Posted in Trademark, USPTO
We have been alerted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) of unauthorized attempts by unknown parties to amend our clients’ trademark registration records. Filing Correspondents and Attorneys of Record must remain vigilant for notices from the USPTO and respond to them swiftly to verify whether the requested change was authorized. We have been in contact with the USPTO and it assures us this situation is getting its highest attention.
Posted in Trademark, USPTO Litigation
Trademark law recognizes that a color can be used to identify the source of products and therefore, enjoys protection under trademark law. Let’s test your color brand awareness:
• What can Brown do for you? – shipping services
• The little Purple pill – gastrointestinal medicine
If these colors brought UPS and Nexium to mind, then these companies have done their job in using these colors to identify them as the source of their services and products. This association is often built up over time in a process that trademark attorneys refer to as acquiring distinctiveness.
Posted in Federal Circuit
In a memorandum dated June 7, 2018 (Memo), the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) set out new guidance concerning method-of-treatment claims, which should be welcome news for patentees. The memo addressed the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. West-Ward Pharmaceuticals, 887 F.3d 1117 (Fed. Cir. 2018). In particular, the guidance suggests that claims directed to methods of treating a disease will typically meet patent eligibility standards under step one of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Mayo test.[1]
Posted in Patent
In Apotex, Inc. et al. v. Novartis AG (IPR 2017-00854, paper 47 dated Feb. 5, 2018), petitioner Apotex sought, and was granted, discovery of a Phase III clinical trial protocol from patent owner Novartis.
The patent at issue in the IPR, U.S. 9,187,405, claims a method for treating relapses in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis by orally administering fingolimod “at a daily dosage of 0.5 mg, absent an immediately preceding loading dose regimen.” In its petition for IPR, Apotex alleged that the prior art taught that 0.5 mg of fingolimod was known to be an effective maintenance dose for treating multiple sclerosis. Novartis responded that to the extent that the prior art taught the use of 0.5 mg of fingolimod, it was only in the context of a treatment wherein the maintenance dose is preceded by a loading dose, something that is explicitly absent from the claimed methods. See paper 8 at 25.
After the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) instituted the IPR, Novartis elaborated on its position in its response (paper 27), stating that the effectiveness of 0.5 mg as a maintenance dose in the absence of a loading dose, as required by the claims, was a surprising discovery. Although its briefing is heavily redacted, it appears that Novartis asserted that its Phase III clinical trial was aimed at showing the effectiveness of a 1.25 mg per-day dose, and that the study included a 0.5 mg dosing only at the suggestion of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Novartis supported this assertion with an expert declaration authored by a member of the advisory board that helped Novartis design the Phase III clinical trial. After deposing Novartis’s expert, Apotex moved for additional discovery, seeking several documents, including Novartis’s Phase III clinical trial protocol.
Posted in Federal Circuit, Patent
January was an exciting month for patent professionals still attempting to make sense of the fallout from the Supreme Court’s 2014 Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International decision. Hot on the heels of its Jan. 10 decision in Finjan, Inc. v. Blue Coat Systems, Inc., the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decided Core Wireless Licensing v. LG Elecs., Inc. on Jan. 25, affirming denial of LG’s summary judgment motion seeking to invalidate Core Wireless’ display interface patent claims for being directed to an exception to statutory subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101. In combination with Finjan and earlier decisions, this potentially establishes a trend that courts are increasingly comfortable differentiating between patent claims done on a computer and the maligned “do it on a computer” claims that are the target of much eligibility exception concern.
Posted in Federal Circuit, Patent
In Finjan v. Blue Coat Systems, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit rendered a decision containing interesting rulings on patentable subject matter (affirming the District Court determination that certain claims were patent eligible) and reasonable royalty damages (vacating part of a jury verdict for failure to adequately apportion the royalty base). This article examines the patent-eligibility ruling, which is interesting in itself and also because the opinion was authored by Judge Dyk and joined by Judge Hughes, both of whom have a pronounced history of finding claims ineligible. Continue Reading
Posted in Trademark
On December 15, 2017, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit struck down as unconstitutional the clause within 15 U.S.C. § 1052(a) (“Section 2(a)”) banning registration of a trademark that “[c]onsists of or comprises immoral…or scandalous matter.”
The In re Brunetti decision came in the wake of Matal v. Tam, a recent Supreme Court case holding that Section 2(a)’s ban on registering “disparaging” trademarks amounts to unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination.
Federal Circuit Judges Dyk, Moore and Stoll concluded that the refusal to register trademarks consisting of immoral or scandalous matter necessarily bans speech based on content, in violation of the First Amendment. Such content-based restrictions are subject to strict scrutiny review, which requires the government to prove that the restriction furthers a compelling interest and is narrowly tailored to achieve that interest. Continue Reading
Posted in Patent
On my drive to work, there was a trash bag on the freeway, then a box, and later a couple of bags flying around. I wondered where this garbage came from. There were a number of likely candidates: a small pickup truck loaded with miscellaneous junk, a dump truck and a large truck with a cargo box full of construction debris. In the end, I never could identify the source because I never saw any trash fall out of these vehicles. This reminded me of the debate over patent quality. Certainly, the U.S. Patent Office has taken sharp criticism for issuing so-called garbage patents, and procedures like inter partes review, covered business method review and post-grant review were created by Congress to address the quality of issued patents. While some of the criticism is a reaction to troll activity, it is clear that careful scrutiny of patents will only increase as the U.S. patent system continues to evolve. Continue Reading
Posted in Patent
In Legend3D, Inc. (Petitioner) v. Prime Focus Creative Services Canada Inc. (Patent Owner), Case IPR2016-00806, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (Board) lifted a stay of a pending reissue application following a Final Written Decision, thereby allowing the Patent Owner another opportunity to pursue amended claims. Although the Federal Circuit recently determined that the PTAB can no longer place the burden of establishing the patentability of amended claims on the patent owner in IPR proceedings,[1] patent owners may want to consider pursuing alternative claims in a reissue proceeding, given the ex parte nature and procedural flexibility that reissue offers.
Here, the sequence of events was as follows:
Posted in Patent
In Travel Sentry, Inc. v. Tropp, Appeal No. 16-2386 (Fed. Cir. Dec. 19, 2017),[1] the Federal Circuit clarified the scope of joint infringement under 35 U.S.C. § 271(a).[2] Specifically, the court provided guidance on performing analysis under Akamai’s two-pronged joint infringement test, which states that joint infringement may arise when an alleged infringer (1) conditions participation in an activity or receipt of a benefit upon performance of a step or steps of a patented method, and (2) establishes the manner or timing of that performance. Broadly speaking, Travel Sentry reaffirms the lessons from Akamai and subsequent cases; namely, the standard for joint infringement has been relaxed, and attribution may be found despite the absence of a principal-agent relationship, contractual obligation or joint enterprise. Travel Sentry, slip op. at 15. Continue Reading
