By Alexsandar Nikolic On June 24, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) provided its long-awaited decision in Iancu v. Brunetti, 588 U.S. ___ (2019) by invalidating the Lanham Act’s prohibition on immoral or scandalous trademarks. In short, the Court held that the provision is unconstitutional because it conflicts with the First Amendment. Before…
By Wayne F. Reinke It has been about nine months since my last patentable subject matter (aka “Alice”) update, tracking cases and other important information in the wake of the Alice Supreme Court decision. Things continue to improve at the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and with examination at the U.S. Patent and…
By Thomas L. Sica Inherent within American contract law is the freedom to contract — i.e., the ability to negotiate and agree to any terms that the parties see fit for any given contract. Contract terms will only be deemed void under special circumstances, such as unconscionability, unenforceability or, in some cases, due to statutory…
By Alexsandar Nikolic On Jan. 22, 2019, the Supreme Court provided its decision in Helsinn Healthcare S.A. v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.[1] Despite receiving little publicity outside the patent world, it nonetheless has implications for small businesses. The decision provided clarification to the statutory changes made by the America Invents Act (AIA) to the novelty…
By Stephen P. Scuderi On January 7, the USPTO published its new “2019 Revised Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance” (the 2019 PEG), which became “effective” on that same day. However, the 2019 PEG “applies to all applications, and to all patents resulting from applications, filed before, on or after January 7, 2019.” Therefore, the 2019…
By Annette I. Kahler Signed into law on October 11, 2018, the Orrin G. Hatch-Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act (MMA) reforms U.S. Copyright law in significant ways that will affect the licensing of digital music. Pursuant to pre-MMA copyright law, “mechanical” licenses for reproduction and distribution of musical works in phonorecords were obtained by licensees…
Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti (HRFM) has earned its place as one of the Top 10 Firms with the Best Allowance Rate by Juristat. With an 86.82 Alice Allowance Rate over a 3-year time period, HRFM has one of the 10 highest percentages of applications with one or more Alice rejections that were eventually allowed…
By Philip E. Hansen The start of a new year provides the opportunity for a highly subjective retrospective on 35 years of patent law — where we’ve been and where we might be going. Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas (1965-1969) was reputed to have said that a typical judge’s reaction to a patent is like…
Join David P. Miranda, former New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) president and current partner at the intellectual property law firm Heslin, Rothenberg, Farley and Mesiti as he and his guests discuss all things legal – and some that are not — in the 10-episode first season of NYSBA’s Miranda Warnings podcast. Featured guests include…
By Wayne F. Reinke About five months have gone by since my last update on the state of patentable subject matter after the 2014 Alice Supreme Court decision and its progeny. A number of important developments have taken place during this time, mostly positive in the sense of rebalancing the outcomes Alice patentable subject matter…