Currently trademark bullying has become a serious concern for many small businesses that feel as though powerful corporations are abusing aggressive trademark enforcement and litigation techniques to crush genuine competition. No doubt these concerns merit the serious consideration of all...

Under pre-2016 Federal Circuit case law interpreting 35 U.S.C. §289, enforcement of design patents appeared potentially quite lucrative. A primary draw was the remedy of an infringer's total profits on its sales of an entire product, even though only some but not all design features of the...

This is my response to the public consultation on the rules of procedure (the 15th draft) for the European Unified Patent Court (UPC) that the UPC Committee conducted between June and September 2013. The focus is put on constitutional implications and conflicts of interests.The key points are:...

In an earlier study we analysed how the United States Patent and Trade Mark Office, the European Patent Office and the Japan Patent Office (jointly referred to as the 'Trilateral Offices' or TOs) assessed reach-through patent claims in biotechnology, under the requirements of 'utility', 'written...

Just as AI enables computers to perform increasingly complex tasks, it, however, also raises a host of novel issues at its intersection with the law, including issues for litigants in patent infringement suits. The investment in AI technologies likely will lead to an increase in AI-related...

The Australian patent system provides protection for both standard and innovation patents. The case of Dura-Post (Aust) Pty Ltd v Delnorth Pty Ltd concerns three innovation patents owned by Delnorth for an invention for a ‘‘Roadside Post’’ for supporting signage or delineating paths,...

Patent protection for genetic enhancements would tend to spur genetic innovation, but would tend to limit access to those genetic enhancements through discriminatory mechanisms such as price and favoritism. The patent system would likely ensure high rates of genetic enhancement innovation,...

Courts are rarely asked to judge beauty. Such a subjective practice would normally be anathema to the ideal of objective legal standards. However, one area of federal law has a long tradition of explicitly requiring courts to make aesthetic decisions: the law of design. New designs may be...

Commentators, public officials, and scholars have sounded alarms over the smartphone patent wars — hundreds of cases asserting infringement of patents by makers of smartphones and tablet computers — often suggesting broad, categorical “fixes” to problems this litigation reveals. In...