Patent Baristas

InPharma reported that the European Commission, the biotech industry and Chinese government are funding a project aimed at safety in nanobiotechnology. As Philips and GE Healthcare are working on the development of nanomaterials for use in patients, a portion of the $15.6 million will be directed towards studies of the in vitro and in vivo […]

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) marked the filing of the one millionth international patent application under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) in the 26-year history of the PCT.  The Director General observed "While it took 22 years to receive the first half million PCT patent applications, it took only 4 years to top the […]

The inventor of an LED technology has reluctantly agreed to a record settlement from his former employer in a dispute. Shuji Nakamura, now a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, will receive 840 million yen ($8.1 million) from his former employer, the Nichia Corporation, for inventing blue-light-emitting diodes. Nichia secured lucrative patents for […]

In a Forbes article, Matthew Herper lays out his ideas for five ways we could improve the FDA. Fix 1: Pay Up How do we expect to police a $216 billion industry on $300 million per year? FDA Fix 2: Power Up The FDA Give the FDA powerful sticks and carrots to compel drug companies […]

For those who always appreciate that "extra" day to get a filing in, the USPTO will be closed on Monday, 17 January (Martin Luther King Day) and again on Thursday, 20 January (Inaugural Day).

Health and Human Services today announced steps HHS can take to advance medical innovations and move products more quickly from the lab bench to the bedside.  The recommendations were outlined in a new report: "Moving Medical Innovations Forward — New Initiatives from HHS." The HHS task force examined internal procedures at agencies across the department, […]

This topic has been kicked around so long it seems like it, like trickle-down economics, is an ideal that is always just out of our grasp.  But, I will at least pass along that the "Committee Oversight Plan 108th Congress" website for the U.S. House of Representative’s Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property […]

The USPTO has released an interim rule of practice that implements provisions of the CREATE Act that amended 35 U.S.C. 103(c). (Published at 70 FR 1818). The purpose of the Act is to promote cooperative research, such as between a university and start-up company by excluding prior art from obviousness (103) consideration if the prior […]