Every employer that engages in research and development work should obtain a present assignment of patent rights in future inventions from every employee. The U.S. Supreme Court underscored this fact in the recent case of Standford v Roche. Stanford University’s research employee worked on a project to detect HIV infection. In the employment agreement, the […]
Patent
On Friday (June 24, 2011), the U.S. House of Representatives passed the ‘America Invents Act,’ a version of which already has passed the U.S. Senate. The Senate and House bills now will move to a conference committee to iron out the differences between the two versions. The ‘America Invents Act’ soon will become law and […]
If a patent applicant tricks the PTO into issuing a patent, then the courts will refuse to enforce the resulting fraudulent patent under the doctrine of ‘inequitable conduct.’ Sounds fair enough, right? Over several years, court decisions have tipped this principal until virtually any error relating to a patent application, no matter how minor or […]
Who Owns Your Invention?
May 26, 2011
Patent
James Joyce (no, not the author) learned the hard way that selecting your form of business and assigning ownership are crucial steps in promoting an invention. Mr. Joyce invented a new computer firewall and granted an exclusive license in the patent to TechGuard Security LLC, which was owned by Mr. Joyce and his wife. Mr. […]
New Opportunity For Patent Applicants.
May 26, 2011
Patent
Patent examiners necessarily have a limited time to spend on each patent application and may miss the point of an invention or of the prior art. An interview between the applicant and the examiner, either by phone or in person, can be a useful way to educate the examiner. Under the current system, the only […]
David E. Boundy, Vice President, Assistant General Counsel Intellectual Property at a well-known financial services firm, in Boston MA, has asked patent practitioners around the country to post information about the patent bill now in its final stages of consideration by the U.S. Congress. The patent lawyers at Lipton, Weinberger & Husick have regularly devoted […]
“America Invents Act” Clears U.S. Senate, On to the House
March 31, 2011
Patent
Sweeping changes to the U.S. patent system are imminent. By a vote of 95 to 5 the Senate passed the “America Invents Act” on March 8, 2011. If the Act become law, which is likely, it will be profoundly important to inventors, patent owners, and defendants in patent litigation. The House of Representatives is considering […]
Under the law in Pennsylvania, unlike many other states, the attorney-client privilege used to be limited to only those things that the client communicated to the attorney. Thus, while a client might describe his invention to the attorney, creating a privileged communication, the things that the attorney conveyed, such as the results of a patent […]
Patent Reform Legislation forwarded to the full U.S. Senate
February 28, 2011
Patent
The proposed Patent Reform Act of 2011 and will be considered by the full Senate when it reconvenes beginning today, February 28. Final passage of the bill is not assured and similar bills have been reported out of committee twice in recent years. The bill includes several provisions that are unfriendly to small business patent […]
Federal Courts’ Continued Hostility Toward Complex Patent Issues
February 28, 2011
Litigation, Patent
In the recently-decided case of In re Katz Interactive Call Processing Patent Litigation, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (which hears all appeals of patent cases) determined that trial courts may limit the number of patent claims that may be asserted by a patent owner in a litigation, regardless of the complexity of […]