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News & Articles

Basics of Design Patents

A design patent is a type of patent made on the aesthetic appearance of an object as opposed to a patent on its function. An engine, for example, has a specific purpose or function and this function could be protected by the standard and well known utility patent but the way the engine is designed...

To Promote the Progress of Science and Useful Arts

All artists, authors, and inventors today are familiar with the terms copyright, trademark, and patent. For most of these authors and inventors it means one thing: the opportunity to cash in on their brilliant idea. The majority of these creators and inventors will probably prefer to stay hard at work in the lab, library, or...

US Supreme Court Rules Isolated Human Genes Unpatentable

On Thursday, June 13, 2013, the United States Supreme Court posted, in a 9-0 count, that isolated human genes do not qualify as patentable subject matter. Myriad Genetics, a biotech company, owns patents for the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, mutations of which help to increase the risk for particular breast and ovarian cancers. The question...

In Re Pennington Seed, Inc. on Trademark/Generic Designation

On October 19, 2006, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s (the Board) decision to deny registration of the mark “Rebel” for grass seed on the grounds that the mark is a generic designation of the seed and therefore not entitled to registration. Pennington Seed, Inc....

CAFC Rules on Anticipation under 35 U.S.C. §102(b)

The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court’s ruling that omission during prosecution of “comparative data” that is not at issue in a prior art does not constitute inequitable conduct. However, the court reversed the lower court’s ruling that found the patent to be invalid as anticipated. Impax Laboratories...