The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office continues to seek stakeholder input on AI-generated disclosures and patentability. Earlier this year, USPTO issued a public Request for Comment on the impact of artificial intelligence on prior art, the known understanding of a person of ordinary skill and how this effects patentability, specifically novelty and obviousness of a claimed invention. Additionally, the Office is hosting a listening session on these topics virtually and in person later this summer. The inquiries are significant and potential rule changes at the USPTO could completely upset the ..read more

On 15 May 2024 the UK Supreme Court handed down its judgement in the case of Lifestyle Equities v Ahmed (Lifestyle Equities C.V. and another (Respondents) v Ahmed and another (Appellants) – The Supreme Court) clarifying the law on the personal liability of individuals who (unknowingly) assist another (the Primary Infringer) to infringe a registered trade mark and raising the bar for trade mark owners looking to pursue such personal liability claims. Background Whilst the hearings which preceded this case involved a number of different trials and parties, the basic facts relevant to this Supre ..read more

In a May 10, 2024, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), the USPTO proposed sweeping changes in the rules governing the filing of terminal disclaimers. If the USPTO implements the proposed changes, entire patent families could be wiped out if just one claim of one patent in the family is found invalid over prior art. Patent owners could have a lot more to worry about than just preserving common ownership of terminally disclaimed patents. The public hue and cry thus far have been significant. Here, we discuss why. How Things Are Now When an applicant files a terminal disclaimer, the applicant ..read more

Every single word matters. Nowhere was this truer than when the Federal Circuit recently held, in an appeal from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board captioned Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. v. Personal Genomics Taiwan, Inc., that an apparatus for identifying a single biomolecule meant examining one biomolecule alone and not inferring its identity from an ensemble of copies. The court’s opinion provides a valuable lesson for patent practitioners as well as owners and potential challengers of patents. Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. — known as “PacBio” — filed two inter-partes re ..read more

Much like word processing with spell check and other now commonplace digital tools were once only the stuff of science fiction, artificial intelligence (AI) is quickly becoming widespread in knowledge work including law practice. IP law is no exception. The use of AI in IP law practice has practical benefits, including the potential for enhanced efficiency and lower costs in drafting and prosecuting patents before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The USPTO has expressed support for the good that can come from the use of AI in the legal profession, while also warning about the pro ..read more

As discussed in two of our recent blogs (here) and here), the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or Office) recently proposed substantial patent fee increases for continuing applications and terminal disclaimers. The USPTO is also proposing substantial increases for an applicant to request continued examination of an application whose claims have been rejected, but only minor increases for appeals of rejections. As we discuss below, these increases are likely to affect strategies for prosecuting patent applications. Background While a patent application is pending, a patent appl ..read more

As discussed in our previous blog (here), the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) has proposed substantial surcharges for filing continuing applications, depending on the timing of filing. The USPTO is also proposing substantial increases for an applicant to file a terminal disclaimer. As we discuss below, these increases are likely to affect strategies for prosecuting patent applications. Background Continuing applications often require the filing of terminal disclaimers, because the claims of the continuing applications can be similar to the claims in the parent or another p ..read more

Last month, viral AI-generated pornographic pictures of Taylor Swift circulated on X (formerly Twitter), with one post remaining for 17 hours and receiving more than 45 million views, 24,000 reposts, and hundreds of thousands of likes before the verified account was suspended for violating platform policy. The images, allegedly created using a company’s text-to-image tool Designer, originated from a challenge on 4chan. The posts spurred an explosion of comments and “Protect Taylor Swift” hashtags on X by the army of “Swifties” (the name used by Taylor Swift supporters) seeking to bury the por ..read more

Our colleagues at Employment Law World recently blogged about a recent trade secrets decision from the Northern District of California, Apple v. Rivos. The case involved a common fact pattern: numerous employees were hired away from Apple by Rivos and Apple brought claims for trade secret misappropriation (among others). The court dismissed the claims against Rivos and provides important guidance that other companies can take to try and limit their liability in potential trade secret claims. Given the importance of trade secret law to our readership, we wanted to take a moment to share it wit ..read more

The opportunity to compete at the Olympic Games represents one of the most honorable achievements of any athlete’s career. And while Olympians may have always been trailblazers in the world of sports, today’s competitors are more than just athletes – they are brand ambassadors, marketing representatives, and social media influencers. While an athlete’s ability to reach audiences presents a unique opportunity for brand partners, it also presents event integrity concerns for the International Olympic Committee (“IOC”). In prior Olympic Games, athletes have used social media to grant fans glimps ..read more