Written by: Robert A. Esposito, Ph.D. Introduction The eligibility of software patents under 35 U.S.C. §101 has been an ongoing legal issue dating back to the early days of computers in the late 1960s. Prior to 2014, Patent Examiners rarely issued §101 rejections during prosecution of software-based patent applications. Furthermore, any such rejection was easily […]
Written by: Michael P.F. Phelps The U.S. automotive parts industry is a poster child for modern commercial globalization. Parts and assemblies are passed within and across borders from one supply tier to the next to feed automobile manufacturing plants around the world. The network is so vast and intermixed that it’s hard to pinpoint any […]
Written by: Brett J. Rosen Move over Detroit. Many foreign auto manufacturers (e.g., Honda, Hyundai and Mercedes Benz, to name a few) and first tier suppliers have established automotive innovation centers in Silicon Valley (and elsewhere in the U.S.) to take advantage of the automotive revolution in the areas of autonomous driving, electrification and connectivity. […]
Written by: Joshua L. Cohen This article first appeared in the July 31, 2018 edition of the Legal Intelligencer. Having just marked the centennial of the iconic Coke bottle, the time is ripe to reflect on Coca-Cola’s achievement in brand identity. With its unique design, the Coke bottle stood out among other colas and helped […]
Written by: Christopher H. Blaszkowski Today, by 7-2 vote, the Supreme Court reversed the Federal Circuit’s determination that WesternGeco was precluded from most of a nearly $100 million jury award. The Federal Circuit had previously determined that much of that jury award (approximately $93 million dollars) was attributable to foreign conduct and, as a result, […]
Written by: Friedrich Scheele 1. Introduction The “DIRECTIVE (EU) 2016/943 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 8 June 2016 on the protection of undisclosed know-how and business information (trade secrets) against their unlawful acquisition, use and disclosure” provides for the harmonization of national trade secret regulations within the European Union. The German […]
Written by: Brett J. Rosen This article first appeared in the May 29, 2018 edition of the Legal Intelligencer. Export controls are laws and regulations that regulate and restrict the release of sensitive technologies and information to foreign countries and foreigners, both within and outside of the United States, for reasons of national security and […]
Written by: Fritz Wetzel, Ph.D. Last year, the German Federal Patent Court concluded that Merck is entitled to a compulsory license from Shinogi to continue the sale of its HIV medicine Isentress®. The written reasoning for that decision is now available. This is the first time that the Federal Patent Court granted a compulsory license […]
Written by: Fritz Wetzel, Ph.D. This article first appeared in the April 4, 2018 edition of the Legal Intelligencer. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin have become household terms. Bitcoin’s unprecedented run to $20,000 (and back down again), along with similarly impressive gains by other cryptocurrency, has created a horde of so called crypto-millionaires. But how many […]
Written by: Brett J. Rosen Apple will soon return to court to continue its legal battle with Samsung over Samsung’s infringement of Apple’s iPhone design. The latest chapter of this saga concerns the proper methodology for calculating damages that Samsung must pay to Apple for infringing Apple’s design patents. As background to this case, a […]
