Author Archive

Unique Product Solutions, Ltd. v. Hy-Grade Valve, Inc. (N.D. Ohio Feb. 23, 2011)
U.S. District Court Judge Dan Polster ruled that the qui tam provision of the patent false marking statute (Title 35 U.S.C. § 292) unconstitutional under the Take Care Clause of Article II. The Court concluded, in pertinent part:

Applying the Morrison “sufficient control” analysis [...]

The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office released additional details on February 2, 2011, regarding their recently proposed “Three-Track” patent examination initiative. The PTO is seeking public comments for a 30 day period beginning with the proposals forthcoming publication in the Federal Register.
In its original proposal, published in June 2010 (75 Fed. Reg. 31,763), the Patent [...]

Dennis Crouch’s Patently O blog recently reported on the record increases in both the number of patent issuing and increases in the allowance rate (i.e., percentage of concluded applications that were allowed). In fact, the last three weeks have seen the highest number of issued patents in any three-week period in U.S.P.T.O. history. In [...]

The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled yesterday that fraud on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”) requires proof of actual intent to deceive, which may not be inferred merely because a trademark applicant made a misstatement that it should have known was false. The court held that “a trademark is [...]

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review the en banc decision of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in In re Bilski (545 F.3d 943). In that decision, the Federal Circuit rejected its previous “useful, concrete and tangible result” test for patentable subject matter articulated in State Street (149 F.3d 1368). Finding [...]

Did the Federal Circuit just tell the last patent defendant in east Texas to turn off the lights on your way out? The Eastern District of Texas is a popular venue for patent owners, especially non-practicing entities commonly maligned as “patent trolls,” filing infringement lawsuits. The Eastern District is widely perceived as being friendly [...]