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Analysis Senators push PTO Director Iancu for more 101 guidance and PTAB reform

During his first oversight hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday, USPTO Director Andrei Iancu came under growing pressure to issue guidance on how recent changes in jurisprudence on patent eligible subject matter should be applied. Senator Kamala Harris, a recent appointee to the committee, quizzed Iancu on the uncertainty around section 101, particularly as it relates to artificial intelligence. This is an area of growing interest to the tech giants of her home state of Read more

Richard Lloyd

News Women have worse outcomes in virtually all respects when it comes to securing US patent rights, study finds

Not only do women inventors submit far fewer US patent applications than men, but they also have much greater difficulty in obtaining and maintaining rights, a new study has revealed. The first-of-its-kind research found that female applicants are more likely to have their applications rejected and less likely to appeal these rejections. Women also had fewer claims allowed on average, while their granted patents received fewer citations and were less likely to be maintained. Published Read more

Timothy Au

News Cost remains top priority and concern for most patent owners in Taiwan

Managing limited budget resources remains concern number one for most corporate patent owners in Taiwan – with just a handful of exceptions proving the rule. That was the biggest takeaway on Tuesday as over 200 senior executives from the private and public sectors came together at IPBC Taiwan in Taipei. Acer provides one typical example. Founded 40 year ago, the company is now transitioning beyond the hardware business, and moving into gaming and AI related products. Senior director Read more

Bing Zhao

News IPBC programme and speaker line-up finalised; remaining delegate places limited

The full programme and speaking faculty for IPBC Global 2018, being held at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco from 10th to 12th of June, have now been finalised. More than 70 IP thought leaders from business, policy, finance and the legal sector are confirmed as speakers at the conference, which is acknowledged as the world’s foremost event about the business of intellectual property. Highlights for 2018 include … A wide range of topical, interactive, Read more

Joff Wild

Analysis Supreme Court predicted to rule in favour of patent owners over damages abroad in case that could have major ramifications

For many observers of US patent law the current Supreme Court term essentially boils down to one case. But as we wait for the ruling in Oil States on the constitutionality of inter partes review, the justices had another case to hear yesterday on the extraterritoriality of damages law.  In Western Geco v Ion Geophysical Corp, the patent owner Western Geco, sued Ion in district court over components that Ion manufactured in the US but then shipped abroad for assembly. The resulting Read more

Richard Lloyd

Analysis New Korean NPE seeks biometric security royalties from Samsung, Apple

There is a story going around in the Korean, Chinese and English-speaking media suggesting that Samsung Electronics faces a $2.8 billion patent infringement claim related to biometric technologies from US company PACid. This looks like a possible case of media mis-reporting. More interestingly, Samsung is facing down another challenge also based on its touch-to-unlock feature, this one from what looks like a new Korean NPE. First, in a case that has generated headlines for what is allegedly Read more

Jacob Schindler

Analysis Troubled Korean smartphone maker supplies Apple with more US rights

Apple has acquired a portfolio of 27 US patents from Korean smartphone maker Pantech, according to assignment records filed with the USPTO. The transfer follows the iPhone manufacturer’s purchase last summer of a package of 11 patents from Korean NPE Goldpeak — assets which were originally owned by Pantech.   The latest portfolio appears to be largely focused on wireless technology and all of the grants have been made since 2012. Pantech is a Korean smartphone Read more

Richard Lloyd

Analysis Latest Humira biosimilar settlement provides further proof of AbbVie patent strategy’s effectiveness

With the recent announcement that it had reached a settlement in its patent dispute with Samsung Bioepis, AbbVie has scored another significant victory in efforts to delay market entry to biosimilar versions of its drug, Humira. While allowing Samsung to launch its product in European jurisdictions later this year, the deal keeps the copycat arthritis treatment out of the lucrative US market until 2023. Following a similar agreement with Amgen – which has also developed a biosimilar Read more

Adam Houldsworth

Analysis Huawei must not enforce its Shenzhen injunctions against Samsung, US judge rules

On Friday, United States District Judge William Orrick ordered Huawei not to enforce the two SEP injunctions it was granted against Samsung in the Chinese city of Shenzhen until his court has had its say on the same issues. The decision has dealt a major blow to Huawei’s efforts to bring Samsung to the negotiating table through quick wins in Chinese courts. The two parties have reportedly been negotiating a cross-licence since 2011, but it was Huawei that struck the first Read more

Jacob Schindler

News USPTO Director Iancu has powers to significantly reform PTAB processes unilaterally, but will he?

The speech given earlier this week by USPTO Director Andrei Iancu at the US Chamber of Commerce on the current state of the US patent system has quite rightly attracted a fair amount of press (you can see our take here). He returned to some familiar themes around increasing predictability in the system, but also stressed more explicitly than ever before that the system was at an “inflection point” and that the US could not continue down the same path if it was to maintain global Read more

Richard Lloyd