News

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on March 8, 2019, overturned Apple Inc.’s IPR victory against PersonalWeb Technologies, LLC, holding that the ‘310 patent was not unpatentable due to obviousness because one of the PTAB’s key underlying fact findings was not supported by substantial evidence.

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board on March 13, 2019, published the fifth installment of its Motion to Amend Study, which tracks and analyzes all motions to amend filed in AIA trials through the end of September 2018.

The USPTO has appointed Scott R. Boalick as Chief Judge for the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB).

The PTAB designated as precedential Lectrosonics, Inc. v. Zaxcom, Inc, an order which provides guidance and information regarding statutory and regulatory requirements for a motion to amend in light of Federal Circuit case law.

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on February 26, 2019, held that a “bedside machine” that displays medical information was patent-ineligible because it was directed to the abstract idea of using a computer to gather, analyze, and display data. Univ. of Fla. Research Found. v. Gen. Elec. Co., Fed. Cir., No. 2018-1284, 2/26/19.

The United States Patent & Trademark Office is hosting Virtual Instructor Led Training (vILT) on April 2 and 3. The course is entitled “Examining Computer-Implemented Functional Claim Limitations for Compliance with 35 U.S.C. § 112.”

The US Supreme Court on March 4, 2019, granted the USPTO’s petition to review the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s ruling in NantKwest Inc. v. Iancu.

Acting Register of Copyrights Karyn A. Temple has appointed Kevin R. Amer deputy general counsel of the United States Copyright Office, said the United States Copyright Office in a March 5, 2019 news alert.

The United States Supreme Court on March 4, 2019, issued a unanimous decision holding that winning parties in copyright cases can’t collect expert-witness fees and jury consultant costs.

The Supreme Court on March 4, 2019, ruled that a copyright holder must register their work with the US Copyright Office before suing for infringement, and “registration” within the meaning of 17 USC §411(a) occurs not when an application for registration is filed, but when the Copyright Office registers the copyright.

The American Intellectual Property Law Association filed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court arguing that the Lanham Act ban against registering immoral and scandalous marks violates the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment because it has a viewpoint-discriminatory effect.

The US Patent and Trademark Office on February 25, 2019, issued a notice concerning a change affecting fees to Venezuela’s intellectual property office. The Venezuelan Ministry of National Commerce sent a notification to the USPTO on February 1, 2019, that patent and trademark fees should be paid in the Venezuelan cryptocurrency “PETRO.”

The US Patent and Trademark Office on February 22, 2019, issued a warning asking US attorneys to stay vigilant as many are receiving emails from people in China and perhaps elsewhere, offering to pay to use their information in trademark filings.

Join AIPLA on March 21-22, 2019, for the 2019 Trade Secret Law Summit in New York City.

Due to recent technical issues, the United States Patent & Trademark Office’s PKI authentication and migration deadlines associated with the authentication change for EFS-Web and Private PAIR are no longer applicable until further notice.

The United States Patent & Trademark Office has opened sign-ups to attend its May 7-9 Stakeholder Training on Examination Practice and Procedure (STEPP) Attorney/Agent 3-day course held at the USPTO headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia.

The European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, announced on February 13, 2019, that it reached a political agreement on a new Copyright Directive that would require online platforms to compensate publishers and creators for the content that appears on their websites.

EFS-Web and Private PAIR users will no longer be able to authenticate using PKI certificates on February 15, 2019

The United States Patent & Trademark Office on February 11, 2019, released a report on the trends and characteristics of U.S. women inventors named on US patents granted from 1976 through 2016.

The US Chamber of Commerce’s Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC) on February 7, 2019 released its International IP Index, “Inspiring Tomorrow,” which assesses the intellectual property environments of 50 world economies.