Intellectual Property

Eye on Washington

Major Publishers Sue Google

Several major educational publishing companies—including Macmillan, Elsevier and McGraw Hill—sued Google in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging contributory and vicarious copyright infringement, trademark infringement and violations of New York’s General Business Law.

Your USPTO

BOOyah!

Every October, the USPTO dives into the patent and trademark archives to find some eerie, spooky, and haunting examples of creepy IP, or intellectual property. This monthlong campaign–known as #CreepyIP–began in 2011 as a fun way to educate the public about the importance of intellectual property by embracing the Halloween spirit.

Eye on Washington

Action on Infringement

The Realizing Engineering, Science, and Technology Opportunities by Restoring Exclusive (RESTORE) Patent Rights Act of 2024 would essentially abrogate the 2006 Supreme Court ruling in  eBay v. MercExchange, a case that many patent owners argue has played a key role in weakening the value of patents.

Inventing 101

Understanding Improvement Patents

With an improvement patent, you add improvements to a previously patented invention. If you are not the owner of the previous patent, you might be able to get a patent but not be able to sell the product related to the patent because you would be infringing on the original patent.

IP Market

Goodwill Attempt Backfires

Under pressure to fight counterfeit products on its online platform and those accused of violating third-party patents, Amazon created its APEX program. It’s sort of an intramural arbitration process whereby someone claiming its patents were being infringed upon by an article sold on the Amazon website could—for a $4,000 fee—file a complaint and be bound by the final decision of the patent specialist retained by Amazon.

Lander Zone

Patent Search Options

If you do your own patent search without much experience, you probably will not find the prior art the patent examiner will find during searching. This will result in the rejection of your patent application if you file it on your own. 

Eye on Washington

Patent, Trademark Backlog

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Kathi Vidal published a director’s blog post July 11 addressing the office’s current backlog of patent and trademark applications, which the latest USPTO data show to be 785,387 unexamined applications/25.6 months total pendency for patents and 14.5 months total pendency for trademarks.

Eye on Washington

Uncertain Victory?

SCOTUS’ ruling came in its May 9 decision on Warner Chappell Music v. Nealy, a case that asks whether a copyright plaintiff can recover damages for acts that allegedly occurred more than three years before the filing of a lawsuit.

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