July 29, 2009

ICLEF and WEMMH are working to develop an impressive lineup of speakers for this year’s Midwest Intellectual Property Symposium, a two-day CLE event to be held at University Place Hotel and Conference Center in Indianapolis, IN. The Symposium will include…

July 29, 2009

We litigate in a digital age. As a result, electronically stored information (ESI) is subject to discovery in a lawsuit. Discovery demands that each side produce to the other side its information that is relevant to the suit. These days,…

July 29, 2009

The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) has ruled, precedentially, that the correction of a false statement regarding use of a trademark in commerce, if made before a registration has been challenged, creates a rebuttable presumption that the registrant did…

July 20, 2009

On July 6, the Federal Circuit granted rehearing en banc in Tafas v. Doll regarding the USPTO’s power to implement new rules on restrictions for continuations and claim limitations.  No comment concerning the underlying opinion was given beyond announcing its…

July 12, 2009

The Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library now provides five dedicated PubWEST patent searching terminals at its downtown Central Library location, thanks to a donation to the Library Foundation by Woodard, Emhardt, Moriarty, McNett & Henry LLP.  The five dedicated PubWEST computer…

July 10, 2009

Although it is still several months away, the EPO will dramatically changes its practice effective April 1, 2010 relating to divisional applications and European search reports.  A review of the changes is presented below: Limitation on Filing Divisional Applications In…

June 29, 2009

The U.S. Supreme Court has granted certiorari in the Bilski case, a challenge to the decision handed down by the Federal Circuit last October excluding pure business methods from patent protection. Additionally, the Bilski decision set some roadblocks in the…

June 16, 2009

While the recently enacted Madrid Protocol System allows trademark owners to seek protection for their respective marks in multiple countries by filing a single application, there are some pitfalls to avoid. For large-scale coverage of your trademark in many countries,…

June 8, 2009

Applicants of international PCT patent applications filed on or after January 1, 2009, can now view the file contents of their published applications online. Over the next couple of months, the service will begin including applications for which early publication…

June 1, 2009

The Federal Circuit recently reversed a Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) decision affirming an Examining Attorney’s refusal to register the mark MOSCOVSKAYA as primarily geographically deceptively misdescriptive. In Russian, MOSCOVSKAYA means “from Moscow.” The Examining Attorney relied on the…

May 26, 2009

In a recent Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) decision, the Applicant attempted to register the mark CYNERGY and in response received a section 2(d) likelihood of confusion refusal in light of a prior registration for SYNERGIE PEEL. In responding…

May 18, 2009

Germany has now agreed to participate in the Patent Prosecution Highway Program (PPH). Under the PPH, an applicant receiving a favorable ruling from one nation may request that the corresponding application filed with the other nation advance out of turn…