One of the important new antibiotics discovered and developed by pharmaceutical companies in the past few years is Rifampicin and its relative Rifamycin. These potent antibiotics remain key tools in fighting off serious infection. Their story begins with a soil sample taken from a pine forest on the French Riviera in 1957 that was then studied …
In response to recent court cases, the USPTO has dramatically revised its approach to dealing with a wide variety of patents. Its new guidelines to patent examiners on subject matter eligibility for inventions involving natural products seem to go way beyond the legal decisions on which they are allegedly based, adding extremely high barriers to patentability. …
Excluding Natural Products from Patent Protection? Read More »
The photocopier, one of the most valuable inventions in the modern world, began with the all-consuming passion of one man, Chester Carlson, who sacrificed almost everything he had for years to realize his dream of “dry printing” using electrostatic means. In the end, he became wealthy and successful, but the years of effort required should …
For big business, life would be simpler without patents. Then success would be determined by factors related to size such as lobbying budget, marketing prowess, and the combined power of your legal team. Upstarts could be squashed and cleared out of the way or acquired for a pittance. That’s not how our economic system is …
One of the vexing problems in patent enforcement is the high uncertainty in litigation caused in part by a particular legal principles in the U.S. dating back to a 1996 court case, Cybor Corp. v. FAS Technologies, Inc., in which the Federal Circuit concluded that claim interpretation–the critically important step of determining what the clams …
A Chance to Decrease the Uncertainty in Patent Enforcement Read More »
Billionaire Mark Cuban, after complaining about patent lawyers making too much money, condemned the US patent system for blocking innovation. He and some other wealthy elites are troubled by US patent rights and would like to dismantle large parts of the system. This is a growing and troubling trend. The voices in the tech community …
Abandon the US Patent System? Sure, If Killing Innovation is Your Goal Read More »
There’s an anti-patent sentiment in some parts of the public that argues that they are destroying the economy rather than helping. There is particular resentment against non-practicing entities (NPEs), often called trolls, for owning (and typically acquiring large numbers of) patents for products and processes that they don’t actually use themselves. That sentiment, naturally, is …
Patents: Sucking the Lifeblood from the Economy?? Read More »
On Sept. 16, President Obama signed the Leahy-Smith “America Invents Act” which supposedly will strengthen innovation and improve our patent system. It’s a radical change in our patent system–one that seems to have been drafted by people who don’t fully understand patents or innovation. Does this bill promote innovation as advertized? What about that 15% …
Startup companies, unlike our “too big to fail” banks, can’t afford to make too many Enormous Mistakes without perishing or losing much of their value. One of the Enormous Mistakes that some startups make is neglecting intellectual property. That includes neglecting opportunities to protect their business, as well as the need to make sure they …
The good folks at the China Law Blog recently discussed a common scam that occurs in China. Actually, this is a scam that is shaking down small and large companies and lone inventors all over the globe. I’ve warned against it in the US for a long time and was intrigued to see it is …
The Bogus IP Registration Scam: Becoming a Global Phenomenon, Beware! Read More »