On October 30, 2008, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit handed down its holding in the In Re Bilski case, which has been much anticipated because of the potential effect on the patentability of business method and computer software...

In an Emerging Issues Analysis, Professor David Nimmer offers a comprehensive examination of constitutional challenges to the anti-bootlegging provisions of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act: 17 U.S.C. § 1101, creating civil liability for...

Library Journal posted an article about the mixed response from Amazon over whether a library can lend a Kindle device with books loaded onto it. An Amazon sales rep said “yes,” Amazon officials said “no,” but the law may say...

"A patent is a right granted by the government that allows the patent owner to exclude others from practicing the invention during its term. This right is grounded in the U.S. Constitution, which has authorized Congress to create protection for inventive...

In MedImmune, Inc. v. Genentech, Inc., 127 S. Ct. 764 (2007), the United States Supreme Court held that a court has jurisdiction over a “nonrepudiating licensee” declaratory suit, at least in instances in which the patent owner has threatened,...

In KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 127 S. Ct. 1727, 2007 U.S. LEXIS 4745 (April 30, 2007), the Supreme Court held that common sense governs when assessing the patentability of inventions that combine prior art elements. It affirmed its prior decisions,...

It has been estimated that the sales of counterfeit goods reach a staggering $500 billion each year and counterfeiting has usurped 750,000 American jobs and costs the United States approximately $200 billion dollars each year. These startling figures beg...

In McNeil Nutritionals v. Heartland Sweeteners , the Third Circuit ruled that store brand copies of national brands can have packaging that comes closer to that of the national brands than a competing national brand could, provided the store brand packaging...

The Patent Act empowers a court to treble actual damages awarded to a patent owner for patent infringement. 35 U.S.C.S. § 284. Section 284 does not provide a standard for enhancing damages, but courts historically have linked damage enhancement, as...

A venerable patent law axiom-"a patentee may be its own lexicographer"-- allows a drafter to define, explicitly or even implicitly, in a patent specification an ambiguous word or phrase in a patent claim or even give an unconventional meaning to...