On January 31, the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) released a proposed revision to the section of the Patent Act that defines the subject matter eligible for patenting.
IPO’s proposed text for an amended 35 U.S.C. § 101 can be downloaded here. Read more
In a letter submitted to House Judiciary Committee today, nine IP scholars (organized by CPIP’s Sandra Aistars) express their support for the Committee’s proposal to modernize the Copyright Office. The letter identifies three major challenges facing the Copyright Office, including “(1) insufficient funds, staff, and infrastructure to efficiently perform its core functions; (2) operational impediments stemming from its integration with the Library of Congress; and (3) potential risk of constitutional challenges to its decision-making authority should the Office take on increased regulatory or adjudicatory responsibility.” Read more
This is the second in a series of posts summarizing CPIP’s 2016 Fall Conference, “Intellectual Property and Global Prosperity.” The Conference was held at Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University on October 6-7, 2016. Videos of the conference panels and keynote address, as well as other materials, are available on the conference website. Read more
By Andrew Baluch[1] & Devlin Hartline
President Donald Trump will soon announce his nominee to fill the vacancy left at the Supreme Court by late Associate Justice Antonin Scalia. On September 23, 2016, the Trump campaign revealed that there are twenty-one candidates under consideration for the nomination. Read more
The Federal Circuit issued another important opinion yesterday affirming that software is a patentable invention in the United States. In Trading Technologies Int’l, Inc. v. CQG, Inc., the court determined that a graphical user interface (GUI) for a commodities trading platform was patent eligible. Read more
This is the first in a series of posts summarizing CPIP’s 2016 Fall Conference, “Intellectual Property & Global Prosperity.“ The conference was held at Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University on October 6-7, 2016. Videos of the conference panels and keynote address, as well as other materials, are available on the conference website. Read more
On February 16, 2017, CPIP hosted a panel discussion, America as a Place of Innovation: Great Inventors and the Patent System, at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. The event was co-hosted by the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation at the Smithsonian Institution and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Read more
On December 14th, a group of librarians sent a letter to Congress explaining why they believe the Copyright Office should remain under the control of the Library of Congress. Written by University of Virginia Library’s Brandon Butler, the letter is a self-contradicting and uninformed response to recent recommendations on reform of the Copyright Office offered by leading members of the House Judiciary Committee. Read more
Two years ago, CPIP published an issue paper warning about the tremendous potential for abuse inherent in the America Invents Act’s newly-created administrative review programs. It now appears that several members of Congress are concerned as well. On December 5, 2016, a bipartisan group of New York representatives sent a letter to Michelle Lee, Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), raising their concerns about abuse of the inter partes review (IPR) system by financial speculators. Read more
CPIP Research Scholar Jonathan Putnam and co-author Tim Williams’ paper “The Smallest Salable Patent-Practicing Unit (SSPPU): Theory and Evidence,” shows how poorly patent law measures the value of litigated patents. Using theory and empirical evidence, they show that the economic contribution of patented technology is better measured by the output, such as the commercial product, rather than the smallest input, or component, that embodies the invention. Read more