Patent Baristas

As reported in the New York Times, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced a new supplemental ethics regulation that addresses the concerns raised by the activities of some of its employees, particularly regarding outside consulting with the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. The regulation was developed by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), […]

mMicrosoft put out its own search engine on its MSN Web site, today.  This, after  admitting that it totally missed the boat sailed by Google Inc. and others.  While one can argue the merits of putting a lot of resources into searching the web, I thought I’d at least take a look. I did a […]

The Intellectual Property Owners (IPO) announced a call for nominations for their 32nd National Inventors of the Year Award. See the brochure here. An inventor is eligible for the 2005 award if the invention: Originated in the U.S.; Is covered by a U.S. patent; and Was either patented or first made commercially available since the […]

By now, you’ve probably heard of the high-definition DVD format war brewing up as consumer electronics companies and Hollywood studios choose sides.   This is a battle between two high-definition DVD formats, Blu-ray and HD DVD, which are expected to arrive late this year and which will require new high-definition DVDs and a new class of […]

Scott Gottlieb, MD, in a Forbes opinion, opines the Food and Drug Administration’s increasingly cautious approach to the approval of new medicines. Previously, the FDA rejected the testosterone patch Intrinsa and recommended against over-the-counter status for the cholesterol-lowering drug Mevacor. Now, the FDA’s Oncology Drug Advisory Committee (ODAC) may delay approval of new drugs. Apparently, […]

Details behind the European Patent Office’s (EPO) decision in May 2004 to revoke Myriad Genetic’s 2001 BRCA1 gene patent have been made public. The main claim related to a method of diagnosing a predisposition to human breast/ovarian cancer by analysing mutations in the BRCA1 gene. The gene was defined broadly by reference to a specific […]

J. Craig Williams, on his blog May It Please the Court, after noting that "blogging as a phenomenon is reaching epic proportions, asks the question: Are blogs advertising?  Williams believes yes.  He thinks that "it would be difficult to identify a purely altruistic blog" and thinks that, in the broadest sense of the word, all […]

The partners of Boston firm Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault, LLP voted to wind up the business of the Firm and dissolve it.  In early December, 10 partners decided to leave the Firm and the remaining partners decided to dissolve the partnership.  The Firm had one of the largest patent and intellectual property practices in New […]