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Properly Name Inventors on Patents

Paul A. Ragusa & Jason Chumney

A patent can be held invalid for incorrect inventorship, and co-inventorship of one, even relatively insignificant, claim can entitle a co-inventor to an ownership stake in every claim of the patent. Moreover, failure to join all co-inventors/owners as plaintiffs can prevent the real party in interest from enforcing a patent. A recent decision by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, <i>Nartron Corp. v. Schukra U.S.A., Inc.</i>, is illustrative of such risks

In re Kubin: Federal Circuit Ignores Principles of Structural Obviousness in Applying 'Obvious to Try' Test

Warren D. Woessner & Tania A. Shapiro-Barr

<i>In re Kubin</i>, 2009 WL 877646 (Fed. Cir. April 3, 2009), now appears to be the first case in which a defined biochemical structure was found to be obvious despite the fact that the structure was previously unknown and unpredictable.

Hoping to Write a Happy Ending On Google Books

Eriq Gardner

In April, when the federal judge overseeing the settlement involving Google's online book search service gave authors four more months to opt in to, or out of, the deal, many copyright insiders were surprised. Not Allan Adler. For Adler, vice president for legal affairs at the Association of American Publishers ("AAP"), U.S. District Court judge Denny Chin's decision to delay what was a May deadline until September marked just another twist on a long, bumpy road.

Internet Child Porn Search Is 'Knowing Possession' in PA

Peter Hall

Searching for child pornography on the Internet and following links to make such images appear on a computer screen constitutes knowing possession or control of that material, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled.

Features

Ninth Circuit Finds No First Amendment Violation in Teacher's Demotion over Blog Comments

Tresa Baldas

Delivering a blow to bloggers' rights, a federal appeals court has ruled that a Washington state teacher's blog attacking co-workers, the union and the school district was not protected speech, and therefore she was not unlawfully demoted over it.

Virtual Contacts and Personal Jurisdiction

Robert S. Friedman & Mark E. McGrath

This article analyzes how courts are handling jurisdictional questions attendant to the next generation of technology, such as forms of "cloud computing," including virtual data rooms and social networks. As these technologies continue to develop and opportunities arise to increase revenue, companies risk having to defend themselves in far-off jurisdictions never before contemplated.

Features

Rocket Matter: Case Management for the Small Firm

Finis R. Price, III

What attorneys are missing is a brand new class of case management programs which, while they seek to replace older programs, also seek to solve many of the concerns law firms face when dealing with digital client data: security, mobile access and backup. As one of the newcomers to this market, Rocket Matter has embraced the new Software as a Service ("SaaS") model of delivering software from the Internet Cloud.

Features

KM Implementation At Reed Smith

Tom Baldwin

Despite the fact that our total data creation had increased exponentially, Reed Smith hadn't invested nearly enough in our information infrastructure, and simple processes such as document retrieval were taking far too long. We knew we needed to take control of our data before it took hold of us. Following is an account of the firm's recent implementation of Recommind's MindServer Search platform as the foundation for its Knowledge Management infrastructure.

Features

New Document Metadata Changes In Microsoft Office 2007

Randal Farrar

The document metadata contained in a Word document other than the intended text doesn't necessarily create risk of adverse disclosure, because some document metadata is necessary for formatting or macro automation of the document. However, some document metadata, such as Tracked Changes, may be used to share among cooperators, but should not be shared with adversaries or in some instances clients, because it contains author and date metadata.

Features

Addressing Generational 'Tech Gaps' for More Efficient, Effective Legal Practice

Mike Walsh

One way legal practices are trying to handle cutbacks is through increased use of technology ' essentially harnessing software and online technology to make employees and operations more efficient while maintaining quality work. Working with IT colleagues, this has proven to be a successful strategy for many lawyers. However, it turns out there are some rather sharp differences in how technology is perceived and used by legal professionals among different generations. These differences, or "generational gaps," can lead to issues in the workplace between colleagues, as well as less efficient use of time and resources by law firm or company employees. Naturally, each of these concerns is amplified given difficult economic circumstances.

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