News & Articles

Court Affirms Preliminary Injunction Against Food Sales Infringing Trademarked "Cracker Barrel" Name

27 Nov 2013

Kraft Foods Group, Inc. (KRFT), a company whose mention instantly conjures up images of arguably delicious and unfortunately lactose-filled cheese, recently obtained a preliminary injunction stopping Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (CBRL) from selling food products in grocery stores using the Cracker Barrel moniker. To simplify matters, the court and the relevant parties acronymized Cracker...

Copyright Lawsuit Challenging Google’s Book Digitizing Program Dismissed Under Fair Use Doctrine

19 Nov 2013

At long last, Google has won. Specifically, Google has won the right to continue providing snippets of over 20 million books digitized from the collections of top public universities and libraries through its Google Books Library Project. Avid readers and researchers, most notably librarians and other scholars, are hailing the decision as an important step...

In "Everything's Bigger in Texas" Adage, Everything Includes Patent Infringement Lawsuits

11 Nov 2013

Innovative persons, groups, or businesses that believe they have a patent-worthy invention often submit a non-provisional patent application to the USPTO, typically through in-house or hired patent attorneys. After a hard-fought battle with a designated patent examiner, an applying party may be lucky enough to receive the hallowed “notice of allowance,” signifying the application’s acceptance...

Office Actions – What Are They and Why You Need a Professional to Respond

7 Nov 2013

Patent practitioners refer to communications regarding a successfully filed patent application from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Office that require the patent applicant to respond as an “Office Action.” A successfully filed patent application is one that has received a filing date from the USPTO. Further, patent practitioners actually only refer to...

Design Patents – Yes They Are Available in the United States and Yes You Should Consider Filing for One

5 Nov 2013

When most people talk of patents and protecting their inventions they are implicitly talking about “utility patents,” which protect the way an invention works. However, there is an entirely different class of patent, the “design patent,” that United States patent law recognizes and that those seeking a patent should also consider. The Differences… First, the...

Plaintiff Wi-Lan Loses Big Patent Infringement Suit Against Apple

4 Nov 2013

Last week, Canadian company Wi-Lan Inc. (WILN) lost a $248 million patent infringement suit against alleged infringer Apple Inc. (AAPL). On October 23, a Texas jury ruled that Apple did not infringe Wi-Lan’s U.S. Patent RE37,802 entitled “Multicode Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum,” and also determined that independent claims 1 and dependent claim 10 of the...

Synthes USA LLV v. Spinal Kinetics, Inc.: Broadened Claims Not Supported by Description

4 Nov 2013

When done correctly, broadening the claims allows a patent owner to broaden the scope of the patent in order to capture design-arounds or perhaps new products, which are not covered by the previous claims. While it is proper to broaden the scope of a patent under certain circumstances and procedures, the broadened claims must be...

War Among Tech Giants

1 Nov 2013

Apple, Microsoft, and others, team up to battle Google, Samsung, and several Android smartphone makers. Headlines on various reports appearing all over the net today are referring to a recently filed action for patent infringement as an all out nuclear war among technology giants. The suit names “Rockstar Bidco” – a group consisting of none other...

Slaying the Troll: How The Innovation Act of 2013 Could Help Combat Patent Trolling

28 Oct 2013

The Innovation Act of 2013, if passed by both chambers of Congress and signed by President Obama, could beget important and much-needed change for the patent litigation industry, especially as it pertains to so-called patent trolling. Patent trolling is a practice in which a group, typically a large corporation, procures an impressive portfolio of patents...

Patent Search- What is A Search and Why it Makes Sense to Perform One

28 Oct 2013

In the context of obtaining a patent, a “search” is a professional search of various online databases for inventions that are similar to your invention. The name of such searches varies within our industry, but at our office we simply call such searches a “Patent Search,” and is also often called a novelty search. Patent...

Ibormeith IP, LLC v. Mercedes-Benz USA

27 Oct 2013

Ibormeith IP, LLC, a company owning the patent rights to technologies in the automotive industry, was assigned a patent on some really neat safety features for automobiles- a monitoring device to alert drivers that may be falling asleep. Due to an inadequate disclosure in the patent’s specification, however, Ibormeith recently lost its claim for patent...

Missing Parts Pilot Program Extended to December 31, 2013

25 Oct 2013

The value of this program for the small inventor with an eye on the budget is tremendous. The program is best explained by an example. First, I will explain the patent application filing costs at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) without this program.* Take small inventor Mark, who qualifies as a “micro-entity.” ...

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