Kevin Ryan is an associate in the Intellectual Property Practice Group in the firm's Washington, D.C. office.

PART 4:  INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LEGISLATION TO WATCH IN 2020

In this four-part series, we take a look forward at the cases, legislation, and other trends that are likely to have a significant impact on intellectual property law and practice in 2020.  In the first three parts of the series, we looked at the IP issues currently pending before the Supreme Court, possible changes to the law of patent eligibility, and hot topics surrounding inter partes review proceedings.  In this last part of our series, we look at proposed legislation related to intellectual property issues.  In particular, we consider:

  • The “Inventor Rights Act,” which would establish protections for “inventor-owned patents,” including a prohibition on USPTO reexamination of such patents without the patentee’s consent;
  • The Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement (“CASE”) Act of 2019, which would establish a small claims tribunal within the Copyright Office to address copyright disputes involving less than $30,000 in damages;
  • The Counterfeit Goods Seizure Act of 2019, which would authorize the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency to seize counterfeit articles that infringe a design patent; and
  • The Trademark Modernization (“TM”) Act of 2020, which would establish new ex parte procedures in the USPTO to expunge trademarks obtained based on false claims that the marks were used in commerce.

Continue Reading Intellectual Property Outlook: Cases and Trends to Follow in 2020 — PART 4

PART 3: HOT TOPICS RELATED TO INTER PARTES REVIEW

In this four-part series, we take a look forward at the cases, legislation, and other trends that are likely to have a significant impact on intellectual property law and practice in 2020.  In the first two parts of the series, we looked at the IP issues currently pending before the Supreme Court and possible changes to the law of patent eligibility.

In this third part of the series, we look at several issues related to inter partes review proceedings that we expect to be hot topics in 2020, including:

  • Whether the appointment of Administrative Patent Judges on the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (the “PTAB”) violates the Appointments Clause of the Constitution;
  • Whether the PTAB will allow a greater number of claim amendments under the Pilot Program announced in March 2019;
  • Whether the deadline to file an IPR petition should continue to run when an infringement case is dismissed without prejudice;
  • Whether invalidation of patent claims in an IPR should retroactively annul district court decisions on infringement and validity; and
  • Whether the PTAB will be able to coherently apply the new standard for identifying real-parties-in-interest.

Continue Reading Intellectual Property Outlook: Cases and Trends to Follow in 2020 — PART 3

PART 2: EFFORTS TO CLARIFY PATENT ELIGIBILITY UNDER § 101

In this four-part series, we take a look forward at the cases, legislation, and other trends that are likely to have a significant impact on intellectual property law and practice in 2020. The first part of the series – looking at IP issues currently pending before the Supreme Court – can be found here.

In this second part of the series, we look at possible developments in the law of patent eligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101. Since the Supreme Court’s decisions in Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc., 566 U.S. 66 (2012), and Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International, 573 U.S. 208 (2014), patent eligibility has likely been the single most confounding and controversial issue in the area of patent law. In this article, we consider:

  • The current state of patent eligibility since the decisions in Mayo and Alice;
  • Efforts to get the Supreme Court to address § 101 again;
  • The growing trend of avoiding § 101 issues through artful pleading;
  • Whether courts will return to a modified version of the “machine-or-transformation” test as a way to ensure patentability of “physical” inventions; and
  • Potential legislative “fixes” to patent eligibility.
    Continue Reading Intellectual Property Outlook: Cases and Trends to Follow in 2020 — PART 2