Earlier this year, the USPTO published a patent application, filed by the American automaker Ford, for a new car that would give users an option to remove certain car parts and reassemble them into a bicycle. The invention titled as “Collapsible Bicycle” could become an important innovation in the field of future mobility. The publication discloses a bicycle that can be stored in the body of a vehicle. With the new proposal, the automobile giant is trying to solve the…
Rejections under 35 U.S.C. 101
Rejections under this clause are based on the fact that claims do not fall within one of the four statutory categories of acceptable subject matter: process, machine, article of manufacture or composition of matter.
One of the ways to overcome this rejection is by claiming an invention by properly citing the subject matter.
In telecom patents, ‘signals’ cannot be claimed even though they are a part of the telecom industry.
For example : A method…
Conventional IC engines generally use diesel or petrol as a mode of fuel in the combustion chamber for generating power. A major problem with this is that the IC engine emits harmful gases into the atmosphere resulting in adverse effects on living things and environment. Another problem that the IC engines faces is the lack of fuel efficiency.
Caterpillar is a leader in manufacturing heavy duty vehicles and earth movers like bulldozers, articulated trucks, excavators, compactors, harvesters, etc. The firm…
Recently, the USPTO announced two new programs under the Enhanced Patent Quality Initiative (EPQI) that are designed to improve the quality of Patent Prosecution in the United States. This program will add more detail to the record of each U.S. patent application. According to the PTO Director Michelle K Lee “Patents of the highest quality can help to stimulate and promote efficient licensing, research and development, and future innovation without resorting to needless high-cost court proceedings. Through correctness and clarity,…
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently passed a decision against an order of the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) which sought to block the import of digital data that violated patents. The decision was passed on 10th November this year, in the case of ClearCorrect Operating, LLC, ClearCorrect Pakistan (Private), Ltd., v. International Trade Commission and Align Technology, Inc.
Align Technology is a multinational medical device company based out of San Jose, California. Align Technology…
Standards are important for the purposes of compatibility and inter operability of components/devices and products. Technical standards mainly decide the interoperability in operation. These standards are mainly defined and set by a competent body such as an SDO (Standards Development Organization), even though there is no universally set standard used to qualify a patent as an essential patent. The process of qualifying and determining a patent as a standard essential patent(SEP) may depend on many factors, such as the type…
Patent trolls are organizations that aggressively defend patent libraries without manufacturing products of their own, which is why they are often referred to as Non Practicing Entities (NPEs) or Patent Assertion Entities (PAEs). These NPEs hardly contribute to research and development through innovation since they are rarely the original innovators. Moreover, the NPEs own patent libraries by buying inventions and patents cheaply from individual inventors and small entities who are not seeking to enforce them and licence the acquired patent…
Yahoo V. Facebook
In 2012, Yahoo sued Facebook claiming infringement of ten of its patents relating to methods and systems of advertising on Social Media. The suit was filed after Facebook announced its plans to go for IPO. Yahoo did the same thing to Google and acquired substantial amount of shares in the bargain. In response, Facebook countersued Yahoo for infringement of its patents.
The suit was settled within four months of its initial filing, in July, 2012. As a…
In order to recover the aggregate estimated cost of the patent operation and USPTO administrative services that support patent operations, USPTO is exercising its fee setting authority to set and adjust Patent Fee Schedule. Section 10 of the Leahy‐Smith America Invents Act (AIA) authorizes the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to, in part, “set or adjust by rule any fee established, authorized, or charged” under Title 35 of the United States Code provided that the aggregate patent fee…
What is it about?
InCom Corp, a company that provides educational services, in a patent infringement lawsuit filed on 22nd April, 2015 with the federal court, claims that the Walt Disney Company has snagged three of their patents to track what people do and what they buy at the Walt Disney World. The California-based InCom Corp is seeking a jury trial and wants wide-ranging and unspecified damages.
Disney introduced the “Magic Band” back in 2013, despite correspondence from InCom Corp…