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) 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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The Truth About Hedy Lamarr

Written by Brandon Baum,  of Baum Legal and Practice Center Contributor.

It seems the entire Internet recently discovered the Hedy Lamarr patent story. Hedy Lamarr was a beautiful actress in the 1930′s-40′s, who was once dubbed “The Most Beautiful Woman in the World.” She also is the named co-inventor on a patent for an anti-jamming system for guiding torpedoes.  The system relied on a clever “frequency hopping” scheme, employing a player piano roll to switch frequencies. Frequency hopping is a type of spread spectrum technology that eventually made its way into the modern cell phone. Great story right? Beautiful actress is secretly a brilliant inventor.  (more…)

Will Any Patent Application Be Better Off Under The America Invents Act?

The following analysis of the changes to 35 USC § 102 under the America Invents Act comes from Courtenay Brinckerhoff ,writer of PharmaPatents Blog and Partner at Foley & Lardner.  Brinckerhoff questions whether any patent application will be better off under the new law?

The changes to 35 USC § 102 embodied in the America Invents Act (AIA) take effect on March 16, 2013, under complicated effective date provisions. The general consensus seems to be that applicants should try to file new applications before the law changes, because (for example) applications filed under the new law will be subject to a broader definition of prior art and will lose the ability to swear behind certain prior art by proving an earlier date of invention. Moreover, patents granted from such applications will be subject to challenge under the new post-grant review provisions.In counseling clients on how to prepare for the impact of patent reform, I’ve been trying to identify situations where an application might be better off under the new law. So far, only one scenario comes to mind–an application threatened by an inventor-based disclosure that was made before a foreign priority date. (more…)

The Disharmonious Loss Of The Hilmer Doctrine

The following analysis of  the new 35 USC § 102(a)(2) provision in the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act eliminating the Hilmer doctrine and giving prior art effect to U.S. patent applications as of their foreign filing dates comes from Courtenay Brinckerhoff ,writer of PharmaPatents Blog and Partner at Foley & Lardner.

Here is an excerpt from the article originally published on Pharma Patents:

One of the many changes included in the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act relates to the date that a U.S. patent application is effective as prior art. While eliminating the Hilmer doctrine and giving prior art effect to U.S. patent applications as of their foreign priority dates might seem to be a step towards international harmonization, it actually may widen the gulf between the U.S. and the rest of world. (more…)

Deciphering the America Invents Act

President Obama’s signing of the America Invents Act on Friday, September 16th, has instigated an enormous amount of discussion in the patent community and rightly so.   The new law contains several provisions that will become effective within days, as well as others that will require rulemaking and time to implement.  Given the complexity of the legislation, I thought it would be helpful to search the web for analysis of the significant changes to U.S. Patent Law and how it will impact your patent practice.

1. America Invents Act Exercises “Con-Troll” Over Patent Litigation (IPWatchdog)

2. Patent Law Reform Update 2011 (COJK Law firm memo)

3. USPTO Post Grant Cheat Sheet (Patents Post Grant)

4. USPTO Fee Increase Effective September 26TH (Patent Law Practice Center)

5. Major reform of US patent law: the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (Association of Corp Counsel) (more…)