Today we continue our weekly installment highlighting the best of the patent blogosphere from the past week. If there are any patent blogs you think should be highlighted by our Top 5, please comment on this post and we’ll check them out.
1) Chicago IP Litigation Blog: Court Finds Claim Preamble Limiting – This post reports on the matter of The Metraflex Co. v. Flex-Hose Co., No. 10 C 302, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Sep. 8, 2011). It discusses how Judge Leinenweber construed the claims of the patent related to displaying a product selection on a website by highlighting the specific definitions reached upon by the court.
2) Patently-O: Federal Circuit Continues Split on Patentable Subject Matter – This post notes how the Federal Circuit decided in Myspace, Inc. v. GraphOn Corp. (Fed. Cir. 2012), once again not reaching a set standard regarding patentable subject matter. “The majority opinion here – penned by Judge Plager and joined by Judge Newman – argues that courts should avoid the metaphysical question of whether an invention is unpatentably abstract whenever possible and instead focus on the conditions of patentability found in §§ 102, 103, and 112 of the patent act.”
3) Green Patent Blog: Green Off-Patent Report (Powered by CleanTech PatentEdge) – The post highlights the current clean tech boom and how many of the green technologies in use today are off-patent, i.e., the patents covering the technologies have run their 20-year term and expired. “One of the interesting features of the current clean tech boom is its reliance on mature technologies such as solar PV and wind, which went through prior periods of innovation in the 1970s and ’80s.”
4) IP Watchdog: Women’s History Month: PTO Women’s Symposium in Shreveport – This post discusses how the USPTO held a Women Entrepreneurs event titled Celebrating the Past, Inventing the Future. On March 1, 2012, at the Madison Building on the Campus of the USPTO, the USPTO and the National Women’s Business Council (NWBC) together paid tribute to women whose ingenuity and inventions have improved lives. The event highlighted the passage of the America Invents Act and one provision specifically that allows the USPTO to begin tracking the gender of patent applicants.
5) Patent Docs: USPTO Establishes Visiting Professionals Program; First Visiting Professional Issues CRS Report on Hatch-Waxman Issues – In February, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced the establishment of the Thomas Alva Edison Visiting Professionals Program, designed to tap into the expertise of distinguished IP professionals and academics who are able to devote up to six months of service to the Office on a full time basis. The Office also announced that the first Edison Professional will be Georgetown Law Professor John R. Thomas. This post highlights the work of Prof. Thomas and the impact the Visiting Professionals Program will have.
Tags: Federal Circuit, green technology, off-patents, USPTO, Visiting Professional's Program, women's history month
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