On July 28, 2009, the USPTO issued patent number 7,568,213, the so-called “podcasting patent.”
Tag Archives: patent
Bilski’s “blank slate” is bad news for Every Penny Counts
Over at the 271 Patent Blog, Peter Zura summarizes Every Penny Counts, Inc. v. Bank of America Corp., 2-07-cv-00042 (M.D. Fla. May 27, 2009, Order) (Magnuson, J.). In this case, the district court holds that, under Bilski, the claimed system is not patentable subject matter under § 101.
In Every Penny Counts, the district court uses Bilski as Judge Newman predicted in her Bilski dissent: “each trial court… will have a blank slate on which to uphold or invalidate claims based on whether there are sufficient ‘meaningful limits’” imposed on the claim by the use of a particular machine.
Posted in Patent Prosecution, Recent Cases Also tagged Bilski, federal court, means-plus-function Leave a comment
New limits on divisional applications from European Patent Office
This week, over protests from European patent practitioners, the EPO decided to add new limitations on when a divisional application may be filed, beginning next April. Of late, the EPO has become increasingly hostile towards what it regards as “abusive” filing of divisionals—practices such as repeatedly re-filing a divisional patent applications to avoid the effects of a rejection, or filing a divisional before an allowed application issues to pursue broader claims than were allowed.
European Maintenance Fees Fiasco
I had a revealing conversation with one of my foreign associates the other day. I had asked them to continue reminding me of patent maintenance fees for one of my clients, even though the client would be responsible for the payment of the fees. I got a strange level of pushback from the foreign associate. When I asked why, they said “Because we would not know if the fee had been paid.” What? “Just go online” I said. Well, that opened up a whole can of worms I never knew existed.
Software and Business Method Patents Update
You may have heard rumors that business method patents are dead, but their death is greatly exaggerated. Like all good rumors, however, there is an element of truth. A recent case, called “In re Bilski”, commonly called “Bilski”, does have an impact on business method and software patents.
Posted in Patent Prosecution Also tagged application, business method, court, federal circuit, software 2 Comments
Provisional Patent Applications
If you want to preserve the option to get patent protection for an invention (a new concept and the knowledge of how to implement it), a provisional patent application allows you to preserve your right to seek full patent protection in the future. While full (nonprovisional) patent applications may take months to prepare, provisional patent applications take only weeks or less. They are also cheaper. Provisional patent applications expire after one year, but allow you to file for full patent protection without worrying about lack of patent protection in the meantime.
Design Patents
Despite the amount of artistic expression and innovative design involved, artists and industrial designers who produce stylized useful objects such as, furniture, containers, appliances, tools and clothing articles cannot protect their work through copyright registration. However, the products are protectable through the registration of a US design patent. A design patent protects the ornamental design of an article of manufacture that is new, original and non-obvious.