News

The US Patent and Trademark Office on February 22, 2019, issued a warning asking US attorneys to stay vigilant as many are receiving emails from people in China and perhaps elsewhere, offering to pay to use their information in trademark filings.

Join AIPLA on March 21-22, 2019, for the 2019 Trade Secret Law Summit in New York City.

Due to recent technical issues, the United States Patent & Trademark Office’s PKI authentication and migration deadlines associated with the authentication change for EFS-Web and Private PAIR are no longer applicable until further notice.

The United States Patent & Trademark Office has opened sign-ups to attend its May 7-9 Stakeholder Training on Examination Practice and Procedure (STEPP) Attorney/Agent 3-day course held at the USPTO headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia.

The European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, announced on February 13, 2019, that it reached a political agreement on a new Copyright Directive that would require online platforms to compensate publishers and creators for the content that appears on their websites.

EFS-Web and Private PAIR users will no longer be able to authenticate using PKI certificates on February 15, 2019

The United States Patent & Trademark Office on February 11, 2019, released a report on the trends and characteristics of U.S. women inventors named on US patents granted from 1976 through 2016.

The US Chamber of Commerce’s Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC) on February 7, 2019 released its International IP Index, “Inspiring Tomorrow,” which assesses the intellectual property environments of 50 world economies.

President Donald J. Trump signed the documents for the US to ratify the Marrakesh Treaty on January 28, 2019.

The Federal Circuit on February 6, 2019, affirmed a district court decision against Athena Diagnostics, holding their patent covering methods for diagnosing neurological disorders invalid because it was directed to a natural law and lacked an inventive step.

President Donald J. Trump on February 5, 2019, highlighted intellectual property during the State of the Union speech to Congress.

Beginning July 1, the United States Patent and Trademark Office will accept new international applications to the IP5 Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) Collaboration Search and Examination Pilot (CS&E).

The United States Patent and Trademark Office correctly interpreted the Lanham Act as requiring an award of attorneys' fees, win or lose, to the Office in district court proceedings that review decisions of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held on February 4, 2019.

The United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) on January 31, 2019, published its Performance and Accountability Report (PAR) for the 2018 fiscal year; the PAR serves as the USPTO’s annual report, which it publishes each year to update the public on its performance and financial health.

The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on January 29, 2019, ruled that Inguran LLC’s patent infringement suit against ABS Global will need a new trial because it found that the jury’s assessments of two out of the three patent claims at issue could not be reconciled under the rules governing dependent claims and enablement.

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on January 25, 2019, vacated and remanded a Patent Trial and Appeal Board decision concerning General Electric Co.‘s successful validity challenge of a patent relating to a coating that protects a substrate used in turbine engines.

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on January 23, 2019, reversed a district court entry of summary judgement that had prevented patent owner Supernus and its licensee from extending U.S. patent 8,747,897.

January 27 is the last day to sign up for the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s February 12 and 13 Virtual Instructor Led Training (vILT) course “Legal Analysis and Writing Workshop.”

The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on January 9, 2019, held that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) did not err procedurally when it invalidated the claims of a patent on a ground that it did not institute in its institution decision.

The Supreme Court held that the America Invents Act (AIA) did not change the on-sale doctrine, affirming the decision of the Federal Circuit.