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The Federal Circuit Attempts to Right the Inequitable Conduct Ship
The patent application process ' referred to as patent prosecution ' is ex parte. To ensure the integrity of the application process, patent applicants have a duty to prosecute patents with candor, good faith, and honesty. A breach of that duty raises the defense of inequitable conduct. Inequitable conduct typically requires proof that: 1) the patentee withheld material information or made a material misrepresentation; and 2) the patentee did so with the intent to deceive the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (the “PTO”).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (the “Federal Circuit”) has long maintained a high bar for proving inequitable conduct. This high bar is appropriate given the severity of the remedy ' unenforceability of the entire patent ' and the relative ease of using hindsight to find fault with the prosecution of a patent. Several recent decisions, however, have pointed toward a sinking standard for proving inequitable conduct, which has created an atmosphere of uncertainty about the proper scope of the inequitable conduct defense. The Federal Circuit's recent opinion on the subject, Star Scientific, Inc. v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., 537 F.3d 1357 (Fed. Cir. 2008), appears to be an attempt to right the ship by reiterating the standards for proving inequitable conduct that were established more than 20 years ago.
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.