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) Patently-O: AIA Changes The Role of the Eastern District of Texas – This post brings attention to the article, 2011 Trends in Patent Case Filings, by James C. Pistorino and Susan Crane, in which they discuss the impact the AIA’s new joinder provisions has on the distribution of new lawsuit filings. The new joinder rules limit the ability of a plaintiff to join multiple unrelated defendants in a single action, which as a result, may allow courts to more easily transfer venue and thus shift filing focus away from the Eastern District of Texas.

2) Article One Partners Blog: Donald Duck, Patents, and Ping Pong Balls – This post entertains the notion that it may be possible to use a comic strip as a form of prior art. As per the post, ” “Enabling” is a key facet of prior art.  On the other hand, if one can demonstrate obviousness, then a patent can be rendered moot.  In this case, Donald Duck may have succeeded in making the idea obvious.”

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Commentary on Mayo v. Prometheus

On March 20, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Labs., Inc., reversing the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, holding that the patented Prometheus claim methods were invalid as they pertained to ineligible subject matter. The issue before the Court was whether the claims did more than simply describe laws of nature. Justice Breyer wrote the Court’s decision and emphasized the specific question, “Do the patent claims add enough to their statements of the correlations to allow the processes they describe to qualify as patent-eligible processes that apply natural laws?”  The underlying policy concern was whether such patents would inhibit  future innovation. As stated in the Court’s decision,

…there is a danger that granting patents that tie up their use will inhibit future innovation, a danger that becomes acute when a patented process is no more than a general instruction to “apply the natural law,”or otherwise forecloses more future invention than the underlying discovery could reasonably justify. The patent claims at issue implicate this concern.

In order to better understand the complexities of the Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Labs., Inc. decision, we have collected articles written by patent practitioners and Practice Center contributors about the case. Check out these fantastic case summaries and opinion pieces: (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: Making it Easier to Get a Patent – Guest author, Mark Nowotarski, shares the experience he has had in getting patent applications granted in this post. He notes that certain technology classes are harder to get a patent awarded in. As such, he explains how one can see if a technology class is getting easier or harder by plotting the patent filing dates in that class versus patent issue dates.

2) Patently-O: Kimberly-Clark v. Naty: Did Reexamination Clean the Diaper? – This post discusses how Kimberly-Clark has sued Naty Babycare for infringement of a diaper with an “elastomeric ear” having non-parallel edges. In 2010, an ex parte reexamination was begun and KC cancelled all 30 issued claims but then added an additional four claims. Unfortunately for Naty, the  patent still has one year on its term. (more…)

India Grants 1st Compulsory License of Patented Bayer Cancer Drug

Earlier in the week, India’s controller general of patents issued a decision stating that Bayer’s patented cancer drug, Nexavar, may be manufactured and sold in a cheaper generic form within the country. According to Indian law, the standard that must be met in considering whether a compulsory license may be granted is whether an invention is available to the public at a “reasonably affordable price.” If it is not reasonably affordable, the Indian government holds the right to promote public health and enforce a compulsory license of the patented invention.

Compulsory licenses have been granted throughout the world via the World Trade Organization’s multilateral agreements (e.g. TRIPS), but they have been done so primarily in regards to HIV and AIDs drugs. India is only the second nation to grant a compulsory license for a patented cancer drug; Thailand was the first. (more…)