Intellectual Property

Despite leaving unresolved the ambiguity about the effect of secret sales under §102, the Helsinn ruling offers clues to practitioners seeking to avoid the on-sale bar.

Michelle Lee resigned as director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on May 6.

Although TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods answers the question of where a domestic corporation resides in patent infringement cases, it does not fully answer the question of where proper venue lies.

One year after its enactment, the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) continues to be one of the most significant and closely followed developments in trade secret law. The less than 70 reported DTSA cases to date provide an early glimpse into how courts may interpret the statute going forward and what early concerns about the statute may have been exaggerated.

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals is gearing up to hear argument in BMG Rights Management v. Cox Communications, one of the first attempts by the music industry to hold an ISP liable for unauthorized peer-to-peer file sharing by its subscribers.

PTAB Did Not Deny Procedural Due Process By Adopting a Claim Construction not Offered by the Parties During IPR
USPTO Did Not Exceed Authority in Granting Inter Partes Reexamination after Requester Sought to Have It Denied

Starting in 2013, the USPTO has been requesting reimbursement for the time spent by its attorneys and paralegals on district court challenges to PTAB and TTAB decisions.

The landscape for patent law has changed more quickly over the last five years than it had in preceding decades. Recent cases have profoundly changed the way courts and the USPTO treat patents and patent applications. The U.S. Supreme Court will have ample opportunity, if it chooses, to revisit the issues that have been raised by these cases over the next few terms.