Posts
The Law of the Patent Instrument
Patents are a useful tool in innovation policy—but they aren’t the only tool available. If all you ever see are patents (and patent lawyers), your natural reaction is to use patents to solve...
Curver v. Home Expressions Advances Design Patent Law
In today’s Curver v. Home Expressions decision, the Federal Circuit resolved several outstanding questions regarding design patents. In particular, the Federal Circuit rejected the notion that...
Nartron IPRs a Touchstone For Understanding PTAB Discretion
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) recently issued institution decisions in a number of petitions filed against U.S. Pat. No. 5,796,183, a touchscreen patent owned by Nartron. In the process o...
Protecting Inventors—Independent Invention As A Defense
Alice has an idea. Independently, Bob has the same idea. Neither one has ever talked to the other. Alice develops her idea and on January 1, files for a patent on it. Bob devel...
Global Innovation Index Highlights The Difference Between Patents And Innovation
The 2019 Global Innovation Index (GII) was recently released by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Conceived of as a broad measure of the innovative environment in various coun...
Not Invented By A Human—AI As An Inventor
Recently, a group of patent attorneys—along with the self-proclaimed “patent holder for all neural systems that contemplate, invent, and discover via such confabulations”—has filed a set of pa...
Much Ado About Injunctions
It’s become an article of faith among those complaining that patent reform has gone too far that the 2006 eBay case must be overturned—so much so that Sen. Coons has included it in both editions o...
A Different Bite At The Subject Matter Apple
Utility patents aren’t the only form of patent, much less the only form of intellectual property. While not a frequent subject of discussion in comparison to its much better known cousins, the...
Qualcomm’s Petard: Apple Acquires Modem Business From Intel
Yesterday, Apple officially announced its acquisition of Intel’s smartphone modem unit. Apple will receive a variety of assets from Intel, including patents, as well as a significant portion o...