Law Commons^™

Resale Price Maintenance: Consignment Agreements, Copyrighted Or Patented Products And The First Sale Doctrine, Herbert J. Hovenkamp

All Faculty Scholarship

The rule of reason adopted for resale price maintenance in the Supreme Court’s Leegin decision, which upset the century old Dr. Miles rule of per se illegality, requires some reconsideration of a number of issues about antitrust treatment of RPM. Under the old per se rule, bona fide “consignment” agreements were not covered by Section 1 of the Sherman Act at all because there was said to be no qualifying “agreement” between the supplier and the dealer. Rather the dealer was simply said to be acting as an agent of the seller. However, insofar as RPM produces competitive dangers, such …

Written Description: Protecting The Quid Pro Quo Since 1793, Jacob Adam Schroeder

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Dependent On The Jury: Anticipation And Obviousness Of Dependent Patent Claims And Irreconcilable Jury Verdicts, Patrick Bickley

Chicago-Kent Law Review

A jury verdict finding an independent claim valid but a related dependent claim either anticipated or obvious is irreconcilable. However, the Federal Circuit has used the inconsistencies between regional circuits on the issue of jury verdicts to reach different outcomes in similar cases based solely on the region in which the patent case originated. This note advocates a modification to the Federal Circuit's rule of deference to consider irreconcilable verdicts of independent and dependent claims under its own independent analysis. A consistent approach allowing for appellate review regardless of post-verdict motions is advocated, although a more modest position of requiring …

How A Changing Nation Is Fueling The Rise Of Trade Secret Litigation, David S. Almeling

David S. Almeling

Reports of pilfered trade secrets have grown increasingly common, and as recent studies demonstrate, trade secret litigation is on the rise. A 2010 study of the federal courts shows that trade secret litigation has grown exponentially while litigation in general has decreased. And a 2011 study of state courts shows that trade secret litigation is increasing at a faster rate than the rate of litigation in general. This essay asks: Why? Why is trade secret litigation more prevalent than ever? This essay posits — for the first time — explanations for the fact that trade secrets are increasingly important to …

Copyright For Engineered Dna: An Idea Whose Time Has Come?, Christopher M. Holman

Christopher M Holman

The rapidly emerging field of synthetic biology has tremendous potential to address some of the most compelling challenges facing our planet, by providing clean renewable energy, nutritionally-enhanced and environmentally friendly agricultural products, and revolutionary new life-saving cures. However, leaders in the synthetic biology movement have voiced concern that biotechnology's current patent-centric approach to intellectual property is in many ways ill-suited to meet the challenge of synthetic biology, threatening to impede follow-on innovation and open access technology. For years, copyright and patent protection for computer software have existed side-by-side, the two forms of intellectual property complementing one another. Numerous academic commentators …

Explaining The Demise Of The Doctrine Of Equivalents, David L. Schwartz

All Faculty Scholarship

This article provides a novel theoretical model and extensive empirical evidence to explain the decline of a historically important patent law doctrine known as the “doctrine of equivalents.” In recent years, distinguished academics have studied the doctrine of equivalents. While these scholars noted that the doctrine of equivalents had decreased in its successful use and provided some grounds for the decline, none clearly explained why. As such, the cause and precise mechanism behind the so-called “demise” of the doctrine of equivalents have largely remained a mystery.

This article explains that the demise occurred because of two complementary forces discussed for …

Towards A Holistic Approach To Technology And Climate Change: What Would Form Part Of An Answer?, Estelle Derclaye, Abbe Brown

Estelle Derclaye

No abstract provided.

An Offensive Weapon?: An Empirical Analysis Of The 'Sword' Of State Sovereign Immunity In State-Owned Patents, Tejas N. Narechania

Tejas N. Narechania

Forward To The Past, Michael Risch

Michael Risch

The Supreme Court’s decision in Bilski v. Kappos - banning all patents claiming ‘‘abstract ideas,’’ but refusing to categorically bar any particular type of patent - represents a return to the Court’s past patentable subject matter jurisprudence. In so returning, the Court determined that business methods could potentially be patentable. This Supreme Court Review article discusses what is essentially a restart: lower courts and the PTO must remake the law using the same precedent that led to the rigid rules rejected by the Court in Bilski. Part I discusses Mr. Bilski’s patent application and the Court’s ruling that it is …

Unwinding A Case: Issues That May Arise Regarding Settlement Agreements In Patent Infringement Litigation, Jayme Partridge, Jayne Piana

Jayme Partridge

In a patent infringement case, district court orders such as an unfavorable claim construction or a partial summary judgment of invalidity may have a devastating effect not only on present litigation but on any subsequent litigation involving the same patents. Are these orders preclusive in subsequent litigation? For example, is the patentee precluded from asserting a patent where there has been a partial summary judgment finding of invalidity in prior litigation? What can the patentee do to mitigate the effect of an unfavorable ruling on subsequent litigation? This article reviews these issues in detail, including the different standards applied by …

Supplemental Examinations To Consider, Reconsider, Or Correct Patent-Related Information: A Tangled Web Indeed, Lisa Dolak

College of Law - Faculty Scholarship

A pending legislative proposal would authorize the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to undertake a “supplemental examination” of an issued patent to “consider, reconsider, or correct information believed to be relevant to the patent.” It would further bar the federal courts from holding a patent unenforceable “on the basis of conduct relating to information” considered during supplemental examination.

The obvious intent of the proposal is to constrain the federal courts’ power to entertain inequitable conduct-based challenges. Its emergence is unsurprising, given the mounting dissatisfaction with the courts’ application of the inequitable conduct doctrine. However, because the bill proposes to …

Innovation And Recovery, John F. Duffy

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

Crisis inevitably brings hope for recovery. The recent past has seen a great economic crisis and a crisis in the patent system. Precisely because crisis reveals the flaws in the old, recovery demands the new; it demands innovation. Economic crisis thus makes recovery in the patent system especially urgent because it reveals the degree to which continuing prosperity depends on society's ability to reorganize itself, to change, to innovate. Towards that end, society should reconsider how our patent system makes judgments about invention. More specifically, Professor Duffy will seek to show through this lecture that the change most necessary for …

The Time And Place For "Technology-Shifting" Rights, Max Stul Oppenheimer

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

Intellectual property policy requires balance between the goal of motivating innovation and the need to prevent that motivation from stifling further innovation. The constitutional grant of congressional power to motivate innovation by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries is qualified by the requirement that congressional enactments under the Intellectual Property Clause promote progress. The Supreme Court has already recognized a time-shifting exception to the intellectual property rights of innovators and lower courts have recognized a place-shifting exception. It is now the time and place for a general technology-shifting exception …

What About Know-How: Heightened Obviousness And Lowered Disclosure Is Not A Panacea To The American Patent System For Biotechnology Medication And Pharmaceutical Inventions In The Post-Ksr Era, Yi-Chen Su

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

In KSR International Co. v. Teleflex, Inc., the Supreme Court rejected the Federal Circuit's rigid application of the teaching, suggestion, or motivation test (TSM test), and replaced it with an expansive and flexible approach, in determining the question of obviousness. Nevertheless, an expansive and flexible approach to obviousness may not be consistent with the international norms of practice if it is applied literally. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's literal application of the decision has essentially created another set of inflexible rules, which is contrary to the Supreme Court's intent. The Federal Circuit's recent decision in In re Kubin cautiously …

Lessons Learned From Fifteen Years In The Trenches Of Patent Litigation , Rick Mcdermott

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

Marquette Law alum and partner with Alston+Bird, LLP, offers insights into patent litigation. In his speech, given March 5, 2010, McDermott examines how patent law developments such as Markman v. Westview Instruments, Cybor Corp. v. FAS Technologies, Inc., and In re Seagate have impacted the practice of patent infringement litigation.

Lawyers Acting Badly, Or Not? Misconduct In Ip Litigation: Recent Examples And The Questions They Raise, Lisa Dolak

College of Law - Faculty Scholarship

Misconduct in civil litigation is not a new phenomenon. Nor is it confined to particular types of cases. Because of their characteristic intensity. however, intellectual property cases may be more likely to inspire bad behavior than other types of cases. The associated pressures seem, on occasion, to lead litigants and trial lawyers to succumb to the temptation to step outside the bounds of vigorous advocacy.

Trial and appellate judges in a number of recent IP cases have wrestled with the issue of whether certain litigation tactics crossed the line between advocacy and abuse. For example, trial judges have recently rebuked …

The Global Contours Of Ip Protection For Trade Dress, Industrial Design, Applied Art, And Product Configuration, Wendy J. Gordon, Orit Fischman Afori, Mark Janis, Jonathan Moskin

Faculty Scholarship

Before beginning, let me mention that I will confine myself to a limited number of arenas. Thus, for example, I'm not going to discuss design patents, which will be the focus of another speaker's remarks. I will also not discuss the doctrine of aesthetic functionality. My primary goal will be to compare trademark's doctrine of utilitarian "functionality" with copyright's domain of "separability," and to show how for at least two circuit court opinions, the two doctrines may be converging. I hope to stimulate discussion of whether such convergence would be a good idea.

Inequitable Conduct: A Flawed Doctrine Worth Saving, Lisa A. Dolak

Lisa A Dolak

A growing chorus of voices is calling for reform or even elimination of the doctrine of inequitable conduct. Critics argue that innocent or even irrelevant prosecution mistakes can be met with the ultimate penalty: unenforceability of the entire patent.

There is no question the doctrine is in need of repair. Patent owners are subject to different materiality standards in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the courts. Inequitable conduct charges can be based on information completely immaterial to patentability. Findings of deceptive intent are increasingly based on inference and not evidence. And the one-size-fits-all remedy of total unenforceability deprives …

Patent Litigation, Personal Jurisdiction, And The Public Good, Megan M. La Belle

Megan M La Belle

There is consensus among scholars, policymakers, and industry leaders that our patent system currently faces a crisis of confidence as a result of the proliferation of bad patents. For now, validity challenges asserted in litigation – usually as a defense to a claim of patent infringement – serve as the primary gatekeeper of patent quality. When an alleged infringer’s validity challenge is successful, the court invalidates the patent and the intellectual property enters the public domain where anyone may use it. This creates a “public good” which inures to the benefit of society at large. In recent years, scholars have …

Is "Best Mode" The Worst? Dueling Arguments, Empirical Analysis, And Recommendations For Reform, Wesley D. Markham

Wesley D Markham

The “best mode” requirement, which mandates that an inventor disclose in her patent application the best way to practice her invention, has become a polarizing force as Congress endeavors to comprehensively revamp U.S. patent law. In this article, I examine the “best mode” requirement through a variety of lenses. In doing so, my ultimate goal is to recommend the ideal course of action for “best mode” reform – to fix “best mode,” if it is indeed broken, or to scuttle it if it is beyond repair. To begin, I set forth and evaluate the arguments advanced by both proponents and …

Not Only Innovation But Also Collaboration, Funding, Goodwill And Commitment: Which Role For Patent Laws In Postcopenhagen Climate Change Action, Estelle Derclaye

Estelle Derclaye

Patent laws can do their bit to help reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. In 2009, accelerated grant procedures and reduction of fees have been put in place by among others the UK and US patent offices. Private initiatives such as the eco-patent commons to licence technology free of charge have been taken. But greening patent law is only a small part of the solution. However well-intentioned all these initiatives are, for several reasons, they may not be sufficient or even at all used. More than intellectual property-related solutions, what will be needed is non-intellectual property-related solutions such as using technology …

The Hacker's Aegis, Derek E. Bambauer, Oliver Day

Derek Bambauer

Intellectual property law stifles critical research on software security vulnerabilities, placing computer users at risk. Researchers who discover flaws often face IP-based legal threats if they reveal findings to anyone other than the software vendor. This Article argues that the interplay between law and vulnerability data challenges existing scholarship on how intellectual property should regulate information about improvements on protected works, and suggests weakening, not enhancing, IP protections where infringement is difficult to detect, lucrative, and creates significant negative externalities. It proposes a set of three reforms – “patches,” in software terms – to protect security research. Legal reform would …

Patent Busting With Prior Art?, Brendan O. Baggot

Brendan O. Baggot

Although there are many routes to invalidating a patent, what are the chances of finding prior art missed during U .S. prosecution? What are some of the factors that influence the outcome of a patent search? How can one assess a priori the likelihood of uncovering “new” prior art? How does the specific technology affect the outcome? These and other

Panel I: The Patent Landscape With Bilski On The Map, Jeanne Fromer, James W. Dabney, Clarisa Long, Brian P. Murphy

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Bilski’S “Machine-Or-Transformation” Test: Uncertain Prognosis For Diagnostic Methods And Personalized Medicine Patents, Brian P. Murphy, Daniel P. Murphy

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Role Of The Non-Functionality Requirement In Design Law, Orit Fischman Afori

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The 2009 H1n1 Swine Flu Pandemic: Reconciling Goals Of Patents And Public Health Initiatives, Michelle Kaplan

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Panel Ii: The Global Contours Of Ip Protection For Trade Dress, Industrial Design, Applied Art, And Product Configuration, Orit Fischman Afori, Wendy J. Gordon, Mark Janis, Jonathan Moskin

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Overcoming The "Impossible Issue" Of Nonobviousness In Design Patents, Janice M. Mueller, Daniel Harris Brean

Janice M Mueller

The United States offers legal protection for designs—the overall aesthetic appearances of objects—through the patent system. To obtain a U.S. design patent has long required something more than novelty. Just as the patentability of a utilitarian device mandates a “nonobvious” advance over earlier technology, the patentability of a new and ornamental design requires that it differ from prior designs to an extent that would not have been “obvious to a designer of ordinary skill who designs articles of the type involved.” Ostensibly promoting progress in design, Congress in 1842 shoehorned design protection into the existing utility patent system. From that …

Ip Misuse As Foreclosure, Christina Bohannan

Christina Bohannan

In an age of IP expansionism, the doctrine most explicitly concerned with limiting IP overreaching has no defensible basis in IP policy. “Misuse” relates to the IP holder’s use of licenses and other arrangements to obtain rights “beyond the scope” of a statutory IP grant, but the doctrine has not established adequate principles for identifying the practices that should be condemned. The misuse doctrine evolved in patent law and concerned the tying of patented and unpatented goods. Courts held that such tying violated federal patent policy by expanding the statutory monopoly to include a second product not covered by the …