Patent Law Practice Center

Top 5 Patent Law Blog Posts of the Week

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) Patent Docs: Tomato Genome Determined – The recent news that the “entire genomic DNA sequence of the tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) has been deciphered” inspired this post. It takes an in depth look at the “interesting relationships between tomatoes and closely-related species.” No discussion of whether there will be a push to patent the tomato genetic sequence.

2) IP Watchdog: Mobile App Developers Gain Ally to Fight Patent Infringement – This post highlights the attempt to promote innovation within the mobile app industry. The world’s largest patent research community announced the formation of a partnership with a global trade organization for mobile software developers, which this post argues could in fact impact the mobile app industry in a positive way by benefiting the small businesses and individual entrepreneurs behind the technology. (more…)

Top 5 Patent Law Blog Posts of the Week

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) IP Watchdog: Patent Drawings: An Economical Way to Expand Disclosure – This post discusses the importance of including patent drawings within patent applications that  show every feature of the invention specified in the claims, and explains when and where the applications would best serve the applicant.

2) Chicago IP Litigation Blog: Determining Senior User is Not an Issue for Motion to Dismiss – This post reports on Arcadia Group Brands Ltd. v. Studio Moderna SA, No. 10 C 7790, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Aug. 15, 2011), including both parties’ arguments as well as the judge’s decision. (more…)

Jim Henson’s Puppet Patent: A Patent Post for Parents and Muppet Fans Alike

It’s time to play the music, it’s time to light the lights, it’s time to meet the patent behind the Muppet Show delights. In 1958, Jim Henson filed an a patent application with the USPTO for a “puppet doll or similar article”.  The patent application, Patent Number D186119, was for a design patent, as the patent claim states it is for, “the ornamental design for a puppet doll or similar article as shown or described.”  If you check out the patent application, you will see a figure that looks similar to the Muppet known and loved throughout the world as Kermit the Frog. Henson’s Muppet mastery had debuted a few years earlier when in 1955, when Kermit the Frog made an appearance on “Sam and Friends”.

According to the Muppet Wiki, (more…)

Women Entrepreneurs Awarded More Patents in Recent Years

The number of women being awarded U.S. patents has increased sharply in recent years, according to a private study commissioned by the National Women’s Business Council (NWBC)  to determine the rates of women who have applied for and received patents from 1975 through 2010.  According to the NWBC’s announcement of their preliminary findings, 22,984 patents were awarded to women in 2010, up by an impressive 35% from 2009. This acceleration in the rate of patents being granted to women is impressive because in 2009, women received 17,061 patents, which was just a 4.5 percent increase over the 16,321 issued in 2008. (more…)

Google’s Patent Portfolio: As Impressive as Cars that Can Drive Themselves

Google’s patent portfolio has been in the news a lot lately, and not in reference to the plethora of patent litigation Google has found itself in in recent years. Google expanded its patent portfolio in 2011 by acquiring more than 2,000 of IBM’s patents and added another by having its patent application for a self-driving car awarded by the USPTO. Not sure which is more impressive? Let’s spell out the recent acquisitions: (more…)