The IP Roundtable

Grokster Supreme Court Arguments

Fri, 01 Apr 2005 13:49:20 -0500

On March 29th, the Supreme Court held oral arguments in a suit by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc. and other entertainment producers against Grokster Ltd. and similar developers of computer programs that allow users to copy files from each others computers (e.g. peer-to-peer software).

The Sole Question presented for the Supreme Court was:

Whether the court of appeals correctly ruled, on the only issue before it, that respondents

TOP PATENTING U.S. UNIVERSITIES for 2004

Mon, 21 Mar 2005 10:48:13 -0500

The USPTO just released the list of top patenting universities. The University of California once again leads all other universities as the list combines all of the campuses into one total. Other notables on the list inlcude The Univeristy of Illinois which made a big leap to get into the top 10.

PRELIMINARY LIST OF TOP PATENTING U.S. UNIVERSITIES
Calendar Year 2004
Rank in 2004*	Number of Patents in 2004*	U.S. University*	(Rank in 2003)	(Number of Patents in 2003)
1	424	University of California	(1)	(439)
2	135	California Institute of Technology	(2)	(139)
3	132	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	(3)	(127)
4	101	University of Texas	(4)	(96)
5	94	Johns Hopkins University	(7)	(70)
6	75	Stanford University	(5)	(85)
7	67	University of Michigan	(8)	(63)
8	64	University of Wisconsin	(6)	(84)
9	58	University of Illinois	(20)	(39)
10	52	Columbia University	(9)	(61)

*The listed patent counts are preliminary counts that are subject to correction. The final listing of patent counts for U.S. universities in 2004 should be available in late December of 2005.

V-FORMATION, INC., v. BENETTON GROUP SPA, ROLLERBLADE, INC.,

Tue, 15 Mar 2005 16:18:29 -0500

Today, the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court's claim construction defining "releasably attaching" in claims 1 and 9 of US Patent 5,803,466 "to mean that the fasteners must permit the sidewalls to be easily removed and replaced and determining that those skilled in the art would not consider rivets . . . to fall within the category of releasable fasteners.

Remember the carnival game where they would guess your age?

Fri, 11 Mar 2005 00:12:28 -0500

Amazon.com this week was granted a patent on a method of determining the age of a recipient of a gift based on past gifts.

As reported by CNET News.com

Amazon's patent grants it ownership of many data-mining techniques used to identify when a purchase is a gift and what sort of present it is. "If the item being ordered is perfume, and the date is one week before Valentine's Day, it may be inferred that the perfume is being purchased as a gift," the filing states. If a user chooses to send a message with a gift, the system can parse the message for "key words, such as birthday or anniversary" and infer the type of event associated with the gift, the patent states.

Update on EU Software Patent Directive

Mon, 07 Mar 2005 11:57:20 -0500

CNet News.com, BBC News and ZDNet are reporting that the European Ministers have adopted the Computer Implemented Inventions Directive, despite the requests of three countries to reject the directive.

The Directive now moves on to the European Parliment where it be debated and potentially amended.

Here are the links to the full articles BBC News ZDNet News and CNet News.com

More on the Apple trade secrets case

Fri, 04 Mar 2005 22:01:17 -0500

CNET News.com is reporting that Judge James Kleinberg did not issue a ruling today, but a ruling is expected sometime next week.

Bloggers not protected under California Shield Law and free speech protections in the U.S. Constitution?

Fri, 04 Mar 2005 10:25:47 -0500

News.com is reporting that a California judge has issued a tentative ruling that Apple can force three blogging sites to divulge their sources, according to reports. This case will definitely be of interest to the entire blogging community.

Click here for rest of the article

USPTO Fax Numbers

Thu, 03 Mar 2005 18:14:22 -0500

Updated Notice of Centralized Delivery and Facsimile Transmission Policy for Patent Related Correspondence, and Exceptions Thereto

On December 1, 2003, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office) established a

Make sure you are using the new USPTO Address

Thu, 03 Mar 2005 10:37:14 -0500

Termination of the Waiver of Provisions of 37 CFR 1.8 and 1.10 for Correspondence Intended for the United States Patent and Trademark Office but Addressed to Washington, DC 20231

Effective on April 4, 2005, the provisions of 37 CFR 1.8 (Certificate of Mailing) and 1.10 ("Express Mail") will no longer be waived for correspondence addressed to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Washington, DC 20231. On May 1, 2003, the USPTO changed its address for certain correspondence to P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450. See 37 CFR 1.1 and Correspondence with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, 68 Fed. Reg. 14332 (March 25, 2003), 1269 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office 159 (Apr. 22, 2003). To allow applicants time to become accustomed to the new address in Alexandria, VA, the USPTO waived the provisions of 37 CFR 1.8 and 1.10 such that correspondence addressed to Washington, DC 20231 would be treated as acceptable under 37 CFR 1.8 and 1.10 for otherwise compliant Certificates of Mailing and "Express Mail."

Click here to read the complete Notice

Changes to Patent Law in India May Affect Patent Application Filing Strategy

Thu, 03 Mar 2005 10:04:00 -0500

Effective Jan. 1, 2005, the Indian Patent Act was amended significantly. Under the new Act, it is now possible to obtain patent protection on products involving pharmaceuticals, microorganisms, chemicals, and foods, as well as on software in combination with hardware or having technical application. Business methods and pure algorithms remain unpatentable subject matter, essentially aligning Indian practice with that of the European Patent Office. One change which is also significant is that patent applications for inventions made by anybody residing in India (by Indians or otherwise) now have to be filed in India first before filing elsewhere in the world. Thus, patent applications based on research work being done in India have to be filed in India first before filing elsewhere. As more companies are opening facilities in India, this new provision will become an important factor in completing patent filings on inventions developed in India. The following website has more information on Indian patent law and the recent changes:
http://www.dpahuja.com/pages/patent/patent.asp