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The Surprising Efficacy of Inter Partes Patent Re-examination
In creating inter partes re-examination, Congress hoped to provide a faster, cheaper alternative for resolving questions of patent validity in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”), rather than in the courts. As a measure of the procedure's growing popularity and availability, the rate of requests for inter partes re-examination has steadily increased each year, totaling more than 308 since the procedure was created in November 1999 (USPTO Inter Partes Re-examination Filing Data (Sept. 30, 2007). But, while the pace of re-exam requests continues to increase, the end results of completed proceedings have received relatively little attention.
Here, we report the outcomes of all inter partes re-examinations completed as of August 2008. Although this is a small sample size and it is still too early to form any strong conclusions, there are some important results apparent in this sample. Surprisingly, the proceedings displayed a high 73% “kill” rate (complete elimination of all claims targeted by the requesters) ' a rate which is far above that in litigation (33%) and ex parte re-examination (12%) (See Kimberly A. Moore, Judges, Juries, and Patent Cases ' An Empirical Peek Inside the Black Box, 99 Mich. L. Rev. 365 (2000) and Dennis Crouch, Ex Parte Reexamination Statistics II, Patently-O, available at www.patentlyo.com/patent/2008/06/ex-parte-reexam.html (posted Jun. 25, 2008)).
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.
Judge Rules Shaquille O'Neal Will Face Securities Lawsuit for Promotion, Sale of NFTs
A federal district court in Miami, FL, has ruled that former National Basketball Association star Shaquille O'Neal will have to face a lawsuit over his promotion of unregistered securities in the form of cryptocurrency tokens and that he was a "seller" of these unregistered securities.
Why So Many Great Lawyers Stink at Business Development and What Law Firms Are Doing About It
Why is it that those who are best skilled at advocating for others are ill-equipped at advocating for their own skills and what to do about it?
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.
Blockchain Domains: New Developments for Brand Owners
Blockchain domain names offer decentralized alternatives to traditional DNS-based domain names, promising enhanced security, privacy and censorship resistance. However, these benefits come with significant challenges, particularly for brand owners seeking to protect their trademarks in these new digital spaces.