June 2004

On Line Tips for Inventors

Claim Drafting Tips, Patent

From the USPTO main site:

USPTO To Hold Live On-Line for Independent Inventors
Senior officials of the United States Patent and Trademark Office will be available live on line next Thursday, June 10 from 2 to 3 pm (EDT). They will be answering questions and offering tips for independent inventors. Instructions for taking part in the on-line will be posted on the home page of the USPTO website at 10 am (EDT) next Thursday. Inventors can begin logging on for the on-line at 1:30 pm.

The independent inventor on line is part of the USPTO’s continuing effort to promote and protect America ’s independent inventor community. This effort includes educating inventor-entrepreneurs about the risks of working with invention development companies.

Cordis v. Boston Scientific

Patent, Patent Cases 2004

baloon_stent
Cordis Corp. v. Boston Scientific Corp. and SciMed Life Systems, Inc. (Fed. Cir. May 28, 2004) (Unpublished Opinion)

The appellate panel affirmed the lower court’s denial of Cordis’s motion for a preliminary injunction.

The most interesting aspect of the opinion involves the public interest component of the PI analysis. Historically, courts have found that the public interest “lies in upholding the the exclusive rights of a patentee.” See, Pfaff v. Wells, 525 U.S. 55. In this case, however, the Court held that the public interest swings the other direction:

for good reason, courts have refused to permanently enjoin activities that would injure the public health…. In this case, a strong public interest supports a broad choice of drug-eluting stents, even though no published study proves the superiority of either … stent.

Read more about the Cordis lawsuits here.

Lack of Inter partes reexamination proceedings

Articles and Publications, Patent

Xenia Kobylarz at the daily journal has written a new article discussing the failure of the inter partes system.

The inter partes procedure has been attempted only 42 times, according to the patent office. And the office has written the procedure out of its new 21st Century Plan – its five-year strategic blueprint – in favor of yet another experimental administrative proceeding based on a process used in European nations and Japan.

A couple of public interest organizations (e.g., EFF and the Public Patent Foundation) are stepping in as guinea pigs for the system.

The outcome of Public Patent Foundation’s highly public request for reexamination may determine the future use of the procedure.

Patent Video

Articles and Publications, Patent

A few years ago, the the Federal Judicial Center (FJC) created a video providing an introduction to patent law for judges and juries. The video is available here (Windows Media, Quick Time), and provides a very good (although general) introduction to patents and the patent office. I would recommend that anyone coming to work in a patent firm should watch this video as part of new employee orientation.

A sample patent used in the video is available here.

The video is used by some judges as a replacement for the testimony of a “patent law expert.”