Archive for November, 2004
NPR’s Marketplace on the patent provisions of the omnibus appropriations bill
National Public Radio’s Marketplace ran a piece this morning on the patent provisions of the appropriations bill. NPR focused on the bill’s promise of additional funds for the hiring of new Examiners and used that as an entree for a critique of the current patent system. Too bad NPR missed the hot issue of fee [...]
The Wired CD — good music, and a great introduction to the Creative Commons licensing system
This month’s Wired Magazine came with a free CD. No, its not an America Online CD. Its an audio CD packed with 16 tracks carrying licenses from the Creative Commons allowing you to freely share and sample the music.
The article that accompanies the CD is an excellent introduction to the licensing system provided by the [...]
Patent and Trademark Office provisions of the omnibus appropriations bill (H.R. 4818) go beyond mere fee increases
The omnibus appropriations bill is likely to be signed by the President and become effective in mid-December. Unless an unlikely success is achieved in last-minute attempts to amend the provisions affecting the Patent and Trademark Office, the current form of these provisions will become the law of the land. This post presents an outline of [...]
An opportunity on the PTO fee bill?
Congress recently passed an omnibus appropriations bill that includes a watered-down version of the Patent and Trademark Fee Modernization Act (see this prior post). Importantly, the PTO provisions in the appropriations bill include the significant fee increases, but do not include the controversial anti-fee diversion provisions.
The intellectual property community is quite disappointed in this result, [...]
A couple of pet peeves on IP-speak
The popular media often writes about and discusses intellectual property issues. I sometimes cringe at things they write and say, and wonder why they don’t consult with someone prior to publishing their work.
Two of my pet peeves follow:
1. "The patent on…."
How many times have you heard the phrase "He has THE patent on the so-and-so…"? [...]
Article available on law.com
American Lawyer Media’s law.com is currently featuring an article I wrote about the recent legislative activity that affects the fee structure of the Patent and Trademark Office.
Congress Patently Out of Step as USPTO
Modernizes is currently on the law.com homepage, and will remain in the site’s IP Law Practice Center.
Turn the grill off, the sausage is done
The lame duck 108th Congress passed the omnibus appropriations bill (H.R. 4818) over the weekend. The bill funds government agencies for the next fiscal year (which has already begun), and includes major changes to the fee system of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. In classic sausage-making legislation, Congress ripped some provisions from the [...]
Funding for Patent and Trademark Office on verge of passage; Anti-fee diversion remains doubtful
Congress is hoping to wrap things up soon, and the appropriations bills are clearly the focus of the lame-duck 108th. The appropriations bill for Commerce, Justice and State (CJS) includes funding for operations of the Patent and Trademark Office, but recent versions do not include the anti-fee diversion provisions that the Office was hoping to [...]
Special Contributor to Law.com
I am now working with American Lawyer Media’s law.com as a special contributor of articles focused on intellectual property and technology law issues.
Law.com is a legal news and information network that connects legal professionals to more than 20 award-winning national and regional legal publications online, including The American Lawyer, The National Law Journal, New York [...]
Polish pull support for Computer-Implemented Inventions Directive in Europe
The Polish government yesterday stated that it cannot support the controversial European Patentability of Computer-Implemented Inventions Directive [.pdf; draft]. According to this article, the move by the Poles has the potential to kill the Directive. Apparently, the Polish government will support a directive that makes it clear that
"computer-implemented inventions" are patentable, so long as software [...]
