APP STORE” (Serial Number 77525433). Who knew that it would present a wonderful opportunity for us to discuss disclaimers and the distinction between descriptive ...

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PCC Page 12: Robot Octopus takes a break? from patlit.blogspot.com

In this, the latest episode on the revamped Patents County Court for England and Wales --supplied by the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA) through the kind offices of its President, Alasdair Poore -- we take ...

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Patent Reform Buzz Growing from www.patentspostgrant.com

Congress Prepares to Tackle Contentious Patent Reform Issues Once More.

As Congress begins to finalize key committee assignments and focus on legislative agendas for 2011, patent reform once again finds itself on the “to-do” list ...

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Look out, there's an IPI enforcement seminar about! from ipkitten.blogspot.com

What! So few days to go! There's not much warning -- but the Intellectual Property Institute is bursting into action.  In just over a week, on Tuesday 25 January, there is to be an IPI ...

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USPTO Issues Record Number of Patents from inventivestep.net

Patently-O is reporting that the PTO issued a record number of patents during the 2010 calendar year, just shy of 220,000.  This is a 31% increase over 2009 and about 27% more than 2006 ...

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French damages: a frank response from ipfinance.blogspot.com

Last Tuesday, in "Damages in France: is there a sign of an upward trend?" (here), I ventured to suggest that a recent French damages award in a trade mark dispute indicated that the French courts ...

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Do you believe in retainer fees for IP work? If so, read on from ipfinance.blogspot.com

Do you believe in retainers
for IP legal work? Neil Wilkof's post on the IPKat last week, "Retainer Fees and IP Practice: Questions, Questions Everywhere" (here), suffered the fate of many a fine piece ...

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WIPO v WIPD: some good news at last from ipkitten.blogspot.com

The auditors did warn WIPO that its building budget
was going to be at the expense of its ageing rapid
response Central Europe dot.biz tank squad Some dedicated readers -- almost all, judging by the ...

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Monday miscellany from ipkitten.blogspot.com

It's enough to make|
a Kat cry ... WIPO trade mark "neither necessary nor useful".  It is now ten days since the Kat alerted his friends at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to the ...

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Court Report from www.patentdocs.org

By Sherri Oslick -- About Court Report: Each week we will report briefly on recently filed biotech and pharma cases. GlaxoSmithKline LLC v. Anchen Pharmaceuticals Inc. et al. 1:11-cv-00046; filed January 12, 2011 in the ...

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Application for dabigatran polymorphic form II refused under S.15 from patentcircle.blogspot.com

The Delhi Patent Office lately refused the Application Number 924/DELNP/2006 filed by Boehringer Ingelheim claiming polymorphic form II of anticoagulant drug dabigatran etexilate mesylate, marketed under the brand name Pradaxa. The Application was ...

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Inventing the better duvet from britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk

There's a new improved duvet (comforter in the USA) that stops arguments about the right temperature when tucked up in bed. Couples often disagree about the duvet. One wants a thin covering so that ...

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More Google Acquisitions “Driven” By Patents — And Other Unanswered Questions from gametimeip.com

So late last year, I had a pretty good laugh over this “expert” opinion that Google’s interest in Groupon  was due to the latter’s patent portfolio. (See: Is Groupon’s Patent Really Worth ...

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Butamax Sues Gevo Over Patent Infringement Claim from www.infringementupdates.com

The followingarticleby Jim Lane appeared on January 17, 2011 at Biofuels Digest:

In Delaware, Butamax Advanced Biofuels filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Gevo relating to use of Butamax���s biobutanol technology, which ...

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Patenting Matter from tacticalip.com

by Aaron Thalwitzer A few years ago, an anti-matter containment unit was patented. It’s no big deal, just an “apparatus and method for long-term storage of antimatter.” The abstract states that it can function ...

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Patent grant rate redux from ipbiz.blogspot.com

Comment to IAM blog on January 17, 2011:

Of the patent grant rate [ allowance rates seem to be pretty stable ], see Patently-O: The chart suggests that the 2010 rise is more of a return to ...

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Glenmark loses jury verdict in DNJ over Tarka from ipbiz.blogspot.com

The WSJ reports that Glenmark lost a jury verdict in the District of New Jersey related to Glenmark's selling (at risk) a generic version of hypertension drug Tarka.

Bloomberg had reported on January 14 ...

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Schmid says the situation at the USPTO has worsened from ipbiz.blogspot.com

John Schmid of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel writes:

A year and a half after President Barack Obama appointed an IBM Corp. executive to fix the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, its problems by several key ...

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IBM and "Jeopardy" television from ipbiz.blogspot.com

IBM is running ads touting a computer which can infer the nuances of "Jeopardy" television answers.
The computer Watson will actually compete. See IBM Computer Takes On 'Jeopardy' Champs

However, note

IBM's US 7 ...

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Innovative ways to plagiarize? from ipbiz.blogspot.com

from --CJI report on NLSIU: "exploration and accomplishment" to "diminution and dissatisfaction" -- :

Prof. Shamnad Basheer: The ignominious levels of plagiarism and unethical practices by students are again part of a systemic issue that flows out ...

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