Negotiations in the Senate on patent reform bill S. 1145 seemed to break down this week after Sen. Arlen Specter released a statement saying:

The Chairman [Sen. Leahy] and I differ on a number of aspects of the proposed patent reform legislation. . . . . The principal sticking point is the issue of how to assess damages in patent infringement lawsuits. We thought we had reached an agreement on this matter, but the language continued to shift, so we do not yet have a deal on the package. I am hopeful that we can reach an agreement, but more work has to be done to get it right.

The crumbling continued after Sen. Jeff Sessions apparently withdrew his support for an amendment to the patent reform bill that would exempt banks that unlawfully use patented check imaging technology from paying damages. The provision would have required the federal government to pay $1 billion to DataTreasury over 10 years as compensation for taking its property under the amendment (read: your tax dollars). Now Sessions says he will no longer support the amendment because of questions about its constitutionality.

Amici briefs for and against software and business method patents are flying at the CAFC over Ex Parte Bilski. The sides are lining up pretty much as you’d expect as everyone tries to influence an en banc Federal Circuit panel that will reconsider the scope of patentable subject matter as it relates to business methods. Most of these briefs support Bilski and urge the CAFC to not change section 101 — that is, keep a relatively broad view of what is patentable subject matter. A good summary on the briefs is at Patently-O.

This probably won’t end the heated debate over the threshold for patentable subject matter, though, as many parties are just flat out against patenting of business methods. Among the questions to be answered are: When does a claim that contains both mental and physical steps create patent-eligible subject matter? Whether a method or process must result in a physical transformation of an article or be tied to a machine to be patent-eligible subject matter under section 101?

A controversy has been brewing over the MBA degree of Heather Bresch, Mylan’s COO, after a Pittsburgh newspaper questioned it. West Virginia University officials awarded her an MBA retroactively last October. (via Pharmalot)

Cincinnati Reds inked a deal to hold spring training in Goodyear, Ariz., in 2010. The Reds and Cleveland Indians will share a 10,000-seat stadium.

The Federalist Society has just put the latest edition of its journal Engage online, with individual webpages for separate articles, so as to make it easier for bloggers to link to us. I’m sending you the journal in case you find something of interest.

Fortunately for bloggers, we can now get aromatherapy with our laptops. (via Securing Innovation)

All I want now is my 3G iPhone.

Posted April 11th, 2008 by Stephen Albainy-Jenei in Friday Round-Up
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The Kentucky BioAlliance has established a fund to provide stipends for Kentucky-based biotech companies to attend the annual Biotechnology Industry Organization BIO2008 conference. Companies that are selected will be awarded a stipend to cover up to $800 in expenses associated with attending the annual BIO International Conference. To apply, fill out an application here.

Biotech companies say they are ready for legislation covering biogenerics. BIO is making the legislation a priority in 2008 and is working to negotiate guidelines favorable to its members.  The U.S. currently spends $40 billion per year on biotech drugs and the leading presidential candidates — Sens. Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain — have all advocated generic drugs as a health care cost-cutter. The Bush administration said it would like to see the FDA gain the power to approve biogenerics this year.

Gibson Guitar said that the “Guitar Hero” video games infringe one of Gibson’s patents and Activision has asked a U.S. court to declare the claim invalid.  Gibson’s U.S. Patent No 5,990,405 claims a method for simulating a live performance using a musical instrument, a 3D headset with stereo speakers, and a pre-recorded concert. If you go by the old patent law maxim that claims thicker than about “three fingers” are probably too narrow to enforce, then Gibson’s seven part method claim will have a tough way to go.  Note: The first element requires “(a) a musical instrument, the musical instrument generating an instrument audio signal at an instrument audio output, the instrument audio signal varying in response to operation of the instrument by the user of the system.”

Pfizer got a Canadian appeals court ruling blocking regulatory approval of Ranbaxy’s generic version of the cholesterol pill Lipitor. Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal reversed a lower-court ruling that Ranbaxy could sell a competing generic before Pfizer’s patent expires in 2010. Pfizer’s Lipitor sales were $12.7 billion last year.

Filed under yet another thing to be worried about, a report shows that medical devices can be hacked. About 100,000 Americans have a new kind of defibrillator implanted near their heart that’s vulnerable to hacking and even reprogramming. The devices rely on wireless transmissions that weren’t encrypted. Regulators and defibrillator makers say there’s just a slim chance of hackers targeting the devices but expect to see more of this as devices go wireless.

A Superior Court judge on Thursday ordered Starbucks Corp. to pay its California baristas $106 million in back tips and interest that the company had taken from its baristas and gave to shift supervisors.  San Diego Superior Court Judge Patricia Cowett also issued an injunction saying state law prohibits managers and supervisors from sharing in employee gratuities. Starbucks spokeswoman Valerie O’Neil said the decision “represents an extreme example of an abuse of the class-action procedures in California’s courts.” But barista attorney Laura Ho said “Starbucks illegally took a huge amount of money from the tip pool to pay shift supervisors, rather than paying them out of its own pocket.”  If only the Patent Baristas could get tips.

Finally, the pharmaceutical business (reporting) has become a soap opera.  Pharmalot stimulated some comments after posting about an Rx video soap opera. We haven’t viewed the clips so take it as it is.

Posted March 21st, 2008 by Stephen Albainy-Jenei in Friday Round-Up
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Today is Pi Day 2008.  Pi, Greek letter (), is the symbol for the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. Pi = 3.1415926535… Pi Day is celebrated by math enthusiasts around the world on March 14th at 1:59 p.m.  (*As noted in the comments, this only works if you write the month in front of the day.)  The first theoretical calculation of a value of pi was by Archimedes of Syracuse (287-212 BC).  You can celebrate with a Pi-Ku.

thinkBiotech has some new books out on biotechnology.

The Patent Office held a Biotechnology/Chemical/Pharmaceutical Customer Partnership on March 12.  It included a presentation on the Patent Prosecution Highway and Enablement in Claims to Therapeutic Treatment.

The Collegiate Inventors Competition is now accepting entries for 2008.  The Competition promotes exploration in invention, science, engineering, technology, and other creative endeavors and provides college students to compete based on the originality and inventiveness of their new idea, process, or technology. One Undergraduate and one Graduate winner or team each receive $15,000. One Grand Prize winner or team receives $25,000.

Gmo Food for Thought Blog has a piece on the discovery of the plant gene that controls the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed and water released by a plant.  In practical terms, this means a plant that could both survive in severe drought conditions AND help fight global warming effects.

Since Spring is coming, I’ll mention that Husqvarna launched the world’s first automatic electric solar powered hybrid robotic lawn mower.

Finally, the baristas at Starbucks would like a $100 million tip back from the company. (Hat tip Blawgreview Ed.)

Posted March 14th, 2008 by Stephen Albainy-Jenei in Friday Round-Up, Blawg Reviews
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IP Newsflash, an IP meta-information portal that browses your information channels for you and presents only relevant, recent and customizable IP information on a single page, just got better.  IP Newsflash is touted as being for “patent professionals who want to stay up to date but dislike the tedious task of browsing through countless sources of information.”  See other reviews at the Invent Blog, IP Menu, Patently-O and Securing Innovation. We really like the new look.  We love the free price.

Filed under Your Tax Dollars at Work, the Congressional Budget Office has released its cost estimate on the patent reform bill. Note that this includes an estimated $1 billion in compensation for DataTreasury’s check processing patents (5,910,988 and 6,032,137). Why Congress is wanting to give free immunity to one industry from infringement of a private company’s patent can probably be spelled c-a-m-p-a-i-g-n-d-o-n-a-t-i-o-n-s. More at the Patent Prospector.

Listed as the “first worldwide Web 2.0 pharmaceutical news portal,” World Pharma News.com now has World Pharma News.net –  a web application that allows you to submit pharmaceutical news articles or other related web resources that will be reviewed by our registered users and will be promoted, based on popularity, to the main page. When a registered user submits a news article it will be placed in the “unpublished” area until it gains sufficient votes to be promoted to the main page.

A Denver judge showed trial attorneys how to lose $51 million  for “cavalier and abusive” misconduct and for having a “what can I get away with?” attitude during a patent infringement trial.  Meanwhile, New Mexico has been finding new uses for lasers.

Also, Legal Andrew has an update on lawyer advertising.

Posted February 29th, 2008 by Stephen Albainy-Jenei in Friday Round-Up
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Securing Innovation has a piece on the Eco-Patent Commons, an initiative to create a collection of patents on technology that directly or indirectly protects the environment. The patents will be pledged by companies and other intellectual property rights holders and made available to anyone free of charge. Eco-Patent info in pdf here.

Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) posted a new study, entitled “The Economic Implications of Patent Reform,” on the potential economic impact of the pending patent reform legislation.  The study, available here, concludes that the following provisions would greatly increase costs:

• Changing the rules for apportioning damages would increase the cost of patent litigation.
• A new post-grant opposition system would increase the cost of adjudicating patents.
• Changes to the inequitable conduct doctrine would increase litigation and patent transaction costs.

Consumers, generic drug manufacturers, insurers and others sent letters to the U.S. Senate leaders on the issue of on the importance of maintaining the inequitable conduct defense in patent disputes. Senate Letters.

Although, it now looks like the Senate vote on the Patent Reform Act is going to be delayed, probably until April.

Insmed has just launched a campaign to increase awareness of the need for Congress to pass the follow-on biologics (FOB) approval pathway. In trendy fashion, Insmed has posted a video on YouTube called Follow-On Biologics – Tell your Story.

e-IP announced new features that simplify the process of posting your IP, as well as more pricing options. These enhancements have been developed in response to requests from research institutions with large portfolios of IP (i.e. over 100), and are now available to anyone.

Posted February 15th, 2008 by Stephen Albainy-Jenei in Friday Round-Up
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