It is one of the more common questions a trademark practitioner fields at the start of a brand launch: “We found the name we want to use, but somebody else is already using it — and they never registered it. Are we blocked?” Surprisingly, the answer is oftentimes “not necessarily.”
A funding event changes expectations instantly. The company that pitched a bold vision is now expected to execute, scale, and defend itself under heightened investor and market scrutiny. A post-round reassessment helps ensure the patents protecting your technology and data are built for sustained flight, not just an impressive countdown.
This is the second installment in a two-part series examining the implications of using generative artificial intelligence (GAI) in the drafting and prosecution of patent applications. In this part, we address the potential impact of drafting a patent application with a GAI tool, including potential invalidity challenges based on anticipation and written description. Thereafter, we offer practical guidance for patent prosecutors and inventors seeking to use GAI in their workflows.
AI-enabled and AI-first often describe the adoption of new technology, but they reveal very little about how the services are delivered or how they will produce better business outcomes for clients. Two firms may both claim to have AI built into their patent processes but operate in fundamentally different ways.
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board recently issued a precedential decision affirming an Examiner’s refusal to register WEMBY for athletic apparel. It is a rare precedential Trademark Trial and Appeal Board decision rendered under Sections 2(a) and 2(c) of the Lanham Act, which are not the frequent subjects of litigation.
New USPTO procedures allow patent owners to respond to ex parte requests pre-reexamination. Patent owners should consider strategically leveraging these procedures to prevent their patent claims from being cancelled or narrowed through reexamination.
A current work-for-hire dispute over rights to the musical adaptation, cast album compositions and sheet music based on the children’s horror novel Goosebumps: Phantom of the Auditorium explores the inter-relationship of work-for-hire and copyright-ownership language in agreements signed both before and after the Goosebumps play was created.
The real risk in AI-assisted invention is not the use of AI itself. The risk is that you cannot prove what the human actually invented. If the human contribution cannot be tied to the conception of the claimed subject matter, the patent system has nothing to reward.
A trademark infringement dispute between the outdoor apparel brand Patagonia and the drag queen Pattie Gonia may not make it to a jury after the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California referred the matter to mediation, but experts say there’s still a lot to learn from what the filing has to say about current trends in trademark enforcement.
Federal Circuit Reverses District Court’s Dismissal for Lack of Article III Standing Finding Plaintiffs Possessed a Non-Illusory Exclusionary Right Sufficient for Constitutional StandingFederal Circuit Vacates and Remands Infringement and Damages Judgments Due to Improper Single-Question Verdict Form Covering Multiple Patents, Vacates and Remands on §101 Alice Step Two for Failure to Instruct Jury on the Abstract Idea, and Affirms Patent Eligibility of Two Patents
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