America Invents Act Provides a New Tool to Influence the Prosecution of Patent Applications with New Third Party Submission Rules
Last week the Patent Office proposed a new rule for preissuance submissions to implement the new requirments of the America Invents Act enacted in September of last year. Previously, third party submissions of prior art to the Patent Office were very limited in that there was a short deadline for filing the submission and the third [...]
America Invents Act: A Sea Change in Patent Law
President Obama signed the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) into law on September 16, 2011. The AIA is the first major change in the U.S. patent law system since 1952 and probably the most far reaching statutory changes since the 1836 Patent Act established the Patent Office and the modern system of patent examination. The changes [...]
Willful Blindness: The New Standard for Knowledge in Active Inducement of Patent Infringement
In a decision earlier this year that will have ramifications in numerous areas of the law where “knowledge” must be proven, the U.S. Supreme Court applied the doctrine of willful blindness to satisfy the knowledge element for a claim of active inducement of patent infringement. Although the willful blindness doctrine has been well established in [...]
The First Amendment Extends to Dillinger Tommy Guns
There has been significant activity over the past several years in the courts with regard to the First Amendment and how far it goes to protect the use of trademarks and the likeness of celebrities in video games. I previously posted about the Madden NFL game and how the defendants were successful in a First [...]
False Patent Marking: The New Gold Rush?
As many predicted, plaintiffs have rushed to this newly discovered gold. Over 500 false marking cases have been filed this year alone. The Eastern District of Texas is the venue of choice, home to more than 200 of those cases. The second highest number of cases has been filed in the Northern District of Illinois, with over 60 cases. The Northern District of Texas comes in fourth place with more than 20 cases.
