By Lloyd J. Wilson The idea that machines, rather than humans, could invent something on their own is a concept that was once thought to be a futuristic fantasy. However, the U.S. patent office is now being confronted with patent applications listing an artificial intelligence (AI) system as the inventor. Existing U.S. patent laws seem…
By Stephen P. Scuderi This article will present an overview of some of the issues pertaining to the disposition of patent rights to inventions made under a government R&D contract. As will be seen, without careful adherence to the statutes and regulations governing such patent rights, it is possible for a contractor to unintentionally lose…
By Kristian Ziegler As more than half of the states in the U.S. have recently decriminalized cannabis/marijuana to some extent, the domestic cannabis business has been growing rapidly. As of the date of this publication, marijuana is legal for medical use in 33 states and the District of Columbia, and for recreational use in 11…
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…
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…
April 30, 2018 – David P. Miranda, Esq. A company is about to introduce an innovative new smartphone and is engaged in negotiations to license a software platform for the new mobile devices. But the licensing negotiations fail, and the smartphone is about to go to market. If you’re Google, you include Oracle’s Java software…