Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

Certiorari, Universality, And A Patent Puzzle, Tejas N. Narechania

Tejas N. Narechania

Three Hundred Nos: An Empirical Analysis Of The First 300+ Denials Of Institution For Inter Partes And Covered Business Method Patent Reviews Prior To In Re Cuozzo Speed Technologies, Llc, 14 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 112 (2015), Jarrad Wood, Jonathan Stroud

Jonathan R. K. Stroud

Tasked in 2011 with creating powerful new patent review trial regimes, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office—through the efforts of their freshly empowered quasi-judicial body, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board—set to creating a fast-paced trial with limited discovery and concentrated efficiency. For two years, the proceedings have proved potent, holding unpatentable many of the claims that reached decisions on the merits. Yet a small subsection of petitions never make it past the starting gate, resulting in wasted time and effort on the parts of petitioners—and likely sighs of relief from the rights-holders. The AIA exempted institution decisions from appellate …

Judging Expertise In Copyright Law, 14 J. Intell. Prop. L. 1 (2006), William K. Ford

William K. Ford

No abstract provided.

E-Obviousness, Glynn S. Lunney Jr.

Glynn Lunney

As patents expand into e-commerce and methods of doing business more generally, both the uncertainty and the risk of unjustified market power that the present approach generates suggest a need to rethink our approach to nonobviousness. If courts fail to enforce the nonobviousness requirement and allow an individual to obtain a patent for simply implementing existing methods of doing business through a computer, even where only trivial technical difficulties are presented, entire e-markets might be handed over to patent holders with no concomitant public benefit. If courts attempt to enforce the nonobviousness requirement, but leave undefined the extent of the …

Weeds, Seeds, & Deeds Redux: Natural And Legal Evolution In The U.S. Seed Wars, Rebecca Stewart

Rebecca K Stewart

Ever since the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office began issuing utility patents for plants, the United States has sat squarely on the frontlines of what have come to be known as the “seed wars.” In the last two decades, the majority of battles in the U.S. seed wars have been waged in the form of patent infringement lawsuits. Typically these suits are filed by biotechnology corporations such as Monsanto against farmers accused of saving and planting patented seed that self-replicates to produce progeny embodying—and thus infringing—the biotech corporations’ patented inventions.

Yet in recent years, the seed wars have begun to …

Antitrust Analysis After Actavis: Applying The Rule Of Reason To Reverse Payments, Benjamin Miller

Benjamin Miller

Abstract In F.T.C. v. Actavis, Inc. the Supreme Court resolved a circuit split regarding the proper evaluation of reverse payment settlements under federal antitrust law, holding that they must be evaluated under a rule of reason analysis. However, the Court simultaneously created significant uncertainty by declaring that the lower courts were responsible for structuring the analysis. While a few cases are currently in the pre-trial phase, the only decisions relating to reverse payments since Actavis have been rulings on pre-trial motions—there have been no decisions on the merits. Given the intricate intersection between antitrust and intellectual property principles in these …

(Dys)Functionality, Mark Mckenna

Mark P. McKenna

The functionality doctrine serves a unique role in trademark law: unlike virtually every other doctrine, functionality can trump consumer confusion (or so it seems, at least in mechanical-functionality cases). In this sense, functionality may be the only doctrine in trademark law that can truly be considered a defense. But despite its potential power, the functionality doctrine is quite inconsistently applied. This is true of mechanical functionality cases because courts differ over the extent to which the doctrine focuses on competitors’ right to copy unpatented features as opposed to their need to copy. And aesthetic functionality cases are even more scattered: …

Hyperactive Judges: An Empirical Study Of Judge-Dependent "Judicial Hyperactivity" In The Federal Circuit, Ted L. Field

Ted L. Field

This article presents an empirical study of the extent to which individual judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit—which has exclusive jurisdiction over patent appeals—engage in what William C. Rooklidge and Matthew F. Weil call “judicial hyperactivity.” This article defines “judicial hyperactivity” as a form of judicial activism in which a judge improperly “elevate[s] his or her judgment above that of another constitutionally significant actor (e.g., Congress, the President, [or] other Article III courts),” where this improper behavior is not necessarily driven by politics or ideology as is traditional judicial activism. This study considers the extent …

Procedimiento De Acciones Colectivas. Comunicación A Consumidores, Derecho De Exclusión Voluntaria Y Cosa Juzgada., Gabriel Martinez Medrano

Gabriel Martinez Medrano

Comentario a la Resolución de la Cámara en lo Contencioso Administrativo y Tributario de la Ciiudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Sala II.

Sobre Homogeneidad Y Delimitación De La Clase En Las Acciones Colectivas De Consumidores. (Critica A Un Fallo)., Gabriel Martinez Medrano

Gabriel Martinez Medrano

La presente nota critica la solución adoptada por el Juez de Primera Instancia en la acción colectiva PADEC PREVENCION ASESORAMIENTO Y DEFENSA DEL CONSUM. C/ CITIBANK N.A. S/ SUMARISIMO, sentencia de fecha 8 de octubre de 2009, por la cual se rechazó una acción colectiva pretendida por una asociación de consumidores, utilizándose como argumento para el rechazo del caso la falta de delimitación de la clase representada y la consecuente falta de homogeneidad en el reclamo de los miembros de la clase.

Reforma De La Ley De Defensa Del Consumidor. Ley 26.361., Gabriel Martinez Medrano

Gabriel Martinez Medrano

No abstract provided.

Avances De La Jurisprudencia En La Protección De Las Marcas Notorias., Gabriel Martinez Medrano

Gabriel Martinez Medrano

No abstract provided.

Actualización Sobre La Protección De Marcas Notorias Y Renombradas En La Jurisprudencia. Comentario Al Fallo Calas Rolando D. C. Raul V. Batalles S.A. Causa 5110/97. Sala Ii Camara Nacional Civil Y Comercial Federal., Gabriel Martinez Medrano

Gabriel Martinez Medrano

No abstract provided.