By Andrew Crocker Supreme Court to Hear “Major Test of Copyright Power” SCOTUSblog reports that the Supreme Court has granted certiorari in Golan v. Holder to consider a challenge to the federal law that restored U.S. copyrights to certain foreign works that had previously been in the public domain. The petitioners are “orchestra conductors, educators, performers, film archivists, and motion picture distributors” who claim to have relied upon the formerly public domain works. The petitioners have twice appealed to, and ... Read More...
Archive for March, 2011
Senate Debates Historic Patent Reform Act By Lauren Henry – Edited by Jad Mills S. 23: Patent Reform Act of 2011 Bill The Senate is currently debating the Patent Reform Act of 2011, also known as the Invent America Act (“the Act”). If passed, the Act would be the first major reform to the patent system in over fifty years. The Act is co-sponsored by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Ut, and Sen. Chuck Grassley, ... Read More...
District Court Holds Unconstiutional Qui Tam Provisions of False Marking Statute By Nathan Lovejoy – Edited by Chinh Vo Unique Prod. Solutions, Ltd. v. Hy-Grade Valve, Inc., No. 5:10-CV-1912 (N.D. Ohio Feb. 23, 2011) Slip opinion hosted by Inventive Step The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio granted defendant Hy-Grade’s motion to dismiss on the grounds that the qui tam provision of the Patent Act’s False Marking statute, 35 U.S.C. § 292, is unconstitutional. The district court held ... Read More...
By Vivian Tao Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments in HIV Test Patent Dispute Mercury News reports that oral arguments in the Supreme Court began this week over whether a Stanford University researcher’s patent on an HIV test belongs to Stanford or pharmaceutical company Roche. Researcher Mark Holodniy developed the test while he was employed as a professor at the Stanford School of Medicine. The dispute centers around whether he could transfer Stanford’s patent rights while working as a visiting researcher at Cetus laboratories, ... Read More...
Federal Circuit Throws out $1.67 Billion Jury Verdict for Lack of Written Description Centocor Ortho Biotech, Inc. v. Abbott Lab., No. 2010-1144 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 23, 2011) By Katie Booth – Edited by Chinh Vo Slip Opinion The Federal Circuit recently ruled that a district court erred when it declined to grant the motion of defendant Abbott Laboratories (“Abbott”) for JMOL that the plaintiff’s asserted patent claims were invalid. In so holding, the court set aside a jury verdict of ... Read More...
