Patently-O Bits and Bytes

  • Rational Ignorance at the PTO: I received many interesting comments on The Lemley-Cotropia-Sampat article yesterday.  Many of the comments pushed-back against the authors’ conclusions with reasons why applicant-cited art is more-rarely asserted in prior art rejections. Query: Do you have suggestions for going about proving/disproving their conclusion that USPTO patent examiners “effectively ignore” applicant-submitted prior art.
  • Patent Law in Print:
    • Joe Mullin at Corporate Counsel (an ALM Magazine) reports on Patent Attorney Wes Whitmeyer’s patent infringement lawsuits against Brinks Hofer, Dinsmore & Shohl; Benesch Friedlander; Edwards Angell; and WilmerHale. [Link]
    • Susan Pan and Natalya Dvorson have a useful article in IPToday on how to obtain refunds from the USPTO. [Link]
    • Abigail Rubenstein of Law360 has a brief article about the en banc request in Telcordia Tech v. Cisco. In that case, Cisco is asking the Federal Circuit hold that Judges (rather than Juries) should decide whether patent claims are invalid as indefinite.  Microsoft and GM filed a joint brief in support of the petition. [Link]
    • Sharon Oriel has published a short article in Intellectual Asset Managament (IAM) magazine describing “a three-step process to persuade a company that it can prosper and grow through investing in intellectual asset management.” [Link]
  • Recent Patent Law Jobs:
    • Amazon is looking for business-minded corporate counsel with at least 5–years of patent prosecution experience and combination of in-house and law firm experience. [Link]
    • Miller Nash law firm is looking for a patent attorney (or attorneys) with 4+ years experience and a focus on medical devices and life-science related software. [Link]