#patents

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Law
fromAbove the Law
10 hours ago

How Legal Teams Can Stay Relevant In Product-Led Companies - Above the Law

Legal teams must adapt to speed-driven environments by transforming traditional processes and leveraging AI technology for efficiency and cost reduction.
Science
fromTechCrunch
19 hours ago

AI is spitting out more potential drugs than ever. This start-up wants to figure out which ones matter. | TechCrunch

AI's impact in science is exemplified by DeepMind's protein structure predictions, but characterizing treatment candidates remains a significant challenge.
Toronto startup
fromTESLARATI
2 days ago

Elon Musk reveals shocking Tesla Optimus patent detail

Tesla's Optimus robot hand design failed to meet reliability standards despite initial promise, leading to a redesign after real-world testing.
#patent-law
Intellectual property law
fromPatently-O
6 days ago

Extra Credit, Not Required: Teva v. Lilly and the Limits of Amgen's Reach

The Teva v. Eli Lilly decision clarifies the evaluation of patent claims for methods of using known compounds under the Amgen disclosure requirements.
Intellectual property law
fromPatently-O
1 week ago

Extraordinary by Design: How the USPTO Is Bypassing Its Own Reexamination Rules

A new procedure allows patent owners to argue against reexamination requests before the USPTO decides on substantial new questions of patentability.
Intellectual property law
fromPatently-O
1 week ago

The Dark Matter of Patent Law: Nearly 25% of Office Actions Now Cite Secret Prior Art

Prior art can include unpublished applications, termed 'secret springing prior art', which complicates patent searches and affects rejection rates.
Intellectual property law
fromPatently-O
6 days ago

Extra Credit, Not Required: Teva v. Lilly and the Limits of Amgen's Reach

The Teva v. Eli Lilly decision clarifies the evaluation of patent claims for methods of using known compounds under the Amgen disclosure requirements.
Intellectual property law
fromPatently-O
1 week ago

Extraordinary by Design: How the USPTO Is Bypassing Its Own Reexamination Rules

A new procedure allows patent owners to argue against reexamination requests before the USPTO decides on substantial new questions of patentability.
Intellectual property law
fromPatently-O
1 week ago

The Dark Matter of Patent Law: Nearly 25% of Office Actions Now Cite Secret Prior Art

Prior art can include unpublished applications, termed 'secret springing prior art', which complicates patent searches and affects rejection rates.
Law
fromLawSites
5 days ago

A Public Service Announcement: Legal Tech Companies, Here Are Your Celebrity Endorsers

Legal tech companies are leveraging celebrity endorsements with legal-themed names to enhance their brand appeal.
#intellectual-property
Law
fromFast Company
3 days ago

A strange quirk of the legal profession means lawyers may soon have to adopt AI-or face malpractice

Lawyers face pressure to adopt AI technology due to potential malpractice risks, despite their historical reluctance to embrace such innovations.
fromPatently-O
1 day ago

Still Climbing: PTA Hits 318 Days, Back to 2015 Levels

The six-week trailing average for newly issued utility patents now sits at 318 days as of mid-April 2026, back near the levels that prevailed in 2015.
Intellectual property law
fromMedCity News
1 week ago

Heartflow Sues Cardiac AI Rival Cleerly Over Alleged IP Theft - MedCity News

HeartFlow's lawsuit claims that Cleerly's actions represent one of the most egregious examples of piracy in the medical technology industry, alleging that Cleerly's products infringe on six of its patents.
Intellectual property law
#trade-secrets
Intellectual property law
fromPatently-O
5 days ago

Same Problem, Same Solution: Reading Trade Secrets Across Fields

The Federal Circuit reversed a jury verdict against Texas urologists for misappropriating trade secrets related to the Penuma penile implant.
Intellectual property law
fromPatently-O
3 weeks ago

Disclosed but Still Secret? The Federal Circuit Weighs Patent Publications Against Trade Secret Claims

The case examines the balance between patent disclosures and trade secret protection under California law regarding a cosmetic penile implant.
Intellectual property law
fromPatently-O
5 days ago

Same Problem, Same Solution: Reading Trade Secrets Across Fields

The Federal Circuit reversed a jury verdict against Texas urologists for misappropriating trade secrets related to the Penuma penile implant.
Intellectual property law
fromPatently-O
3 weeks ago

Disclosed but Still Secret? The Federal Circuit Weighs Patent Publications Against Trade Secret Claims

The case examines the balance between patent disclosures and trade secret protection under California law regarding a cosmetic penile implant.
Intellectual property law
fromPatently-O
1 day ago

The DTSA's Missing Preemption: Does 1835(b) Bind State Courts?

The Defend Trade Secrets Act's provision 18 U.S.C. § 1835(b) enhances confidentiality rights for trade secret owners in federal cases.
#federal-circuit
Intellectual property law
fromPatently-O
2 days ago

Barry v. DePuy Returns: En Banc Petition Tests EcoFactor's Reach on Rule 702 Gatekeeping

The Federal Circuit's decision in Barry v. DePuy Synthes Cos. has prompted a petition for en banc rehearing due to concerns over expert testimony standards.
Intellectual property law
fromIPWatchdog.com | Patents & Intellectual Property Law
5 days ago

Other Barks & Bites for Friday, April 17: CAFC Reverses District Court Rulings in Penile Implant Patent Case; CJEU Clarifies Scope of 'Pastiche' Copyright Exception; Stanford AI Index Shows Tech Gap Between U.S. And China Nearly Gone

The Federal Circuit reversed a California court's denial of JMOL on trade secret and patent inventorship claims regarding a cosmetic penile implant.
Intellectual property law
fromPatently-O
2 days ago

Barry v. DePuy Returns: En Banc Petition Tests EcoFactor's Reach on Rule 702 Gatekeeping

The Federal Circuit's decision in Barry v. DePuy Synthes Cos. has prompted a petition for en banc rehearing due to concerns over expert testimony standards.
Intellectual property law
fromIPWatchdog.com | Patents & Intellectual Property Law
5 days ago

Other Barks & Bites for Friday, April 17: CAFC Reverses District Court Rulings in Penile Implant Patent Case; CJEU Clarifies Scope of 'Pastiche' Copyright Exception; Stanford AI Index Shows Tech Gap Between U.S. And China Nearly Gone

The Federal Circuit reversed a California court's denial of JMOL on trade secret and patent inventorship claims regarding a cosmetic penile implant.
#trademark
#uspto
#patent-licensing
#ptab
fromIPWatchdog.com | Patents & Intellectual Property Law
2 months ago
Intellectual property law

USPTO's Stewart to PTAB Masters Attendees: Tell Us Your Story, Focus on the Errors

USPTO revised PTAB discretionary-denial policy to level the playing field for patent owners, urging owners to tell stories and petitioners to seek clear error correction.
fromIPWatchdog.com | Patents & Intellectual Property Law
3 weeks ago

WIPO in Focus: Beyond Treaties, Toward a Market-Driven IP System | IPWatchdog Unleashed

WIPO is not merely a distant UN bureaucracy; it is a dynamic, fee-driven organization that has been undergoing significant operational and cultural transformation in recent years.
Intellectual property law
Intellectual property law
fromPatently-O
1 month ago

Patent Law Year in Review: USC IP Institute 2026

The USC Intellectual Property Institute held its annual IP Year in Review session covering major patent law developments, featuring panels on trademarks, publicity rights, and copyright.
fromPatently-O
1 month ago

The Patent Term Distribution, and What it Reveals

Congress set the patent term at twenty years from the earliest effective filing date. 35 U.S.C. § 154(a)(2) (not counting provisional or foreign national filing). But that statutory baseline is just the starting point. But, the actual term is shaped by a series of prosecution decisions, USPTO delays, terminal disclaimers, and patent family structure.
Intellectual property law
Intellectual property law
fromPatently-O
1 month ago

Are Rising Maintenance Fees Shortening the Effective Patent Term?

Approximately 60% of U.S. patentees abandon their patents before expiration by not paying maintenance fees, with full-term maintenance rates declining to roughly 40%.
Intellectual property law
frompatentlyo.com
1 month ago

Guest Post: Protectionist PTO Memo is on a Collision Course with TRIPS

USPTO Director's new policy considers U.S. manufacturing status when deciding whether to institute IPR and PGR proceedings, potentially conflicting with WTO TRIPS obligations requiring nondiscriminatory patent treatment.
Intellectual property law
frompatentlyo.com
1 month ago

Untethered: USPTO Loosens the Article of Manufacture Requirement for Digital Designs

The USPTO relaxed design patent rules for computer-generated interfaces and icons, removing display panel requirements, allowing 'for' prepositions in claims, and extending eligibility to projected, holographic, virtual, and augmented reality designs.
Intellectual property law
fromPatently-O
1 month ago

The Expanding Patent Document: Fewer Claims, More Words, and a Trend That Predates Alice

Patent specifications have nearly doubled in length over twenty years to over 13,000 words, but claim counts have declined since 2005, contradicting expectations that Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank would cause a structural break in 2014-2015.
Intellectual property law
fromPatently-O
1 month ago

Twenty and Done: The Fee-Driven Collapse of Claim Count Diversity

Patent fee structures have created a hard threshold at 20 claims, causing 28% of 2025 utility patents to issue with exactly 20 claims compared to 6% in 2005.
Intellectual property law
fromPatently-O
1 month ago

Extolling the Virtues: 'Space-Efficient' Preamble Fails to Limit

The Federal Circuit reversed an indefiniteness ruling while affirming dismissal of breach-of-contract claims in NimbeLink Corp. v. Digi International Inc., with the patent issue centering on whether claim preambles impose substantive limitations.
#uspto-allowance-rates
Intellectual property law
fromPatently-O
1 month ago

The Third Way: Examiner Action Dates and the Allowance Rate Curve

Examining USPTO allowance rates by anchoring outcomes to examiner mail dates provides the most direct measure of examination policy by capturing the moment examiners make final decisions.
Intellectual property law
fromPatently-O
1 month ago

The Third Way: Examiner Action Dates and the Allowance Rate Curve

Examining USPTO allowance rates by anchoring outcomes to examiner mail dates provides the most direct measure of examination policy by capturing the moment examiners make final decisions.
Intellectual property law
fromPatently-O
2 months ago

An Old Trick in the Patent Book: Targeted Drafting from 1876 to 2026

Patent applicants strategically draft filings to steer USPTO art‑unit assignment and increase claim allowance odds, a practice known as targeted drafting.
#ipr-institution-rates
Intellectual property law
fromPatently-O
2 months ago

Privity Without Duty: When Patent Inventors Are Bound but Not Represented

University-employed inventors often lose control and compensation decisions when universities and licensees litigate patents without including inventors.
Intellectual property law
fromPatently-O
1 month ago

Guest Post: Design Patents at the ITC

The ITC applied a lower visual similarity standard than the Federal Circuit requires in finding design patent infringement, potentially allowing judges to disregard claimed design elements as minor or trivial.
fromIPWatchdog.com | Patents & Intellectual Property Law
2 years ago

Since 2020, Patent Errors Have Decreased by 11.24%

In an ideal world, issued patents would not contain errors. In reality, patent drafting is tedious and time-consuming work and perfection is not an attainable goal. The patent industry seems to be steadily getting better, though. In a recent study, we uncovered an 11.24% decrease in errors per patent over the past four years. We observed this decrease by reviewing every patent issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) since 2020 - nearly 1.4 million patents.
Intellectual property law
fromIPWatchdog.com | Patents & Intellectual Property Law
2 months ago

AI and Copyright: How Lessons from Litigation Can Pave the Way to Licensing

As the AI revolution accelerates and continues to reshape traditional business models, it has triggered a cascade of new legal, regulatory and policy challenges. At the forefront of these emerging issues are a growing number of high-stakes legal battles between content creators and major Generative AI (GenAI) companies behind large language models (LLMs). This article examines key legal themes and critical questions arising from recent developments at the intersection of AI and Copyright law.
Intellectual property law
Intellectual property law
fromPatently-O
2 months ago

When Obviousness Rejections Pile On: Rethinking Multi-Reference Combinations

Combining numerous prior art references to reject a patent claim often reflects hindsight and risks improper obviousness findings; doctrinal tests already address this.
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