Dear Doc: What the heck is an NFT and what does it have to do with copyrights? Signed.Dazed and Confused Dear D&C: That is a very good question. Which is why the Doc will provide you with an answer, and also offer you the chance to purchase a unique and priceless version of the answer, […]
The story today demonstrates that even experienced and sophisticated patent owners, like Apple, can trip over the fundamentals. ‘Inter partes review’ is a way* for a person or company to challenge someone else’s patent before the USPTO. A person who wants to challenge a patent can petition the USPTO and submit prior patents, applications or other […]
When fans of the TV show “Dawson’s Creek” watch it on Netflix, it will sound very different. This is because the theme song (Paula Cole’s “I Don’t Want to Wait”) has been replaced by Jann Arden’s “Run Like Mad” due to lack of streaming and DVD rights to the Paula Cole song. Dawson’s Creek has plenty of company […]
Dear Doc: It’s a year into the pandemic, and it seems that most “information workers” are working virtually, while most “essential workers” are still bravely showing up every day. Apart from the unfairness in that, and the fact that if we had all just locked down for several weeks at the start we could have […]
The horizon of which inventions are patentable, that is. For the last decade or so, the Supreme Court has been steadily excluding one technology after another from patent protection. The recent series of cases started in 2010 with Bilski v Kappos, which determined that a method of hedging utility fuel prices was not patentable. Then the […]
In its 2020 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy, the United States Trade Representative warns: “Commercial-scale copyright piracy and trademark counterfeiting cause significant financial losses for U.S. right holders and legitimate businesses, undermine critical U.S. comparative advantages in innovation and creativity to the detriment of American workers, and pose significant risks to consumer health and safety.” […]
VirnetX Holding Corporation is a 20-employee, publicly-traded (NYSE: VHC) corporation with a market capitalization of $505 million and with unusual family compensation. VirnetX owns 190 patents for some of the key technologies of the last fifteen years, including technologies used for Skype, iMessage, FaceTime and virtual private networks. VirnetX is in the business of licensing those patent […]
A fascinating aspect of the law is that something can be standard practice, or settled law, until a creative lawyer or court pulls it apart, turns it on its head, and a new paradigm is born. Think of Brown vs. the Board of Education, Miranda v. Arizona, or Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. Each of these decisions […]
Dear Doc (hope you’re well and alive): I heard of a case that’s just jive.You can go, but not boldlySaid the judge, rather coldlyFar too Seuss, your project, contrived. Signed,ComicMix Dear CM: I suppose that you are asking about a recent court decision in a dispute about the book “Oh, the Places You’ll Boldly Go!”, a mashup […]
After the patent examiner issues a decision (an ‘office action’) on a patent application, the applicant has the right to an ‘interview’ with the examiner. The interview can be in person, by video or by telephone. During Covid-19, in-person interviews are out, but video and telephone interviews are available. In the interview, the applicant can […]
