Blackbird V. Netflix: Is This Patent Troll for Reel?
On February 1, 2017, Blackbird Technologies, a company based out of Boston; Chicago; and Concord, Massachusetts; filed suit against Los Gatos, California-based Netflix, Inc. in Delaware federal court for patent infringement. Blackbird, a company that does not create software, purchased the patent in question from a prior patent holder. The founders of Blackbird, Wendy Verlander […]
The Book on Patenting: Is My Idea Novel?
To meet the USPTO’s standard of novelty during the patent application process, your invention has to be different than all others that have come before it. If your invention has been publicly disclosed or sold anywhere in the world, it isn’t patentable. But don’t get discouraged! Your concept can be similar to an existing product […]
Life After Brexit Part 1: Current EPO Filings and Community Trademarks
On June 26, 2015, 52% of the voting public in the United Kingdom told the European Union that they needed some distance in what is referred to as Brexit. The question facing many businesses is, how does this affect our intellectual property filing strategy going forward? The most simple answer is “not much” in the […]
Experience and Expertise: Should I Use General Practice to Protect My IP? Or an IP Law Firm?
There’s no question. You know you need to get a patent, trademark, or copyright for your latest work. But what most people don’t know can indeed hurt them. For example, pursuing a relationship with an attorney that’s not an IP lawyer. So you do your research and you’ve found a handful of attorneys that you’re […]
What Life Technologies v. Promega Means for Biotech Patent Law
On February 22, 2017, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decided in Life Technologies Corp. v. Promega Corp. (14-1538) that supplying a single component of a multicomponent invention for manufacture abroad is not a violation of the Patent Code.
What the BPCIA Means for Intellectual Property Rights in 2017
In 2017, the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (BPCIA) may be affected by a partial or complete repeal, or a revision, of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The BPCIA is a set of laws enacted in March 2010 that became Title VII of the ACA. The Trump administration has indicated that it is interested […]
