Blogs
This blog is a compilation of all of the firm’s blogs. We operate three independent blogs, the ITC 337 Law Blog, the only legal blog devoted exclusively to intellectual property actions in the ITC, the Patents Post Grant Law Blog, focused on patent reexamination, reissue and the new post grant procedures introduced by the Leahy Smith America Invents Act, and the Protecting Designs Law Blog, to serve as a forum on matters involving the protection and enforcement of industrial design rights in the U.S. Other practice groups within the firm post entries on their areas of the law within this main blog.
Oblon Spivak
February 1, 2013
Third party submissions in the past have not been frequently used in the U.S. or elsewhere. In Europe, reports are that less than 1% of applications have had observations filed. Despite the low use, reports from Europe do indicate that over 50% of examiners made use of the observations in prosecution, with over 14% finding that the observations resulted in a major reduction in scope...
August 16, 2012
A 2-1 split panel of the Federal Circuit issued its decision today in the closely-watched Myriad case, Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc., __ F.3d __ (Fed. Cir. 2012) (Lourie, J.).
Background of the Case
Myriad originated in the District Court of the Southern District of New York when a coalition of groups and individuals brought a declaratory judgment action against...
July 27, 2012
In Ex Parte Ransquin, the Board reversed the Examiner’s obviousness rejection noting that the Examiner’s “continued reference” in his Answer to what the prior art discloses, evidenced “a fundamental misunderstanding by the Examiner of the difference between what references teach or disclose and what a proposed combination of references would have suggested to a person of ordinary skill in the art...
ITC 337 Law Blog
May 23, 2013
On May 20, 2013, the U.S. International Trade Commission (“the Commission”) issued a notice and order instituting enforcement proceedings in Certain Two-Way Global Satellite Communication Devices, System and Components Thereof (Inv. No. 337-TA-854).
By way of background, on April 10, 2013, BriarTek IP, Inc. of Alexandria, Virginia (“BriarTek”) filed an enforcement complaint alleging that DeLorme...
May 22, 2013
On May 20, 2013, Rohm and Haas Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Rohm and Haas Chemicals LLC of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and The Dow Chemical Company of Midland, Michigan (collectively, “Complainants”) filed a complaint requesting that the ITC commence an investigation pursuant to Section 337.
The complaint alleges that the following entities (collectively, the “Proposed Respondents”)...
May 21, 2013
On May 17, 2013, Graphics Properties Holdings, Inc. of New Rochelle, New York (“GPH”) filed a complaint requesting that the ITC commence an investigation pursuant to Section 337.
The complaint alleges that the following entities (collectively, the “Proposed Respondents”) unlawfully import into the U.S., sell for importation, and/or sell within the U.S. after importation certain consumer...
Patents Post-Grant
May 23, 2013
Congress Proposes Yet Another Anti Patent Troll Bill
Fresh on the heels of the Patent Quality Improvement Act (S.866) comes the Patent Abuse Reduction Act of 2013 (here) introduced yesterday by Senator John Cornyn (R-Tx). The newest Senate bill, like the one from earlier this month, also is designed to target patent trolls. While the earlier bill sought a way to short circuit high cost litigation...
May 21, 2013
After Final USPTO Initiative Retooled
Some pre- grant news of note this week. Last Friday the USPTO announced the After Final Consideration Pilot Program 2.0 (Federal Register Notice here). The revised pilot program modifies the initial concept by introducing a patent examiner feedback component.
Recall that the USPTO launched version 1.0 as the “After Final Consideration Pilot” (AFCP) to foster...
May 16, 2013
Requests for Rehearing May Backfire on Patentees
As detailed earlier this week, a patentee’s decision to file a preliminary response in an IPR/CBM preliminary proceeding is not as straightforward as one would expect. Where such a preliminary response is imprudently pursued by a patentee this misstep can be further compounded by other optional filings post-Trial Order.
Subsequent to the...
Protecting Designs
April 29, 2013
The 7th annual Design Day took place on April 23, at the USPTO. In attendance were about 80 USPTO employees, and roughly 200 exterior stakeholders. Robert Spear, Supervisory Patent Examiner for Technology Center 2900 ("TC 2900"), was the Master of Ceremonies. The theme for Design Day 2013 was “Designs in the New Digital Age.”
To start the day, Margaret Focarino, Commissioner for...
April 19, 2013
On April 2, 2013, Yummie Tummie sued fellow shapewear maker Spanx in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York for patent infringement of six of its design patents. The suit follows Yummie Tummie’s cease and desist letter from earlier this year and Spanx’s own complaint for declaratory judgment of non-infringement against Yummie Tummie filed last month in...
April 10, 2013
Further to our prior coverage of the implementation of the Hague Agreement, we are pleased to publish the following from Audrey Pastoret, a guest of ours from France.
The Patent Law Treaties Implementation Act of 2012 signed by President Obama on December 18, 2012 implements the Hague Agreement in the United States. It is intended to provide industrial designs with protection in states and...
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