Grace period and on sale bar related to “secret” sales

In a Supreme Court decision which was unanimous and authored by Justice Thomas, the Court reiterated the significance of offering a product for sale and how it affects the patent eligibility of the product. In Helsinn Healthcare v. Teva Pharma USA (Supreme Court 2019) the Court was asked to look at the enacted AIA and whether “secret” sales continue to qualify as prior art under the revised Section 102.  The court examined the provision that “an inventor’s sale of an invention to ...

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Blockchain Technology and related Patent Protections

Blockchain technology appears to be picking up steam in a multitude of industries. Recently, it was announced that IBM has launched a new blockchain platform in conjunction with nine financial institutions. That is, beyond the cryptocurrency use cases, blockchain technology may be used by financial services industry to create blockhain applications, including know-your-customer processes, derivatives post-trade processing, and reconciliation and market data.

According to Wikipedia, a blockchain is “a continuously growing list of records, called blocks, which are linked and secured using ...

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Trademark Cancellation Proceedings

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) provides administrative procedures for contesting the validity of a trademark registration through a procedure known as cancellation proceeding via a “Petition to Cancel” an already registered mark. This procedure is useful to eliminate an interfering trademark registration or to weaken an opponent’s threatening litigation. It is also useful to cancel a mark that perhaps should not have been obtained and is now being cited against your pending application. The cancellation proceeding is essentially a micro-lawsuit within the USPTO and ...

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An Evolutionary Process: The Ins and Outs of Patent Law

A patent is a “proprietary right granted by the federal government pursuant to laws passed by Congress, which conveys to its owner exclusive rights to a claimed invention.” A simple description surely, but one that’s fraught with twists, turns and pitfalls that make the process of obtaining and defending a patent, particularly one involving an abstract idea, a challenging proposition.

Partner at Brooks Acordia IP Law, PC, Pejman Yedidsion, was quoted in this article:

Read the full article in the ...

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Patent Reform by Executive Action: Part One

The White House and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) are working to implement modest, but important, changes to the U.S. patent system as Congress continues to work through a slew of broader reforms. The White House recently highlighted progress on five executive actions signed by President Obama in June 2013 and announced three new executive actions.

This blog post will detail how last year’s executive actions are being implemented. Our next post will cover the newly announced executive ...

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Brooks Acordia Patent Attorney Anticipates Narrow Ruling in Patentability of Computer Implemented Methods

On March 31, 2014 The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of Alice Corporation Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank Int’l.

The issue before the Court is whether and when patents on software, or computer-implemented inventions, are patentable subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101.

“The Supreme Court has interpreted section 101 to prohibit patents on abstract ideas,” said Los Angeles patent attorney Pejman “PJ” Yedidsion. “The focus on this case is whether Alice’s patent in fact covers an abstract idea.”

Alice ...

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