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Intellectual Property

Perihelion Day

by Clyde E. Findley | January 3, 2020 | Intellectual Property

(This blog post is just a holiday interest story. It does not concern anything legal.) On January 5, 2020 at 2:48 am Eastern time, the Earth and Sun will be closer to each other than at any other time of year. We call it Perihelion Day. Because the Sun is…

FAQs About Patenting Your Invention – Provisional Applications

by Clyde E. Findley | December 17, 2019 | Intellectual Property

This is one of several blogs about patenting an invention. What is a provisional patent application? A provisional patent application is an optional first step in the process of getting a patent. It is not a real patent application. It is only a temporary placeholder that provides evidence that you…

FAQs About Patenting Your Invention – Miscellaneous

by Clyde E. Findley | December 16, 2019 | Intellectual Property

This is one of several blogs about patenting an invention. Are there different kinds of patents? Yes. A utility patent can protect a process, a machine, an article of manufacture, or a composition of matter. Most patents are utility patents, but there are two other kinds of patents: design patents,…

FAQs About Patenting Your Invention – Patent Prosecution

by Clyde E. Findley | December 12, 2019 | Intellectual Property

This is one of several blogs about patenting an invention. Tell me more about “patent prosecution.” Patent prosecution is the process of getting the PTO to issue a new patent. At some point after your patent application has been filed, a patent examiner will review it. During that review, the…

FAQs About Patenting Your Invention – the Patent Attorney

by Clyde E. Findley | December 11, 2019 | Intellectual Property

This is one of several blogs about patenting an invention. Do I really need a patent attorney? Yes, you do. It is possible to obtain a patent by yourself, and the PTO will even help you do it, but it is not likely to be of much value. Let me…

FAQs About Patenting Your Invention – Costs

by Clyde E. Findley | December 10, 2019 | Intellectual Property

This is one of several blogs about patenting an invention. How much does a patent cost? This is probably the most frequently asked question. The answer is it depends on several factors. The biggest factor is the complexity of your invention. Here is a rough estimate you can use for…

Copyright Act; recovery of litigation costs; statutory meaning of “costs”

by John W. Polk | April 15, 2019 | Intellectual Property

Rimini Street, Inc. v. Oracle USA, Inc., ___ U.S. ___, No. 17-1625 (4 March 2019) Oracle USA, Inc. (Oracle) develops and licenses software programs that manage data and business operations, and Oracle offers software maintenance services.  Rimini Street, Inc. (Rimini) sells software maintenance services to Oracle’s customers and competes with…

Copyrights; Right To Sue For Infringement Of A Copyright

by John W. Polk | March 18, 2019 | Intellectual Property

Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com, LLC, ___ U.S. ___, No. 17571 (4 March 2019). Fourth Estate is a news organization producing online journalism.  Wall Street is a news website.  Fourth Estate licensed its journalism to Wall Street.  The license agreement required Wall Street to remove from its…

Software-Seller Benefits from Vendor-Friendly Commercial Items Rules

by Terrence O’Connor | August 10, 2018 | Business Litigation , Cybersecurity & Data Privacy , Intellectual Property

FAR Part 12 – Acquisition of Commercial Items contains unique contracting policies not found in other parts of FAR. For example, changes to a commercial items contract must be bilateral and may not be made unilaterally by the government like under the traditional Changes clause. FAR Part 12’s unique rules…

Challenging Previously Issued Patents Under Inter Partes Reviews

by John W. Polk | May 24, 2018 | Intellectual Property

In the April 24th decision of SAS Institute, Inc. v. Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the U.S. Supreme Court reviewed a patent law case concerning a procedure known as inter partes review. At first blush, patent law may seem to be of little interest to the average…