Before the America Invents Act (‘AIA’), an invention owner had a one-year ‘grace period’ to file a patent application after commercially selling an invention or using the invention in public. If the patent owner failed to file a patent application within the grace period, the patent rights in the invention evaporated, leaving the owner with […]
Tag Archives: patents
Trading Places – China and the U.S. – Patents
May 19, 2017
Patent
China’s Patent System is Developing at a Faster Rate China conquered the low-cost, low-margin manufacturing sector of the world economy. Now it’s after the high-cost, high-margin, creative side of the economy. How will it get there? Through patents, of course. Thirty years ago, China had no patent system to speak of. Now the Chinese patent law […]
Why Are Federally-Financed Drugs So Expensive?
February 2, 2017
Patent
After WWII, the Federal government and science in general rode a wave of public approbation resulting from the stupendous success of the war-ending Bomb. Government money poured into basic scientific research, leading to many discoveries, many inventions, and many patents. Back in the day (President Truman’s day, that is), the Government collectively decided that the […]
Are Patents Still Important to the Pharmaceutical Industry?
January 26, 2017
Patent
You betcha. The business model of Big Pharma depends on patents. Without strong, enforceable patents, privately-funded pharmaceutical research would not exist. Case in point: Gilead sells the highly effective ‘Solvadi’ hepatitis C drug for $1000 per pill. That’s $84,000 for a twelve-week course. Idenix, a Merck subsidiary, argued that Gilead’s Solvadi infringed Idenix patents. A jury […]
Supreme Courts Decides Apple v Samsung (just kidding)
January 19, 2017
Patent
Speaking of Apple v Samsung, the Supreme Court issued its decision in this long-running litigation about design patents. To recap, Samsung copied the design of Apple’s iPhone and infringed Apple’s design patents in the process. There is no question whether the Apple patents are valid – they are. There is no question whether Samsung infringed […]
The Protectionist Patent System
December 22, 2016
Patent
Dennis Crouch in his Patently O blog considers the possible effects of the Trump administration on the patent system, and particularly, the effects of the anti-globalization platform on which Mr. Trump ran. Mr. Crouch makes the very interesting observation that at its heart the patent system shifts wealth – from competitors and consumers to patent holders. […]
When the Supremes reverse the decision of a lower court, the law that governs the conduct of you, me, and everyone else in the country on the day after the decision is different than it was on the day before the decision. So the Supreme Court changes the law, right? Not so fast. First, some […]
NDA with the U.S. Government?
October 3, 2016
Patent
Are you an inventor or an invention owner? Do you intend to do business with the Federal government? Listen up, because we have crucial information for you. A non-disclosure agreement (‘NDA’) is a contract not to disclose an invention to other people. If an inventor or owner discloses an invention under an NDA and the […]
When will a Federal court order a patent infringer to stop infringing?
September 30, 2015
Patent
Apple and Samsung have been fighting for years over copying by Samsung of patented features of Apple’s iPhone and iPad. The features at issue in a recent Apple v Samsung case before the Federal Circuit Court were swipe-to-unlock, telephone number recognition, and spelling correction. A jury found that Samsung actively copied these features and infringed the patents […]
Hostility to Computer Inventions Moves Past Computers
July 31, 2015
Patent
In Alice v CLS Bank, the Supreme Court determined that an abstract business method implemented by software entirely within a computer was not ‘patentable subject matter,’ meaning that the invention could not be protected by patent even though it met all of the requirements for a patent; namely, the process was novel, unobvious and had […]