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Buying a Bar Date from Your Prototype Vendor
Your client has an invention. He tells you he came up with the invention 18 months ago and that he hasn't offered the invention for sale and hasn't publicly disclosed it. He's meeting with you today because he has evaluated his prototype and finally decided to direct financial resources toward obtaining a patent. He asks you to prepare a patent application. Everything seems fine, right? Maybe not. A bar date might have been purchased along with the prototype.
Inventors who are unable to manufacture their own products often turn to a manufacturer to fabricate the invention. In many cases, the inventor purchases one or more prototypes of his invention from the manufacturer. Engaging in such a transaction, however, can trigger a bar date under '102(b). The inventor-purchaser is precluded from obtaining a patent if he fails to file an application for patent within 1 year of the engagement (or within a year of the underlying offer to buy the prototype). See Special Devices, Inc. v. OEQ, Inc., 270 F.3d 1353, 1355 (Fed. Cir. 2001). The on-sale clock begins to run the moment a manufacturer offers to sell or sells to the inventor the product embodying his invention. If his invention is ready for patenting, how does an inventor who outsources the manufacturing of his invention avoid the on-sale bar?
The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year Later
The DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.
The DOJ's New Parameters for Evaluating Corporate Compliance Programs
The parameters set forth in the DOJ's memorandum have implications not only for the government's evaluation of compliance programs in the context of criminal charging decisions, but also for how defense counsel structure their conference-room advocacy seeking declinations or lesser sanctions in both criminal and civil investigations.
Use of Deferred Prosecution Agreements In White Collar Investigations
This article discusses the practical and policy reasons for the use of DPAs and NPAs in white-collar criminal investigations, and considers the NDAA's new reporting provision and its relationship with other efforts to enhance transparency in DOJ decision-making.
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough
There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.
A Lawyer's System for Active Reading
Active reading comprises many daily tasks lawyers engage in, including highlighting, annotating, note taking, comparing and searching texts. It demands more than flipping or turning pages.