Patent Baristas

There has been a lot of activity at the Supreme Court and at the PTO in the last year. The increase in litigation increases the cost of pursuing patents and the serious pitfalls companies will face if they are not careful. It doesn’t take the Amazing Kreskin to realize that the PTO is rejecting a […]

Pointing out that Senators Obama and McCain agree on the need for affordable biologic medicines, Biologicsland now offers a game for testing your knowledge about biogenerics. Biologicsland, brought to you by Teva Pharmaceuticals, is an on-line board game where you pick a person to act as your player, like politician or scientist (and why is […]

Noting that the KSR v. Teleflex decision had immediate effect of making patents more difficult to obtain — allowances of patent applications declined 43% in the first quarter of this year alone — Robert Yeager of the law firm K&L Gates LLP discusses these matters in a recently published “Legal Backgrounder” by the Washington Legal […]

With billions of dollars at stake as global business practices are scrutinized in the United States, the EU, and Asia, the challenges and consequences could not be greater for high-tech companies. The competition issues raised require detailed analysis of fast-moving areas of technology, such as the Internet, computer software and hardware, platform competition and technology […]

After the district court held that an earlier patent (Pat. No. 5,236,940) did not qualify as an enabling prior art reference and didn’t anticipate claims of U.S. Pat. No. 5,527,814, relating to the use of riluzole to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit […]

Whether you are a company conducting diligence or a target being examined, you need to ensure the value of the IP with a thorough and effective IP due diligence review. In this light, the American Conference Institute’s 6th National Conference on Pharma/Biotech IP Due Diligence will be held at the Marriott East Side, New York, […]

As we saw in the Wyeth v. Dudas case, the US District Court for the District of Columbia overturned the USPTO’s interpretation of 35 USC § 154 (the statute that prescribes patent terms). Section 154 grants extensions of patent terms for certain kinds of PTO delay.  However, Congress says you can’t double-dip, i.e., to the […]

On September 30, 2008, the US District Court for the District of Columbia overturned the interpretation of 35 USC § 154 (the statute that prescribes patent terms) by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO).  See Wyeth v. Dudas, No. 07-1492 (D.D.C. September 30, 2008). Section 154(a)(2) establishes a term of 20 years from […]