Patent Baristas

The USPTO has published in the Federal Register a notice of proposed rulemaking regarding appeals to the USPTOs Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (BPAI).  The proposed rules are in anticipation of the flood of appeals that will result if (read: when) the new USPTO rules limiting continuation practice go into effect.  (see:  USPTO Proposes […]

Patent Baristas has been featured in BlawgWorld 2007, an outstanding presentation of some of the top law blogs around the web in an eBlook format put together by Editor Sara Skiff, Publisher Neil Squillante and the eBook Team at TechnoLawyer. BlawgWorld 2007 is a compilation of exemplary posts from authoritative law blogs of various specialties […]

In a new paper “Confronting Myths and Myopia on the Road from Doha,” Daniel Cahoy, associate professor of business law at Penn State’s Smeal College of Business, looks at recent patent compulsory licenses issued by Thailand in terms of balancing access and innovation in essential medicines. The WTO’s Doha round of trade negotiations expanded the […]

Several readers recently asked if there is a good (free) site that lists the expiration dates of pharmaceutical patents. The Generic Pharmaceutical Association (GPhA) has a chart listing Upcoming Patent Expirations for 2007-09.  One fee-based service I know of is Drug Patent Watch.  One can also do the reviewing themselves, of course, but determining if a […]

AstraZeneca’s patent on Toprol-XL® was found invalid after the CAFC affirmed a district court’s invalidity holding based on double patenting but vacated the district court’s inequitable conduct holding and remanded the case to see if the patent and another one should be held unenforceable. In re Metoprolol Succinate Patent Litigation, United States Court of Appeals […]

Make no mistake about it. This is a story that has an abundance of human drama, which manifests itself in great suffering around the world. Roughly 40 million people worldwide are infected with HIV/AIDS, including more than 1.2 million Americans. These numbers have meaning that numbers cannot convey. The meaning emerges in the stories of […]

One of the less-noticed items during the Senate Judiciary Committee mark-up of the Patent Reform Bill (Senate Bill S. 1145) was the adoption of Senator Specter’s amendment on venue. Following is an analysis of that amendment: S. 1145 (before today): Implements venue reform by limiting venue to where (1) either the patent holder or infringer […]

In a unanimous vote, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee gave the thumbs-up to new patent-reform legislation, the Patent Reform Act of 2007, H.R. 1908 (see also  S. 1145, which the tech industry has been pushing. The Patent Reform Act would: Allow a second review of patents after they have been granted to challenge the validity of […]