Core documents related to the history of copyright in the world form a digital archive of primary sources on copyright from
the invention of the printing press (c. 1450) to the Berne Convention
(1886) and beyond. There is a very nice interactive timeline that indicates important legal documents relating to copyright law by language. Bleistein v. Donaldson Lithographing, Inc. (1903) is the last case listed for U.S. American English. There is even a cartoon about the outcome of the Bleistein case. The site offers access to core documents for Germany, France, Britain, Italy and the US.
Westlaw rolled out a new database to search Markman orders from federal district courts. It is MARKMAN-ORDERS.
From Westlaw's E-Lert Newsletter: "A Markman order is a pretrial order in which the federal district court construes the meaning of key words in patent claims. A Markman order might construe claims from multiple patents at once."
In the MARKMAN-ORDERS database "you can retrieve documents and patent file history from
the underlying patents by clicking the appropriate links on the Links
tab. (Note: These links do not appear when you retrieve a Markman order from the DCT database.) If you are viewing a patent that had been the subject of a Markman order, you can retrieve the Markman order by clicking the appropriate link at the KeyCite® history or Graphical KeyCite display."
Patently-O blog reports that the USPTO is accepting applications now for its 8-week summer student internship program. The Office of Patent Legal Administration (OPLA) and
the central reexamination unit will both be working with summer
interns.
To apply for the Summer Volunteer Program (SVP), send a cover letter, resume and transcripts via e-mail to Recruitment@uspto.gov with the subject line "Student Employment: Summer Volunteer Program."
The Federal Circuit held on March 20, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rule 78 dealing with the availability of
continuation applications for patents is invalid because it was adopted
outside the PTO's rulemaking authority. Tafas v. Doll, Fed. Cir., No. 2008-1352, 3/20/09. Read more on U.S. Law Week (77 U.S.L.W. 1586).
American taxpayers spend over $100 million a year to fund the
Congressional Research Service (CRS), a "think tank" that provides reports to
members of Congress on a variety of topics relevant to current
political events. CRS, which is a department of the Library of Congress, works
exclusively as a nonpartisan analytical, research, and reference arm
for Congress. The CRS mission is to support an informed national
legislature. Yet, these reports are not made available to the
public in a way that they can be easily obtained. Pierce Law Library's IP Mall collects intellectual property, cyberlaw and electronic commerce publications from CRS on its website. Open CRS is a project of the Center for Democrary & Technology that provides access to CRS Reports already in the public domain.
The Patent, Trademark & Copyright Journal offers an analysis piece on balancing IP due diligence with the attorney-client privilege. The authors, mainly IP litigators with Goodwin Procter, analyze the due diligence obligations and associated risks
facing buyers and sellers engaged in transactions involving
intellectual property.
The
U.S. Supreme Court denied review in the following patent cases on March 9:
▸Apotex Corp. v. Astrazeneca
AB (No.
08--867). The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held (87 USPQ2d
1865) that accused pharmaceutical formulation infringes patents for inert
subcoating that increases storage stability and provides sufficient gastric
acid resistance to prevent active ingredient in drug designed to treat acid-related
gastrointestinal disorders from degrading in stomach.
▸Muniauction Inc. v. Thomson
Corp. (No.
08-847). The Federal Circuit held (87 USPQ2d 1350) that competitor did not
infringe certain claims asserted by holder of patent directed to electronic methods
for conducting original-issuer municipal bond auctions over electronic network,
using Web browser.
▸R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v.
Star Scientific Inc.
(No. 08-918). The Federal Circuit held (88 USPQ2d 1001) that district court
clearly erred in finding that patents on tobacco curing process, aimed at
lowering levels of carcinogens in cured tobacco, were unenforceable for
inequitable conduct.
You
can receive BNA Highlights of the USPQ via email from BNA . Simply go to BNA's main page
and scroll down to the bottom. On the right-hand side you will find a box like the one below with the
link to "sign up for or modify e-mail preferences."
The companion patent reform bills, H.R. 1260 and S. 515, introduced
into Congress March 3 differ little from last year's legislation, but
some changes to provisions in the current measures could have a
negative impact on the operations of the Patent and Trademark Office,
according to past executives of the agency. Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) said that the new bipartisan, bicameral
House and Senate bills pick up where the debate on the last bills left
off in 2008. BNA asked four former executives at the PTO for their views on the
PTO-related differences between last year's patent reform initiatives
and the pending S. 515 and H.R. 1260. Issues discussed include fee diversion, examination outsourcing, re-examination and post-grant review, and AQS filings. More on BNA's Patent, Trademark & Copyright Journal at 77 PTCJ 486.
On Aug. 1, 2007, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) changed the
procedural rules for trademark oppositions and cancellations. The impact of the two-year-old revision of the TTAB's procedural rules for trademark oppositions and
cancellations is still being felt. Two lawyers from Merchant &
Gould, Minneapolis, review the more significant changes and offer tips to the unwary
trademark practitioner on BNA's Patent, Trademark & Copyright Journal. More at 77 PTCJ 506.
The Economist Intelligence Unit is a highly respected organization that produces numerous reports including its Country Commerce report for 55 countries. Included in each report is a section on licensing and protecting intellectual property.
For example, the 2008 Belgium report indicates that prior examination by the European Patent Office
in The Hague is required for a 20-year patent. Belgium also offers a six-year patents.For faster processing of a 20-year patent, an
applicant can pay an additional fee to receive priority. The granting
of a six-year patent takes less time, since it does not require prior
examination.
The Belgian Intellectual Property Office
(Office de la propriété intellectuelle--OPRI) handles trademark,
patent and design protection.Patents, trademarks, industrial designs and
models, and plant varieties must be formally registered to receive
protection. Protection is automatic for copyrights, semiconductor
topographies and know-how. Copyright protection lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years. Belgium also recognizes the right to payment when a work is borrowed--as from a library.
Five years are archived for each country and the reports can be downloaded in pdf or html formats.
The Copyright Royalty Board issued four modifications on Feb. 11 to the
royalty terms and rates that it recently adopted for use of musical
works under the statutory license at 17 U.S.C. §115 (74 Fed. Reg.
6,832). Read more in BNA's Patent, Trademark & Copyright Journal.
Access
to this information is available to authorized library patrons, including
current students, faculty and staff. Remote access is available with a
current ID card.
Access
to this information is available to authorized library patrons, including
current students, faculty and staff. Remote access is available with a
current ID card.
Pharmaceutical companies regularly file trademark
applications for
drugs awaiting FDA approval. The applicant and/or registrant must claim use
of the mark in U.S. commerce to obtain or retain registration. The problem lies in drugs that are still awaiting FDA approval are, by
definition, not yet marketed or sold to the consuming public. Thus,
proving use of the mark may be problematic in those circumstances and the FDA approval process lengthy.
In order to constitute use, the applicant or
registrant must make a "bona fide use of the mark in the ordinary
course of trade." What is the ordinary course of trade for the pharmaceutical industry? Read more on BNA's Patent, Trademark & Copyright Journal site.
Access
to this information is available to authorized library patrons, including
current students, faculty and staff. Remote access is available with a
current ID card.
Access to this information is available to authorized library patrons,
including current students, faculty and staff.Remote access is available with a current ID card.
Shepard Fairey, the Los Angeles artist who used an Associated Press
photograph to create his Obama 'Hope' poster, filed a
lawsuit against the AP Feb. 9 in the U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York. The suit challenges the AP's allegations of
copyright infringement and seeks a declaratory judgment that the
poster is a non-infringing fair use of the photograph. Read more on BNA's Patent, Trademark & Copyright Journal.
Access to this information is available to authorized library patrons,
including current students, faculty and staff.Remote access is available with a current ID card.
The Law, Science & Technology Program at Stanford Law School recently launched an Intellectual Property Litigation Clearinghouse. To access the online database you must register first. (Registration is free.) Contained in the clearinghouse is supposed to be comprehensive information about litigation for the following types of cases:
Patent
Copyright
Trademark
Trade Secret
Antitrust
The information is organized by
Cases (Select "Map" in cases to view a U.S. map color-coded to indicate the number of litigated cases by geographical region.)
Fora (only US District Court cases are currently available.)
Law (only Rights contains information; statutes and procedure are not currently available.)
