Posts by Stephen B. Schott
Prop Head Reads: What Is Life: How Chemistry Becomes Biology
What is Life: How Chemistry Becomes Biology Addy Pross My friend Manoj recently said, “In 5 billion years, an atom learned to talk.” This observation begs the question: How did the atom learn to talk? How did non-life become life? Pross sets out to answer this question and in so doing addresses many obstacles, the largest…
Read MoreHow To Tell Someone To Stop Infringing Without Getting Sued
An Article in Schott, PC’s IP Law for Startups Series Dear Dr. Jones, It has recently come to my attention that your product, the Gadgetron, may infringe our client’s [patents, trademarks, copyright]. In order to avoid a costly lawsuit, during which you would have to pay large sums of money and which could result in the…
Read MoreProp Head Reads: The Martian And A Brief History Of Time
(You can view my non-prop-head book thoughts here)The Martianby Andy Weir (The Martian started as a personal blog writing project for Weir and its evolution from blog to book to a soon-to-be movie starring Matt Damon is a great story in itself.) You know the scene in Apollo 13 where a bunch of engineers at NASA are locked…
Read MoreFederal Circuit Broadens Application Of 35 USC 112(F)
US courts interpret patent claims written in a specific way under a special claim interpretation statute. Claims written in this way include “means plus function” elements that courts interpret under 35 USC 112(f) (often referred to as 35 USC 112(6)). Most patent practitioners in the US avoid means plus function style claims but they are…
Read MorePractical Topic: Systems of Personal Organization
By Stephen B. Schott You know when you have a thread hanging from a sweater. You give it a tug hoping it will snap off. But it doesn’t. So you pull a little more. Then a little more. It will snap…it will snap… and you keep pulling…but deep down you know this sweater disassembly cannot be…
Read MoreClient Buzz: Check Out The Bee Book
The Bee Book is a beautiful book by Matthew Holbein and Emily Brooks of The Foliage Library, one of our clients who fulfills our mission to make the world a better place, one idea at a time. Here’s their Kickstarter The Bee Book Campaign and related video. If you want IdeaEsq delivered to your inbox, sign up for the daily or monthly newsletter.
Read MoreJohn Oliver’s Anti-Patent-Troll Rant: Simple Thinking
Up is down and right is left when my inbox fills up with 10 friends linking me to something about patents. But this floppy-watches-hanging-from-trees moment came recently after comedian John Oliver, during his Last Week Tonight show, took on patent trolls. In doing so, he follows comedian Adam Corolla, who also had an anti-patent troll rant go viral…
Read MoreFor The Next Two Weeks, Google Is Buying Patents
Do you have a patent you want to sell? Want to sell it to one of the biggest companies in the world? You might have a partner in Google. How to Participate Through May 22, Google is buying patents through an experimental Patent Purchase Promotion. The transaction process is simple. Patent owners go to this site, fill out…
Read MoreFour Boilerplate Responses For Responding To Subject Matter Rejections Based On The USPTO Hypotheticals
This is a summary of the sample argument sections of a longer article based on the USPTO’s subject matter-based hypotheticals. Hypothetical 1: Removing Malicious Code From Emails When responding to a rejection at the USPTO, you might try a response along these lines. The current claim is similar to hypothetical 1 in the USPTO’s Abstract Ideas Hypotheticals published on January 27,…
Read MoreThe USPTO’s Alice-Based Patentable Subject Matter Hypotheticals With Boilerplate Responses
The USPTO recently published hypotheticals to help guide applicants when defining patentable subject matter. Instead of just a case law review, the office provided claim drafting examples. While not legally binding, these provide a helpful roadmap for practitioners when addressing subject matter rejections. I’ve parsed the hypotheticals below and for each one, provided a sample argument that practitioners might…
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