Posted in General, on February 15, 2012 by Merritt J. Hasbrouck - Editor-in-Chief
Congress recently directed the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) to study international patent protection for small businesses in consultation with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Small Business Administration. The study examined how the USPTO and other Federal agencies could help small businesses obtain international patent protection. One of the major considerations was to determine whether a loan or grant program should be established to help small businesses cover the costs associated with obtaining protection. More...
Posted in General, on November 23, 2011 by Paul Baillargeon - Articles Editor
Recall the Omega S.A. v. Costco case, which led to the 9th Circuit holding the first sale doctrine inapplicable for goods purchased overseas and later imported into the United States. Well, this case is still ticking, and a recent District Court ruling looks to be ripe for a whole new round of appellate review. After the first sale issue was appealed all the way up the Supreme Court, which affirmed the 9th Circuit without issuing an opinion, the District Court for the Eastern District of California got another crack at it. More...
Posted in General, on November 10, 2011 by Jessica Hilliard - Articles Editor
In late October, the Copyright Office announced the priorities and special projects it will be focusing on in the near future. Register of Copyrights Maria Pallante described seventeen priorities and ten projects that will be explored over the next two years. The text of the Register’s paper can be accessed at www.copyright.gov/docs/priorities.pdf.PrioritiesNumerous priorities in copyright policy were introduced, including rogue websites, orphan works, illegal streaming, and others. More...
Posted in General, on October 31, 2011 by Ian Rubenstrunk - Articles Editor
Regardless of your affection for a particular news outlet, over the last couple weeks the “Occupy Wall Street” movement has seen it’s fair share of coverage. Recently a couple from Long Island applied to the PTO, attempting to Trademark “Occupy Wall St.” Once again ignoring the political stigma surrounding the movement, this story raises a lot of questions for the intellectual property community. The story has been credited to first being reported by the Smoking Gun. More...
Posted in General, on October 27, 2011 by Harini Ganesh - Production Editor
Recently, Congress passed the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act ("AIA"). This important legislation changed America's patent system from a first-to-invent system to a first-to-file. Arthur Yuan, the Executive Director of the John Marshall Law School Chinese Intellectual Property Resource Center, has prepared the following document, which provides easy reference to the changes in the AIA. Thank you Arthur!
Posted in General, on October 12, 2011 by Christian Miller - Articles Editor
Recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reaffirmed its previous rulings that the raising and sale of subsequent generations of genetically modified organisms is not affected by patent exhaustion. In Monsanto v. Bowman,[1] an appeal from the Southern District of Indiana, the court affirmed the lower court’s finding that a farmer was liable for patent infringement for planting GMO seed.What distinguished the actions of the farmer, Bowman, from the actions of a farmer in an earlier case of Monsanto v. More...
Posted in General, on September 29, 2011 by Rosezena Pierce - Administrative Editor
Last year I pondered whether I should watch the new USA Network television series “Covert Affairs,” starring Piper Perabo as Annie Walker, a new recruit to the CIA. I told myself I would give it a chance and watch the first episode to see if I like it. The first episode introduced the viewers to 28-year-old Annie Walker wearing a well-tailored black pant suit and a pair of black high-heeled Christian Louboutin‘s “Red Bottoms.” From the moment I saw those shoes I was sold on watching the show throughout its season. More...
Posted in General, on September 19, 2011 by Felisa Leisinger - Symposium Editor
My husband and I are retirees at-heart. We wake up really early (I’m here at 5:00am with my cup of coffee writing this), drink coffee, read the modernized paper (blogs, do homework, etc.). We watch CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood religiously (one of us may even be subscribed to the show’s twitter feed). We really enjoy going for long walks. It’s especially exciting if we can pair the walk with errands: forgot an ingredient to the recipe? Want to walk to go get it? Walking is some sort of meditation for us. More...
Posted in General, on August 3, 2011 by Christian Miller - Articles Editor
My Chinese friends would look side to side before speaking, perhaps ensuring that a Party member was not within earshot, and wistfully call it “leaping the wall.” They were speaking of circumventing the Great Chinese Firewall, usually through VPN encryption. However, I called it a royal pain. In the first week of my two month stay in Beijing, I attempted to live in harmony with this draconian impediment to the free exchange of information. More...
Posted in Symposium, on April 17, 2011 by Harini Ganesh
Thank you to everyone who attended the 2nd Annual RIPL Symposium. This year, the topic was Biotechnology and Health-Related Issues in IP. The event was a great success, and included presentations by several of the Symposium-issue authors as well as other scholars in the field. In correlation with the special Symposium issue, RIPL has published the articles in e-book format. The entire issue is available for download for Kindle and Nook e-readers. The Symposium issue can also be downloaded on the Amazon UK website. More...
