The Business of Patents
What do you do when a rival sends you a cease and desist letter accusing you of patent infringement? If you said, “nothing,” that was the wrong answer. If you are eventually sued for infringement and you made no effort to investigate their claim and, if necessary, remedy your infringement, you could be found to […]
Read more →If you practice law long enough, you see the pendulum shift between the respective rights of patent owners and accused infringers. The pendulum seems to be shifting, at least somewhat, back toward the inventors. In October of last year, John Squires, Director of the USPTO, issued a memorandum stating that he would be personally deciding […]
Read more →With the implementation of the America Invents Act (AIA), the United States went from a first to invent to a first inventor to file system of determining priority of patent rights. However, that was not all that changed with the implementation of the AIA. The AIA includes some significant changes to the on-sale bar which […]
Read more →In one of our earlier posts we discussed how to determine whether a given patent application or patent is subject to the First Inventor to File Provisions of the America Invents Act (AIA). In particular, we discussed the complexities involved in determining whether an application filed after March 16, 2013 was subject to the First […]
Read more →Although the America Invents Act (AIA) was signed into law in September 2011, the “first inventor to file” provisions did not immediately take effect. However, they will take effect in less than two months. Are you ready? The shift to a first inventor to file system represents a significant change in U.S. Patent Law that […]
Read more →A key decision for many accused infringers is whether to rely on an opinion of counsel to rebut a claim of willful infringement. A finding of willful infringement opens the door to the assessment of enhanced damages which can be as much as three times the actual damages. At one time, the law imposed a […]
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