Website launched on Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC)
The EPO and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) have launched a website on the Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC), a joint project aimed at developing a classification scheme for inventions that will be used by both offices. The website, www.cpcinfo.org, contains detailed information about the new classification scheme and the project’s progress for [...]
Slide-to-unlock is a function now patented by Apple
On Tuesday morning, Patent #8,046,721, referred to as “slide-to-unlock,” was granted to Apple. The feature was part of the original iPhone, and Steve Jobs rolled it out to the world in January of 2007. 9TO5Mac reports there is prior art, but the USPTO found differences. In addition, it appears Apple brought a Trade Dress action [...]
Priority examination back on track
Now that patent reform is a reality, and with it renewed agency funding, USPTO has put fast tracking back in play. IPBlog discussed what this means to filers back in April. To participate in the “Track I” program, applicants have to fulfill the following requirements: • File a new original utility or plant nonprovisional application [...]
Should patent owners automatically appeal an examiner’s rejection?
In advice to general counsel, a former patent examiner strongly suggests that appealing an adverse patent decision may not be worth it. Citing a 30-month backlog and the Board of Appeals and Interferences’ 29% reversal rate, Kenneth Horton believes the optimum situation for an appeal is a situation where an examiner’s rejection is clearly and [...]
HTC’s legal hand was strengthened by the inclusion of nine more patents from Google
In what smacks of an international card game more than a defense of intellectual property, Google has passed nine patents on to HTC to strengthen their Apple infringement hand. USPTO reports four of the transferred patents came from Motorola, three from Openwave and the remaining two from Palm Inc. HTC then sued Apple in federal [...]
A case study: IP value fluctuates with the ability to protect it
Nothing illustrates how the value of IP thrives only when the IP rights owner has the willingness (stomach) and wherewithal (resources) to protect those rights more than a case study of a small, undercapitalized inventor, as told in the LA Times. Bookmark on DeliciousDigg this postRecommend on Facebookshare via RedditShare with StumblersTweet about itSubscribe to [...]
What factors erode trademark value?
In addition to registration, valuation analysts look at three significant factors that can quickly erode trademark value: Is the trademark in everyday use to represent the product class (is it generic or becoming generic)? “Kleenex” is used to represent tissues, for example. Xerox fought hard to distinguish between “making copies” and “Xeroxing.” Has the mark [...]
Is real patent reform now in our sights?
Patently O reminds us September should bring with it passage of the America Invents Act of 2011, the first patent reform in nearly sixty years. H.R. 1249: grants rights to the first-inventor-to-file (rather than first-to-invent) a patent application, to come into conformity with the rest of the world and to reduce strangling litigation over patent ownership; [...]
List of top trademark filers for 2010 yields a big surprise
How does it happen that perennial leader in trademark filings by law firm, Greenberg Traurig, now files just 1/3 as many trademarks as the new leader, Raj Abhyanker PC? Corporation Service Company and World Trademark Review have just compiled a list of the top trademark filers for 2010. CSC says, “For the first time, a [...]
What is S3 worth now that key patents have been invalidated?
Litigating Apple notes that on the very same day that an ITC administrative law judge ruled that Apple infringed two of S3′s patents, the USPTO made initial determinations that the relevant claims of the two patents are invalid due to the existence of prior art. Apple can ask the ITC to review the infringement decision in [...]
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