This column highlights some of the more notable recent internet notices, newsletters and blogs dealing with IP prosecution issues.

Hal Wegner’s email newsletter – a lot of great stuff – Contact: hwegner@foley.com.
Hal’s blog is also available at www.laipla.net/news-blog/blog.

  • On November 7, 2013, Hal’s email newsletter discussed a “tour de force” analysis of complex claim construction issues in Bayer Cropscience AG v. Dow Agrosciences LLC, 728 F.3d 1324 (Fed. Cir. 2013) (Taranto, J.).
  • On November 9, 2013, Hal linked to Commil USA v. Cisco Sys., Inc., 720 F.3d 1361 (Fed. Cir. 2013) discussing the need for a new patent infringement trial due to trial counsel’s repeated anti-Semitic remarks to the jury.

IPWatchdog – a patents and patent law blog – IPWatchdog.com

  • The November 14, 2013 guest post discusses Supreme Court arguments on the burden of proof for declaratory judgment of non-infringement.

Patent Docs – A patent blog – patentdocs.typepad.com/patent_docs

  • The November 12, 2013 blog takes to task some journalists’ perpetuation of misconceptions of the patent system to criticize of a specific patent related to podcasting.
  • On November 18, 2013 Andrew Williams reports on the first inter parties review opinion on the merits by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. The patent challenger won. Case IPR2012-00001, Garmin USA, Inc. (Petitioner) v. Cuozzo Speed Technologies LLC (Patent Owner).

Patently-O – a blog written by Dennis Crouch – www.patentlyo.com.

  • Professor Crouch discussed the current state of patent exhaustion as demonstrated in the recent case, LifeScan v. Shasta Tech. (Fed. Cir. 2013) in his November 6, 2013 post.
  • On November 7, 2013, a guest post by Professor Jorge L. Contreras compared the various proposed patent law amendments.
  • A November 12, 2013 guest post explained an empirical study of patent holders as litigants (it is about “trolls”).
  •  The December 3, 2013 post announced that the USPTO has extended the After Final Consideration Pilot 2.0 program to end on September 30, 2014.

USPTO – the PTO’s website – uspto.gov

  • The November 19, 2013 press release (Press Release 13-33) announced the selection of San Jose City Hall as the location for the Silicon Valley Satellite Office for the USPTO.
  • The December 3, 2013 Official Gazette announced that rule changes to implement the Patent Law Treaty become effective December 18, 2013.

AIPLA – the profession’s national organization – see AIPLA.org

  • From January 29, through February 1, 2014, the AIPLA holds its Mid-Winter Institute in Phoenix, Arizona.

Miscellaneous –

For more information about any of the patent topics mentioned consult Patent Application Practice. Trademark topics are discussed in Trademark Registration Practice. Both are published by West and updated twice a year. For litigation questions, contact Fred Douglas at 949/293-0442 or by email at fdouglas@cox.net.