The culinary world presents unique challenges when it comes to intellectual property protection. While chefs, food bloggers, and recipe developers invest considerable creativity and effort into their recipes, the legal landscape surrounding recipe protection is surprisingly complex and often counterintuitive. Understanding how copyright, trademark, and patent law apply to recipes is crucial for anyone in …
Category: patent
Metadata and Web Scraping: I.P. Issues
In our increasingly digital world, data extraction and analysis have become fundamental to how businesses operate, researchers conduct studies, and AI systems learn. Two key concepts at the heart of this data revolution are metadata and web scraping technologies. While these tools offer tremendous value, they also raise significant questions about privacy and intellectual property …
Understanding Section 101 Patent Subject-Matter Eligibility
Section 101 of the Patent Act, establishes the foundation for what constitutes patentable subject matter in the United States. The seemingly straightforward language – “Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor” – has generated decades …
Through the Forest Maze: Understanding Priority & Patent Term
Patent law can be complex and overwhelming, even for experienced practitioners. In re Donald K. Forest issued by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit highlights one of these challenging areas: the interplay between patent priority and patent term. What Is Priority? Think of patent priority as your place in line at the USPTO. …
Note on the Useful Articles Doctrine in Copyright
Copyright law broadly protects creative works and the human endeavors required to create an original work of authorship. However, creativity should not be confused with utility. A dictionary definition for “creativity” is “ability to make or otherwise bring into existence something new.” A definition for “utility” is “the quality or state of being useful.” A …
Understanding the Doctrines of Natural Expansion and Tacking
A recent Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit case sheds light on two little-known trademark doctrines: the doctrine of natural expansion and the doctrine of tacking. Both can be useful arguments in an ex parte application. However, both require very specific sets of facts in order to apply them properly in a response. In …
Patent Fees Increase on Jan. 19
Consistent with its previous fee study authorized by Congress in 2022, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is increasing patent fees on a long list of categories. The study culminated in an official proposed fee schedule published in the Federal Register. The USPTO anticipates a gradual increase in the number of patent applications filed …
New Approved AVAs
The Tax & Trade Bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury has approved four new American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) this year: Contra Costa, Comptche, Yucaipa Valley, and Upper Cumberland. The first three are in California, and the Upper Cumberland AVA is in Tennessee. An AVA is the US designation of appellation of origin (AO), …
The Enablement Requirement Requires More Than Just “Two Research Assignments,” says SCOTUS
On May 18, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court released its long-awaited decision in Amgen Inc. v. Sanofi,[1] which touches on a formal requirement for patentability, the enablement requirement. In a unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court held that where a patent claims an entire genus, the specification must enable one skilled in the art to make …
U.S. Patent No. PP35,001 P3 Blueberry Plant Named ‘C15-270’
U.S. Patent No. PP35,001 P3 (‘001) issued on February 28, 2023 for “Blueberry Plant Named ‘C15-270’.” It was issued to inventors Jessica Scalzo & James W. Olmestead and applicants/assignees Costa Berry International Pty Ltd. of Ravenhall, Australia, and Florida Foundation Seed Producers, Inc., of Marianna, Florida. The ‘001 patent is a plant patent under 35 …