The Federal Circuit’s panel decision in Achates Reference Publ’g, Inc. v. Apple Inc. held that PTAB decisions to institute IPR are unreviewable even where the § 315(b) time bar may have been violated. The en banc question here is whether to overrule Achates. The USPTO’s interest in the case was clear from the large [...]
Derivatives giant CME has developed a system for delivering digital currencies tied to derivative contracts, patent documents show. The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published CME's application on 4th May, entitled "System for Physically Delivering Virtual Currencies". At its heart, the concept envisions delivering cryptocurrency holdings tied to a particular contract without the [...]
Ex parte appeals (or “appeals”) provide a rare opportunity for applicants to involve new decision-makers to independently assess the quality of pending rejections. However, a substantial disadvantage of appeals is that they introduce a sizable prosecution delay. The average delay between a time at which an appeal is received at the Patent and Trademark [...]
The Federal Circuit announced with a per curiam order on January 4, 2017, that the full Court sitting en banc would decided whether judicial review is available for a patent owner to challenge the PTO’s determination that a petitioner has satisfactorily met the timeliness requirement for filing an inter partes review petition under 35 [...]
Sam Zellner, AT&T’s point man for patent portfolio development and monetization, was caught in a bind. With 5,000 issued and pending wireless patents under his charge, Zellner’s job was first of all to make sure that AT&T’s wireless portfolio — rated No. 2 in patent quality in the telecom sector by the Patent Board [...]
According to many media this morning, citing anonymous sources, the World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement Body has reached a decision in a dispute challenging Australia’s tobacco product plain packaging law. Australia appears to have won the case. The WTO is non-committal and says only a “confidential interim report” has been circulated. Australia is not [...]
