It is important for a patent application to list the proper inventors. An inventor is not just someone that you want to put on a patent application, but must be someone that contributed in some way to at least one claim in the patent application.
Doctrine of Patent Exhaustion Examined in Bowman v. Monsanto Company
Monsanto, a Missouri headquartered company which manufactures a genetically modified soybean seed called the Roundup Ready Seed sued farmer Vernon Bowman for infringing on their seed patent. Monsanto claimed Bowman reproduced their patented seeds for planting and harvesting without their permission. Can a farmer reproduce patented seeds?
Each state has its own unique set of marital property laws in place to govern divorce settlements. A state will either follow separate property or community property laws. In separate property states such as Florida, property acquired during the marriage by one spouse remains that spouse’s property upon divorce, whereas in community property states all […]
By: Mark R. Malek This concludes the series of articles that I have been writing on entity status in the United States Patent Office. The first article introduced the new micro-entity status. The next article gave some background information on what would happen if you claimed the wrong entity status before the USPTO, and the latest […]
By: Mark R. Malek In my last article, I outlined the new filing status in the Patent Office that can save inventors even more money in the patent process – that of the micro-entity. As you may recall from that article, when filing a patent application (and throughout the patent prosecution process), you must pay […]
By: Mark R. Malek As many of you may know, the United States Patent System recently went through a little transformation on March 15, 2013. The biggest and most public of these transformations was the transition from a first to invent system to a first to file system (more on that later). One thing that […]
Pinterest, the latest thing in social networking sites, could potentially pose major legal problems for individuals or businesses using this service. With the tremendous growth Pinterest has seen since its inception in 2010 (as of February 2013 the site had over 48 million users), it is just a matter of time before some companies may […]
By: Tyler Hampy Prior to the implementation of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA), Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 20 governed permissive joinder of defendants in patent infringement suits. However, prior to the AIA, district courts were split on how they interpreted Rule 20 in patent infringement litigation. A few district courts interpreted Rule 20 […]
Entrepreneurs who are starting up their own businesses should be careful in protecting their IP inventions from former employees. They should not take for granted that the IP work they create off company hours is theirs to keep. Employers may be able to stake a claim in ownership. Here are five ways employers can claim […]
