Intellectual Property

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.

District Court's Decision Retroactively Excusing Failure to Mark Patented Products Vacated By Federal Circuit
Federal Circuit Affirms PTAB's Unpatentability Findings Made In an IPR Proceeding Despite Prior Judicial Opinions Upholding Validity

Fashion, furniture, and other design-oriented companies will take note of the Supreme Court's recent decision in Star Athletica, L.L.C. v. Varsity Brands, Inc., which resolved a division among the federal circuits on the issue of the separability of designs of useful articles under the Copyright Act.

The U.S. Supreme Court did not appear eager to upset the patent litigation landscape by drastically limiting where infringement lawsuits can be filed.

Recent U.S. cases have created benchmarks of patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret liability for foreign activity, and businesses should take heed.

IT security professionals used to warn that only two types of businesses exist: those that have been hacked, and those that will be. Now, many are even more pessimistic, and divide the world's businesses into companies that know that they have been hacked, and those that don't. Law firms are juicy targets with all the personal identifiable information (PII) contained in client files. Intellectual property practices are especially attractive to cyber thieves because of the value of patent, trademark and trade secret information.

SCA Hygiene Products v. First Quality Baby Products

The U.S. Supreme Court on March 21 ruled laches is not a defense to patent infringement suits that are brought within the Patent Act's limitations period.

Life Technologies v. Promega
In a decision that should please American manufacturers that feed into the global supply chain, the U.S. Supreme Court has narrowly interpreted a 33-year-old law that imposes patent liability on components made in the U.S. for assembly overseas.