Patent Baristas

It’s been a wild ride of a year and it is with mixed emotions that we bring 2008 to a close.  With 228 posts and 6 million hits, a lot has gone into Patent Baristas and I hope this only improves next year. To wrap up the blogging year, I thought I’d just mention a […]

The Law Bloggers Fantasy Football League, Blawger Bowl IV, wrapped up this year with a surprise rookie win.  The league, made up of draft teams managed by law blawgers, has proven that talent is not a requirement for success. The No-Whip Mochas (8-5) brought down perennial winner Bizz Bang Buzzers (9-4), although not without a […]

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Intellectual Property Center (GIPC) released its thirty-page report on U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recommendations to President-elect Barack Obama, highlighting needed reforms to modernize the federal agency’s patent arm. The report focuses on intellectual property (IP) since the U.S. IP-intensive industries employ nearly 18 million workers, account for […]

In a nonprecedential opinion today, Classen Immunotherapies, Inc. v. Biogen IDEC (06-1634, -1649), Circuit Judge Moore affirmed the denial of patent-eligibility of a medical treatment method under 35 USC § 101, that is, a question of whether the claimed invention meet the requirements for patentable subject matter. The entire opinion is as follows: “In light […]

Since May 2001, a secondary type of patent, known as an “innovation patent,” has been available under Australian patent law. This underutilised type of patent is extraordinarily useful in several circumstances which will be discussed below. Key Features The key features of the innovation patent are: the patent term is 8 years rather than 20 […]

In Takeda v. Mylan (07-1269;70), Alphapharm and Genpharm, along with Mylan and UDL Laboratories, tried to get out of paying the attorney fees.  A district court found the case to be exceptional awarded attorney fees in a case relating to Hatch-Waxman challenges made by Alphapharm and Mylan in connection with Takeda’s U.S. Pat. 4,687,777. The […]

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed that the patent on Plavix® will remain in force.  The patent at issue is US Pat. No. 4,847,265, owned by Sanofi-Synthelabo, covers clopidogrel bisulfate, the active ingredient in Plavix®.  Sanofi-Synthelabo v. Apotex (07-1438). Clopidogrel is the common name of the dextrorotatory isomer of the chemical […]

Patent attorneys are a diverse bunch so there’s no one definitive list for gift ideas.  Some litigators are always on the go — going to court, depositions and other meetings.  Others spend hours upon hours in their offices — generally, working at the computer.  Thus, we tried to come up with a list that is […]