IP & Technology Law Trends
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Justice Scalia and the Court's Patent Case Docket
The weekend's news about Justice Antonin Scalia's passing was a shocker. Justice Scalia always appeared so vigorous that he seemed much younger than his 79 years. His high level of legal scholarship was always on display. Justice Scalia was nothing i...
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Brexit & IP: Five Things You Should Know
Last night, in an election that had one of the largest voter turnouts in British history, a majority of UK citizens voted for the UK to exit the European Union. The ramifications of this vote are still being determined, but at least with respect to...
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Supreme Court Makes Recovery of Treble Damages Easier in Patent Cases: Halo Electronics, Inc. v. Pulse Electronics, Inc.
In what is becoming a trend, the United States Supreme Court on Monday overturned longstanding Federal Circuit precedent, with the result that it should now be easier for a successful litigant to recover treble damages for pursuing patent infringemen...
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U.S. Patent Office Extends Program that Allows Start-Ups a Way to Defer Costs
The US Patent and Trademark Office has continued the Extended Missing Parts Pilot Program which gives US utility and plant patent applicants additional time to avoid paying large filing fees. The USPTO implemented the program in December 2010 and has...
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Patent Licenses (Still) Cannot Extend Beyond the Term of a Patent's Expiration. But Look at What You Can Do in Tech Licenses.
The hard and fast rule in patent licensing is that demanding patent royalties for a patent that has expired is void against public policy. That was the rule established a half a century ago in Brulotte v. Thys Co. And that is still the rule after the...
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Suspicious Solicitations: Give “USPTO” Notices a Proper Sniff Test
Intellectual property is a valuable asset for any company or individual, and getting a patent or trademark application on file, and eventually granted, can be an exciting time. It is a paperwork-intensive process (notwithstanding that most U.S. filin...
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