Posts by Stephen B. Schott
The New Copyright Claims Board: An Easier Way to Settle Small-Claims Copyright Disputes
Imagine that you created a painting, and now someone is using the image without your consent. What action could you take? A lawsuit seems like a reasonable step to protect your copyrighted work. But how much money will you win compared to the legal fees you’ll have to pay? Until recently, suing someone for copyright…
Read MoreThe Humvee in Call of Duty: Where Trademark Usage Meets the First Amendment
Above: Photo of a Humvee If you’ve watched Jurassic Park or The Avengers, you’ve come across the Humvee featured in a Hollywood film. Formally called a High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, the Humvee is a type of four-wheel drive truck manufactured by AM General. In 1983, the United States awarded AM General with a contract…
Read MoreA Renewed Call: Repeal the Single Sentence Rule for Patent Claims
Like all elementary school graduates, I learned that a single sentence should be short. One source suggests that a well-written work should average 20 to 25 word sentences.[1] With that as the guide, sentences averaging 50 words would raise the ire of a 3rd grade teacher. Those averaging 100 words would drive a sane person…
Read MorePA Bar: Removing The Exclusivity Of “Patent Attorney”
[EDIT: The Pennsylvania House of Delegates voted down this measure in May 2019, mostly due to issues unrelated to the “patent attorney” designation discussed herein.] The Pennsylvania Bar Association, following the American Bar Association’s adoption of new Model Rules in August 2018 (deleting earlier Rule 7.4) and seeking to conform Pennsylvania’s Rules to follow the ABA, has proposed…
Read MoreNew USPTO Director Andrei Iancu’s Pro-Innovation Remarks
Following the last several years where Congress, the courts, and even the former U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director were accused of being anti-innovation, the new director Andrei Iancu delivered these pointedly pro-innovation remarks yesterday. Innovators should applaud what some believe is an overdue return of a painful pendulum swing. Here is his introduction: Dr. Eli Harari, an electrical engineer, always tinkered…
Read MoreSecret Sales Are Prior Art Under The America Invents Act
You sell something but keep the details of the sale a secret. Is this still a sale that bars issuance of a patent under 35 USC 102: “A person shall be entitled to a patent unless the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available…
Read More2017 March IdeaEsq Newsletter is out
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Read MorePropeller Head Reads: February
Norse Mythologyby Neil GaimanOdin, Thor, Loki. I knew the names but not the stories. Gaiman is a lover of myth and there could be no better guide to these tales than him. Enjoy hearing these tales sounding over hundreds of years echoing in Northern European fjords. The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise…
Read MoreQuick Hitter: Is It Really Obvious To Combine Those References?
One justification for a patent office rejection is the brick wall, “It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art to combine these references.” This is a tough statement to overcome for any would-be patentee hoping to argue that an examiner improperly combined two (or more) references in issuing an…
Read MoreProp Head Book Review: Thank You For Being Late
By Stephen Schott A review of Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist’s Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations, by Thomas Friedman What happens when shattering the norm becomes the norm? When disruption is not a wave that comes every so often, but the tide carrying us all? In examining both these questions,…
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