15 June

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Full Senate Judiciary Committee Addresses COVID-19 Related Fraud

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“Criminals throughout history have exploited emergencies for illicit gain [but] the fraud associated with the current COVID-19 pandemic presents a scale and scope of risks we have not seen before.” – Michael D’Ambrosio On June 9, the full Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing titled “COVID-19 Fraud: Law Enforcement’s Response to Those Exploiting the Pandemic.” The hearing, which was led by Chairman Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., included testimony by William Hughes, Associate Deputy Attorney General United States Department of Justice, The Honorable Craig Carpenito, United States Attorney District of New Jersey, Calvin Shivers, Assistant Director Criminal Investigative Division Federal Bureau of Investigation, and...

15 June

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Tax Implications of a Majority Remote Workforce: Predicting the Post-COVID Economy Part II

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“With a majority remote workforce or better, Boards of Directors should demand that corporations move their operations to more tax-friendly jurisdictions. A decision to stay in a high tax jurisdiction when a corporation will have a remote workforce is practically malfeasance.” The COVID-19 pandemic seems to be coming to a slow but steady close in Europe, with no evidence of a spike despite loosening of lockdowns, at least according to outlets like the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal. Although some media continue to report spikes in the number of coronavirus cases in certain states and areas, other media, such as Politico, acknowledge that two weeks after...

15 June

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This Week in Washington IP: Licensing Week Virtual, the FCC’s Possible Section 230 Reforms and Pro-Innovator Patent System Reforms

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This week in Washington IP events, the Senate Financial Services Subcommittee focuses on Federal Communications Commission spectrum auction oversight while the House Transportation Committee marks up a major transportation bill that would heavily impact research and development in that sector. In the realm of policy institutes, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation discusses President Trump’s executive order requiring the FCC to clarify Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, while the Brookings Institution explores workforce training programs in response to AI development as well as addressing racial biases in AI algorithms. This week also features a week-long event for licensing...

14 June

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Has China Finally Embraced Robust Trade Secret Protection?

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“Although China has for some time now shown interest in trade secret reform, this week’s trade secret draft Judicial Interpretation undoubtedly was motivated in part by recent trade negotiations, including the Phase One Agreement. But this most recent pronouncement seems in some respects to go beyond what was required.” It happened to Japan in the 1950s. Then it happened to Taiwan, and then Korea. Rapidly-developing countries started out relying on copying foreign technologies to drive their economies. But as growth increased and investments in education led the way to domestic innovation, each country found that a framework of strong intellectual property...

13 June

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Case Study: Recently Granted Epitope-Based Antibody Patents in the United States, Europe and Japan

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“Patent strategies for antibody medicines should include obtaining an antibody sequence-based patent covering the developed drug, in addition to an epitope-based patent.” Patents involving antibody medicines (antibody patents) are largely grouped into patents specified by antibody amino acid sequences (antibody sequence-based patents) and those not (non-sequence-based patents). Table 1 shows the features of each group. The titled “epitope-based antibody patents” are included in the “non-sequence-based patents”. The epitope is a specific structural unit that resides in an antigen and is recognized by an antibody. Non-sequence-based patents have a broad scope and are thus very useful for protecting antibody medicines. For instance, in...

12 June

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A Comparative Look at Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Standards: China Versus the United States

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“In a number of fields, such as e-commerce, China has arguably become one of the leading innovators in the world. Although the Chinese Patent Law has yet to be amended for the fourth time since it was first enacted in 1984, recent changes have been made to China’s Guidelines for Patent Examination to accommodate the needs of fast-developing new technology.” Over 15 years ago, as a Ph.D./J.D. student, I learned that the U.S. Congress intended patent-eligible subject matter to broadly include “anything under the sun that is made by man” when enacting the 1952 Patent Act, and that two cases, Diamond v....

11 June

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Senator Ron Wyden, Stop Harming Independent Creators

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“Senator Wyden argues that copyright owners might use the system to harass lawful users of copyrighted content, but ample mechanisms exist in the bill to prevent such abuse—including fines, dismissals, and the potential to ban ‘trolls.’” As the current pandemic eviscerates jobs throughout our economy, Congress has a rare opportunity to improve the lot of one long-besieged group of workers: creators. Authors, songwriters, photographers, artists, filmmakers, and many other creative professionals are the lifeblood of American cultural innovation. For decades, however, unfettered copyright infringement online has undermined their livelihoods. The effect is especially pronounced for “creative upstarts”—independent creators who rely on...

13 March

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Other Barks & Bites for Friday, March 13: Federal Circuit, Copyright Office, Ninth Circuit Brace for Coronavirus Concerns; Huawei Tops EU Patent Applicants; Apple Pays VirnetX

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Bites (noun): more meaty news to sink your teeth into. Barks (noun): peripheral noise worth your attention. This week in Other Barks & Bites: Fears over coronavirus tank stocks on Wall Street and trigger changes at the Federal Circuit, the closure of the Library of Congress and the U.S. Copyright Office, as well as move the location of oral arguments in the Ninth Circuit; Apple pays VirnetX after decade-long battle; INTA has had to reschedule its Annual Meeting for November and combine it with the Association’s Leadership Meeting due to the coronavirus; the Senate IP Subcommittee looks at the applicability of the European Union...

13 March

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EPO Applications Up 4%, Led by Digital Communication and Computer Technology, 5.5% Rise in U.S. Applicants

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“U.S. entities also featured prominently in medical technology, accounting for 40% of all patent applications in this sector, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.” Patent applications filed at the European Patent Office (EPO) rose 4% to 181,406 in 2019, driven by substantial increases from Chinese, Korean and U.S. applicants, according to a report published by the Office yesterday. The United States was the number one country of residence of applicants, with 46,201 applications—a rise of 5.5%. This accounted for 25% of all European patent applications. The U.S. was followed by Germany and Japan. Applications from the People’s Republic of China increased by 29.2% to 12,247 putting the country in...

12 March

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Chrimar Asks Supreme Court to Decide Whether PTAB Can Reverse Final Article III Judgments

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“The time has come to harmonize the Federal Circuit with Supreme Court precedent and the Restatement, unsplit the circuits, restore constitutional validity to our system of parallel track patentability litigation, and eliminate the waste and gamesmanship that current precedent incentivizes.” Earlier this week, Chrimar Systems, Inc. filed a petition for certiorari asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a case on appeal from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Chrimar is asking the nation’s highest court to answer the question of whether the Federal Circuit may: 1. apply a finality standard for patent cases that conflicts with the standard...