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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Beyond Language: How Multimodal AI Sees the Bigger Picture
Matthew R. Carey
The possibilities for patenting innovative applications of multimodal models across industries are endless.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Protecting Technology-Assisted Works and Inventions: Where Does AI Begin?
Ed Lanquist, Jr. and Dominic Rota
Just like any new technology, efforts to protect and enforce intellectual property on AI-based technologies are likely to be hampered by a lack of both a unified governing framework and a common understanding of the technology.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Recent Patent Trial and Appeal Board Approaches to Patent Claims on Medical Technology Implementing AI
Jim Soong
Each decision involves reversal of a prior art rejection and contrasts with the other decisions on subject matter eligibility, revealing different PTAB approaches and results that can inform prosecution and appeal strategies.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Treatment of Antibody Claims In the U.S. After 'Amgen v. Sanofi'
Leanne Rakers and Caley McCarthy
The future of antibody claiming in the United States is uncertain following the U.S. Supreme Court’s May 2023 ruling in Amgen Inc. v. Sanofi, a highly anticipated decision concerning enablement and whether the traditional way to claim antibodies — claiming antibodies by their function — will survive as a valid claiming strategy.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Can Artificial Intelligence Patents Overcome §112 Requirements?, Part 2
Mark Liang, Paige Hardy and Grace McFee
Part Two of a Two-Part article
While the last decade has seen a dramatic increase in the number of AI patents, such patents face difficulty in overcoming the patent-eligibility challenges under §101 and Alice. Section 101, however, is not the only hurdles AI patents must overcome. Section 112, with its written description, enablement, and definiteness requirements, presents additional obstacles.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Can Artificial Intelligence Patents Survive Alice?
Mark Liang. Paige Hardy and Grace McFee
Part One of a Two-Part Article
Under the current Alice framework, those attempting to patent AI innovations face an uphill battle. But, as the caselaw demonstrates, inventors and patent drafters can take steps to reduce the risk of AI patent claims being invalidated as abstract ideas.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Director Vidal’s Impact On the PTAB: Big Changes and More On the Way
Jennifer Bush
Perhaps the largest impact that Director Vidal has had upon the PTAB is has been via Director Reviews. The U.S. Supreme Court mandated Director Reviews to correct procedural defects in the way that administrative patent judges are appointed to the PTAB.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
Protecting Artificial Intelligence Inventions: Takeaways from 'IBM v. Zillow' from a Patent Drafting Perspective
Amir Kashani, Xuechen (Rebecca) Ding and Aseet Patel
Part Two of a Two-Part Article
In Part One, we discussed the IBM v. Zillow case, where IBM sued Zillow for infringing on seven IBM’s patents directed to artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms for estimating property value. The focus was on the difficulties in establishing patent infringement on specific AI algorithms, as well as the strategic advantages of including additional patent claims that target ancillary features of an AI system. In this segment, we will analyze the claims made in the IBM v. Zillow case and present some tips for drafting AI-related claims from the perspective of patent infringement.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
Protecting Artificial Intelligence Inventions: Takeaways from 'IBM v. Zillow' from a Patent Drafting Perspective
Xuechen (Rebecca) Ding and Aseet Patel
Part One of a Two-Part Article
This two-part article sheds light on several important aspects of patents on AI technology. In Part One, we provide a general overview of the IBM v. Zillow lawsuit and discusses strategies to diversify patent portfolios to maximize protection on AI-related technology.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
A Diverse Patent Portfolio Better Protects Artificial Intelligence Inventions
Amir Kashani, Xuechen (Rebecca) Ding and Aseet Patel
Takeaways from 'IBM v. Zillow' from a Patent Drafting Perspective
Part Two of a Two-Part Article
In Part One of this article we discussed the IBM v. Zillow case, where IBM sued Zillow for infringing on seven IBM’s patents directed to artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms for estimating property value. The focus was on the difficulties in establishing patent infringement on specific AI algorithms, as well as the strategic advantages of including additional patent claims that target ancillary features of an AI system. In this segment, we analyze the claims made in the Zillow case and present some tips for drafting AI-related claims from the perspective of patent infringement.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
IP News
Jeff Ginsberg and J. Jay Cho
Federal Circuit Examines the Analogous Art Test
Federal Circuit Affirms PTAB’s Finding of Prior Invention
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
How to Diversify the Pool of Inventors — and Improve Innovation
Christine E. Hollis, Jonathan C. Hughley and David C. Read
Efforts to diversify the inventive population will not only foster innovation across a wide range of businesses and industries but will also help greatly expand the pool of inventors across racial, gender and ethnic categories, and the country as a whole will realize numerous benefits.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
A Secondment Can Help Grow Your IP Practice
By Dan Ovanezian, Blake L. Holt, Azie Aziz and John Whetzel
Although your company may have an in-house IP attorney, your company may still need temporary help from an outside law firm to develop your company’s patent portfolio and to solve your company’s need for temporary help with minimal need for training and financial investment. If you do not have the budget to hire an in-house IP attorney, the solution is to try a secondment — an attorney from an outside law firm temporarily joins your in-house legal team as a “secondee” on a part-time or full-time basis.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
IP News
Jeff Ginsberg and George Soussou
Federal Circuit: No Patent Term Adjustments When Claims Change
Federal Circuit: Proceeding Need Not Be Terminated Upon Request
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Duty of Candor and Good Faith With the USPTO Covers Non-Inventors and Non-Practitioners
George Chen, Cory Smith and Ryan Fitzpatrick
Practitioners and non-practitioners that are associated with the examination of patents and patent applications should be vigilant about information that may be material to patentability to avoid having an issued patent be deemed unenforceable.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Protecting a Trademark Licensor’s Rights In Its Licensee’s Bankruptcy Case
Alfred S. Lurey
A recent bankruptcy case from the District of Delaware underscores the need for a trademark licensor to be alert to filings made in its licensee’s bankruptcy case that may require prompt action by the licensor to protect its valuable rights under a license agreement.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Filing a Reissue Can Correct Serious Patent Errors
Jeffrey W. Gluck
Reissue applications may be quite useful. They may be useful in correcting some type of errors that one would normally think of as “errors” in the strict sense of the word. But they may also be used to correct “errors” in scope of patent protection and may thus be used to increase patent value and should thus be considered as a strategic tool in a patent holder’s toolbox.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
IP News
Jeffrey S. Ginsberg and Abhishek Bapna
Federal Circuit Affirms District Court’s Decision That an Artificial Intelligence Software System Cannot Be Listed as an Inventor on a Patent Application
Federal Circuit Affirms District Court’s Partial Award of Attorney’s Fees
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Federal Circuit Analyzes Specification and Prosecution History Claim Language Usage
Matthew Siegal
University of Massachusetts v. L’Oréal
Absent an express disclaimer or special definition of how a term is to be interpreted, it can be frustrating to get a court to reject the plain and ordinary meaning of claim language read in a vacuum, based on the subtleties of how a term is used in a patent or its prosecution history.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
UPDATE: Did the Supreme Court's 'Arthrex’ Decision Open Pandora’s Box?
Robert E. Browne, Jr. and Ryan C. Deck
In June 2021, the Supreme Court ruled in U.S. v. Arthrex that the statutory scheme appointing Patent Trial and Appeal Board administrative patent judges to adjudicate IPRs violates the appointments clause of the U.S. Constitution. Specifically, the Court concluded that because APJ decisions in IPR proceedings are not reviewable by a presidentially appointed and Senate-confirmed officer, such determinations are not compatible with the powers of inferior officers. The PTO later decided that it would not accept requests for director review of institution decisions. This policy is now also being questioned in Arthrex’s wake.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Recommendations for Evolving Patent Eligibility of Hardware
Hanchel Cheng
Regardless of whether a patent practitioner’s clients favor a stricter or more lenient eligibility regime, patent eligibility decisions continue to evolve. We need a line drawn for what practitioners expect to be clearer. Hardware inventions are facing patent eligibility challenges that would have seemed more likely in software inventions. Recent court decisions have shown that what once made a hardware invention eligible may no longer fly.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Fishing for Joint Patent Ownership Under 'BASF v. CSIRO'
Richard S.J. Hung, Jacob N. Nagy and Evangeline T. Phang
A recent Federal Circuit opinion sheds light on the process for settling co-ownership disputes pursuant to an underlying agreement. Although the precedential opinion does not change the rules of contract interpretation, it suggests considerations when drafting ownership agreements.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Choosing Between Trade Secret and Patent Protection: A Primer for Businesses
Darren M. Franklin
When deciding whether to apply for patent protection on an innovation or whether to keep the innovation confidential as a company trade secret, there are many considerations that a business must take into account stemming from the different characteristics of each.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Clarity on Patent Eligibility Law Could Be Coming In 2022
Scott Graham
The murkiness around patent eligibility is one reason innovators have been turning more toward trade secret law to protect their inventions.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
Artificial Intelligence and Subject Matter Eligibility In U.S. Patent Office Appeals
James W. Soong
For the foreseeable future, patent applications involving artificial intelligence technologies, including machine learning, will increase with the continued proliferation of such technologies. However, subject matter eligibility can be a significant challenge in securing patents on artificial intelligence and machine learning.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Artificial Intelligence and Subject Matter Eligibility In U.S. Patent Office Appeals
James W. Soong
For the foreseeable future, patent applications involving artificial intelligence technologies will increase with the continued proliferation of such technologies. However, subject matter eligibility can be a significant challenge in securing patents on artificial intelligence and machine learning.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Supreme Court Looking to Resolve Federal Circuit Split In Patent Act §101 Case
Eric Alan Stone and Catherine Nyarady
The Supreme Court is considering a petition in a §101 case, in which the Federal Circuit split six-to-six in denying rehearing en banc, and in which the Supreme Court recently called for the views of the Solicitor General.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
U.S. IP Reform Needed to Prepare for AI Era
Andrei Iancu and David J. Kappos
For the U.S. to maintain its technological edge, it must encourage Americans to make more discoveries in AI and other emerging technologies. This in turn requires providing strong IP rights to incentivize and protect the huge investments required to make those discoveries.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
DOJ Looking to Develop New SEP Policies
Bruce Love
The Justice Department has confirmed it is looking to develop new policies surrounding how standard-essential patents might be used as tools for anticompetitive practices. The change in policy will mean big business for law firms that can combine highly technical IP advice with their antitrust and litigation practices.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Say What? Are PTAB Judges Really ‘Inferior Officers’?
Ben Clark
United States v. Arthrex, Inc.
Proving that even the driest of constitutional issues can have significant practical effect, the U.S. Supreme Court recently heard argument in United States v. Arthrex. Before the Court was whether administrative judges of the PTAB have been appointed unconstitutionally.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Synergizing Patents to Drive Innovation and Growth
Siraj Husain
As intellectual property continues to influence business operations, more companies are considering defensive patent pools as a strategic measure to guard against threats that can stifle innovation and growth for both businesses and industries.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
The Dark Side of Licensing: How to Prepare for the Audit
David Schnider
The audit clause itself is not something to be feared. It is a necessary means for the licensor to protect its interests and to guard against unscrupulous licensees. But it is a mistake to think that the clause is there solely to prevent malfeasance.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
From the PTO to the FDA: What to Consider When Branding Clinical Trials
Brandon Leahy Susanna Lichter and Eva Yin
The legal implications of branding generally arise initially for companies during the process of selecting a company name and any initial product or service names. For drug development companies, however, careful consideration should also be paid to the implications of branding a clinical trial.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
IP News
Joshua R. Stein and Jeff Ginsberg
Federal Circuit: Post-Employment Assignment Clause Void Under California Law
Federal Circuit No New Trial for Improper “Pennies on the Dollar” Rhetoric
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Marking, Notice and Knowledge: What Patent Licensors Need to Know
Brenda Holmes
A patentee should consider patent marking issues when negotiating a patent license, as well as during the term of the license. Otherwise, the patentee may find that its damages for patent infringement are limited due to its licensee’s failure to mark.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
Protecting Innovation in the Cyber World from Patent Trolls
John Chen
With trillions of dollars to keep watch over, the last thing we need is the distraction of costly litigation brought on by patent assertion entities (PAEs or “patent trolls”), companies that don’t make any products but instead seek royalties by asserting their patents against those who do make products.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
You Know What It Is: Taco Tuesday and the Failure-to-Function Doctrine In Trademark Law
Brandon Leahy
The foundational requirement that a trademark function as a trademark has received little attention in the case law. More recently, however, there has been an apparent uptick in scrutiny of trademark use by the USPTO and TTAB, as well as fresh academic attention paid to the issue.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Patenting Diagnostic Tests: Can We Expect Changes?
Leslie Kushner
This article discusses the jurisprudence applied to determining patent eligibility of claims for diagnostic methods, and the expectation for changes in analysis of patent eligibility under §101 in the near future.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
The Madrid System Turns 30: The Pros and Cons of Using the Madrid Protocol in the United States and for U.S. Based Companies
Stacey C. Kalamaras
This summer, the Madrid System turned 30 years old, and as two more countries prepare to join the Madrid Protocol we look at how the Madrid System has grown as it enters full adulthood.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Seeing Green: Protecting Brands In the Cannabis Industry
David S. Gold
Branding is not a new concept, nor are the various intellectual property laws that protect brands. What is new to most is how this burgeoning industry can take advantage of those laws within the context of state and federal restrictions.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Rights and Obligations In Patent Licenses
Tom Gushue
The owner of a commercially successful patent may have competing desires. On one hand, the patent owner wants to protect the patent and secure its maximum benefit; on the other hand, the patent owner wants to avoid enforcement litigation with competitors because it is expensive and puts the patent at risk.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Reflections on Potential Legislative Reform of the Patent Eligibility Standard
Nicole D. Galli
In the last five years, the courts have instead began wading into policy setting without the tools and resources to fully consider all the issues and various interests. Thus, the recent congressional efforts to consider these questions is welcome and, frankly, overdue.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
States Not Immune from PTAB Proceedings, Federal Circuit Rules
Scott Graham
Fifteen states had argued that they and their public universities shouldn’t have to expose their patents to validity review at the patent trial and appeal board.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
As Section 101 and the Progeny of Mayo and Myriad Continue to Wreak Havoc on Portfolios, How Is The Life Sciences Industry Fighting Back?
Wesley Overson, Otis Littlefield, Mat Swiderski, and Stephanie Blij
Since the U.S. Supreme Court decided Mayo and Myriad, the Federal Circuit has expanded the holdings and invalidated more patents directed to biological discoveries. If the newly discovered correlations and properties of what is found in nature cannot be patented, what strategies for protection are left for companies doing biological research?
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Stanford Is Serving 11 Flavors of NPE
Scott Graham
Stanford Law School made available to the public a database of every patent lawsuit that’s been filed since 2007.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
The USPTO Brings New Guidance to the Section 101 Quandary
Susan M. Gerber and A. Patricia Campbell
Part Two of a Two-Part Article
USPTO Attempts to Provide Greater Clarity for Patent-Eligible Subject Matter
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Patent Eligibility Remains Uncertain — Especially for the Life Sciences — Even After Recent Federal Circuit Decisions and Efforts By the USPTO to Bring Clarity
Susan M. Gerber and A. Patricia Campbell
Part One of a Two-Part Article
Congress is empowered to create a patent system to promote the useful arts, and it has enacted laws to create a patent system that encourages innovation. Balancing that power, however, the courts in recent years have tried to rein in the scope of the patent right by limiting the scope of patent-eligible subject matter.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Use of Arbitration In Place of Inter Partes Review Proceedings
David L. Newman
An IPR might be more efficiently accomplished through arbitration than through a PTAB proceeding, so it should be considered by practitioners.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
IP News
Jeff Ginsberg and Hui Li
Obviousness-Type Double Patenting Does Not Invalidate Section 156 Patent Term Extension
Federal Circuit Holds Assignor Estoppel Does Not Apply in IPR Context
Federal Circuit Reverses District Court Holding of Patent Ineligibility of Computer Security Patent
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
The PTAB’s New Claim Construction Standard: Will the Real Impact Please Stand Up
Justin Oliver
Beginning on Nov. 13, 2018, the USPTO will cease to apply the broadest reasonable interpretation (BRI) standard for newly-filed IPR, PGR, and CBM trials under the America Invents Act (AIA). Instead, the USPTO will begin “using the same claim construction standard that would be used to construe the claim in a civil action …."
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