Tag: Patent

The following statement is attributed to Gigi B.Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge:

“President Obama has made an outstanding appointment in nominating David Kappos to become director of the Patent and Trademark Office. Kappos’ background with a leading technology company ensures that he is aware of the need for reform of the patent process.

“We also hope that Kappos will reevaluate the role that PTO has played in copyright issues, concentrating instead on fixing the patent issues that need immediate attention.”

On June 1st the Supreme Court agreed to review a case PK took a particular interest in: In Re Bilski, now known as Bilski v. Doll.  The Bilski patent is a method of hedging risks in commodities trading and the type of patent is known as a business method patent. The method basically involves asking two parties about the risk of a purchase to better understand how to value a commodity.  The initial patent examiner rejected Bilski’s invention on the grounds “the invention is not implemented on a specific apparatus and merely manipulates [an] abstract idea and solves a purely mathematical problem without any limitation to a practical application, therefore, the invention is not directed to the technological arts.” The outcome of this case could have a significant impact on the boundaries of what inventions are patentable. 

On Thursday, the US Trade Representative issued this year’s Special 301 Report, which is meant to highlight countries that are seen as not doing enough to protect copyrights, patents, and trademarks. Countries are placed on a “Watch List” or a “Priority Watch List.” Countries on the Priority Watch List face the possibility of trade sanctions.

Placement on the lists is based upon comments and consultations from interested parties—and the parties who keep showing the most interest in this process are the industry groups that profit from IP. The list has been used as a means for the content industries to add the weight of the US government to their gripes about the state of other countries’ IP laws.

This hearing will explore how markets for patents and technology operate in different industries, whether those markets operate efficiently, and how patent policy might be adjusted to respond to problems in those markets in order to better promote innovation and competition.

Haas School of Business
Wells Fargo Room
2220 Piedmont Avenue
Berkeley, CA

For additional information please visit: http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/04/iphearing.shtm

The Federal Trade Commission is holding a series of public hearings exploring the evolving market for intellectual property. This hearing, in Washington, DC, will explore how corporations, inventors, and patent intermediaries value and monetize patents, strategies for buying and selling patents, and the role of secondary markets for intellectual property.

For more information please visit:
http://www.ftc.gov/bc/workshops/ipmarketplace/

The Federal Trade Commission is conducting a series of public hearings to explore changes in intellectual property law, patent-related business models, and new learning regarding the operation of the IP marketplace since the FTC issued its October 2003 report, To Promote Innovation: The Proper Balance of Competition and Patent Law and Policy A Report by the Federal Trade Commission (October 2003) [PDF]. The next set of hearings, to be held March 18-19, 2009 in Washington, DC, will examine the operation of markets for IP and technology and the impact of patent policies on those markets.

FTC Conference Center
601 New Jersey Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001

For more information please visit:
http://www.ftc.gov/bc/workshops/ipmarketplace/

FTC Conference Center
601 New Jersey Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001

The Federal Trade Commission began a series of public hearings beginning on December 5, 2008, to explore changes in intellectual property law, patent-related business models, and new learning regarding the operation of the IP marketplace since the FTC issued its October 2003 report, To Promote Innovation: The Proper Balance of Competition and Patent Law and Policy A Report by the Federal Trade Commission (October 2003) [PDF]. The FTC will hold its next set of hearings in the series on February 11-12, 2009, focusing on remedies in patent infringement cases. The February 11 hearing will address patent damages, including the standards that govern damage awards, their application and impact damage awards on business activity, including licensing and innovation. The hearing on February 12 will focus on permanent injunctions and willful infringement. Panelists will consider, among other issues, the criteria courts have considered in deciding whether to grant or deny an injunction in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s eBay decision and the effect of these legal doctrines on innovation and business strategies.

For more information please visit:
http://www.ftc.gov/bc/workshops/ipmarketplace/

FTC Conference Center
601 New Jersey Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001

The Federal Trade Commission began a series of public hearings beginning on December 5, 2008, to explore changes in intellectual property law, patent-related business models, and new learning regarding the operation of the IP marketplace since the FTC issued its October 2003 report, To Promote Innovation: The Proper Balance of Competition and Patent Law and Policy A Report by the Federal Trade Commission (October 2003) [PDF]. The FTC will hold its next set of hearings in the series on February 11-12, 2009, focusing on remedies in patent infringement cases. The February 11 hearing will address patent damages, including the standards that govern damage awards, their application and impact damage awards on business activity, including licensing and innovation. The hearing on February 12 will focus on permanent injunctions and willful infringement. Panelists will consider, among other issues, the criteria courts have considered in deciding whether to grant or deny an injunction in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s eBay decision and the effect of these legal doctrines on innovation and business strategies.

For more information please visit:
http://www.ftc.gov/bc/workshops/ipmarketplace/

Today PK, along with the Center for Democracy and Technology, Knowledge Ecology International, the Public Patent Foundation and representatives of the library community met with some of the members of transition team for the US Patent and Trademark Office. PK Advisory Board member and Duke University Professor Arti Rai, International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) Executive Vice President for Global Legal Policy Shira Perlmutter and National Inventors Hall of Fame IP Counsel Joyce Ward were the team members who met with us.

Most of the discussion focused on the USPTO’s role in International Copyright policymaking.

The Federal Trade Commission will hold a series of public hearings beginning on December 5, 2008, in Washington, D.C., to explore the evolving market for intellectual property (IP). The hearings will examine changes in intellectual property law, patent-related business models, and new learning regarding the operation of the IP marketplace since the FTC issued its October 2003 report, To Promote Innovation: The Proper Balance of Competition and Patent Law and Policy A Report by the Federal Trade Commission (October 2003).

FTC Conference Center
601 New Jersey Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001

For additional information please visit:
http://www.ftc.gov/bc/workshops/ipmarketplace/