We welcome Jerome Smith
We're proud to announce that patent attorney Jerome R. Smith, Jr. has joined us at Elman Technology Law. Read his biosketch here.
Gerry Elman blogs on the Stanford Alumni Association’s “What to Read”
Gerry Elman, who's also the webmaster for the Stanford Club of Philadelphia, has recently been recruited to serve as a regular blogger at the Stanford Alumni Association's new site called "What to Read." Gerry's first posting there is about Paul Levinson's time-travel novel The Plot to Save Socrates. C'mon over, visit, and leave a Comment.
Should a patent claim be longer than a single sentence?
Yesterday, Philadelphia patent attorney Stephen Schott posted the following on Prof. Dennis Crouch's Patently-O blog, An Appeal to the New Patent Office Director: Repeal the Single Sentence Rule, arguing for a change in the rule that each claim in a U.S. patent can be no longer than a single (run-on) sentence. Gerry Elman's reply to [...]
PTO Director Kappos supports “compact prosecution”
Back in the mid-1960s, the Patent Office introduced the practice of "compact prosecution." These days it's entombed in MPEP § 2106(II). Says that section of the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure: It is essential that patent applicants obtain a prompt yet complete examination of their applications. Under the principles of compact prosecution, each claim should [...]
David Kappos swearing in as Under Secretary of Commerce and US PTO Director on Thursday, August 13 at 12:30 PM
Tomorrow, U.S. Commerce Secretary Locke will deliver remarks and administer the oath of office to David Kappos, new Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Confirmed by the U.S. Senate on August 7, Kappos will take control of an office that provides incentives to encourage [...]
Commerce Secretary Locke’s Statement on Kappos’ Confirmation as PTO Director
Press Release: U.S. Department of Commerce Friday, August 7, 2009 Locke Statement on Confirmation of David Kappos as Patent and Trade[mark] Director WASHINGTON—The U.S. Senate today confirmed David Kappos as the new Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke issued [...]
Trademark Infringement by a Car Salesman?
From Law.com Legal Blog Watch Posted by Carolyn Elefant on August 5, 2009 at 04:20 PM Dewey, Cheatem & Howe Makes Appearance in Loan Fraud Case "Do we cheat them, and how!" may have been the motto of the two former Mitsubishi dealership employees recently sentenced to prison for a massive fraud in which unsophisticated [...]
Use AIPLA’s Web Tool to Urge the Senate to Confirm David Kappos NOW as Director of the US PTO
This is an American Intellectual Property Law Ass'n (AIPLA) Action Alert: Help Confirm David Kappos as Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office "As an IP professional, you know that we need consistent and stable leadership at the USPTO. The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to consider the nomination tomorrow and the entire U.S. [...]
What’s a patent worth, anyway?
An article on The Examiner website by Eric Alspaugh shares some basic points about the value of getting a patent. It depends on what you plan to do with the invention. Are you an inventor seeking to make money by licensing it out? Or are you a business with a market to protect?
Published Patent Applications as Prior Art
A posting by Dennis Crouch in his authoritative Patently-O blog shows some interesting statistics about how publication of U.S. patent applications before grant has increased the volume and speed of prior art.
Thomas Jefferson, patents, moose, cyberspace mashup
From a posting on Dale B. Halling's blog State of Innovation at http://hallingblog.com/thomas-jefferson-on-patents/ Thomas Jefferson on Patents “The fact is that one new idea leads to another, that to a third, and so on through a course of time until someone, with whom no one of these ideas was original, combines all together, and produces [...]
Patents stifle innovation ???
After reading Mike Masnick’s story in TechDirt complaining about the bad effect on the economy of Toyota patents on hybrids, I posted some Comments responding to it on their site. Here is what I’ve said so far: 57. In a dynamic economic system, patents are a good thing by TechLaw_Elman (profile) - Jul 9th, 2009 [...]