Grant Submissions and Novelty: A Catch-22 for Startups The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) of 2011 brought sweeping changes to the landscape of Patent Law. Among other things, the AIA expanded the scope of potential prior art by explicitly treating all information which is not only “described in a printed publication” but also “otherwise available…
To what extent do country-of-origin trademarks confuse consumers? The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Federal Circuit) recently addressed this issue relating to jeans with a brand name that includes the term “USA.” * An American company named JBLU, Inc. (JBLU) sells jeans under the name C’est Toi Jeans USA. While the term,…
On March 10, 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a Decision by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), holding that claims directed to a “Blackjack variation” card game are not patent eligible. This case breaks the USPTO’s tradition of granting patents for card games. The court in this recent case (In…
On March 21, 2016, the Supreme Court agreed to review a decision from the US Federal Circuit Court of Appeals (Federal Circuit) regarding a design patent held by Apple on the iPhone. The order granting the review is limited to only one question: “Where a design patent is applied to only a component of a…
The US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO), which reviews pending trademark applications to determine their eligibility for registration, is holding applications in a state of limbo while the Federal Courts review the constitutionality of restriction on trademarks found to be scandalous or disparaging. In US trademark law, Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act bars registration…
US International Trade Commission Cannot Extend Jurisdiction Over Material Things To Digital Articles In recent history, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) been a go-to venue for patent owners looking to prevent the import of infringing goods into the United States. However, a recent court ruling shows the limits of the ITC’s power as a…