The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has recently opened an investigation into possible violations of Gilead Sciences, Inc.’s exclusive license with the U.S. Government of its blockbuster HIV drug, TRUVADA®. Truvada is the pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) which has been shown to prevent HIV infections. Because of its exclusive license, Gilead is the only manufacturer of …
Category: Tech Patents
TechPat: U.S. Patent No. D844,022 S1
U.S. Patent No. D844,022 S (‘022) issued on March 26, 2019, for “Computing Device Display Screen with Graphical User Interface.” It was issued to inventor Shalin Amin, of San Francisco, California. The applicant/assignee is Uber, Inc. of San Francisco, California, a ride share/ride hailing company. This patent is a design patent under 35 U.S.C. §171, …
TechPat: U.S. Patent No. D842,331 S1
U.S. Patent No. D842,331 S (‘331) issued on March 5, 2019, for “Display Screen or Portion Thereof with Animated Graphical User Interface.” It was issued to inventors Jisi Guo, Eli Guerron, Craig Dehner, Frank Yoo, Karina van Schaardenburg, and Hernrique Penha, all of San Francisco, California. The applicant/assignee is Lyft, Inc. of San Francisco, California, …
TechPat: U.S. Patent No. 10,190,137 B2
An earlier posting on this blog discussed the recent issuance of a U.C.-researched CRISPR patent. Today’s posting discusses a competing team’s recent issuance of another CRISPR patent. U.S. Patent No. 10,190,137 B2 (‘137) issued on January 29, 2019, for “CRISPR-Related Methods and Compositions with Governing gRNAs.” It was issued to inventors Feng Zhang of Cambridge, …
TechPat: U.S. Patent No. D841,260 S
U.S. Patent No. D841,260 S1 (‘260) issued on February 19, 2019, for “Cotton Seed Feeder.” It was issued to inventor/applicant Percy English of El Campo, Texas. This patent is a design patent under 35 U.S.C. §171, which protects the ornamental features of an article of manufacture. The features cover the entire design of the feeder …
TechPat: U.S. Patent No. 10,154,254 B2
U.S. Patent No. 10,154,254 B2 (‘254), issued on December 11, 2018, for “Time-of-Flight Depth Sensing for Eye Tracking.” The inventor is Nicholas Daniel Trail of Bothell, Washington. The applicant and assignee is Facebook, Inc., of Menlo Park, California, the omniprescient social media company. The ‘254 specification discloses a headgear for a virtual reality (VR) or …
TechPat: U.S. Patent No. 10,144,342 B2
U.S. Patent No. 10,144,342 B2 (‘342), issued on December 4, 2018, for “Mobile Robot.” The inventors are Ze Ji of Portsmouth, Great Britain, and Christopher Andrew Smith of Bristol, Great Britain. The applicant and assignee is Dyson Technology Ltd., of Malmesbury, Great Britain, the tech-focused appliance company. The ‘342 specification discloses a smart vacuum cleaner …
TechPat: U.S. Patent No. D835,564
U.S. Patent No. D835,564 S (‘564) issued on December 11, 2018, for “Wiper.” It was issued to inventors Franz Von Holzhausen of Malibu, California, David Tadashi Imai of Los Angeles, California, Randy Rodriguez of Torrance, California, and Julien Bilodeau of Los Angeles, California. The applicant/assignee is Tesla, Inc. of Palo Alto, California, the high-end electric …
TechPat: U.S. Patent No. 10,109,003 B1
U.S. Patent No. 10,109,003 B1 (‘003), issued on October 23, 2018, for “Method, Medium, and System for Enhancing Privacy.” The inventors are Jon Jenkins of San Francisco, and Catherine Cissy Lee of Mountain View, California. The applicant and assignee is Pinterest, Inc., of San Francisco, California, the image and pictorial social media company. The title …
TechPat: U.S. Patent No. 10,227,611 B2
Today is DNA Day, and to honor the occasion, we present a newly issued patent utilizing deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA. U.S. Patent No. 10,227,611 B2 (‘611) issued on March 12, 2019, for “Methods and Compositions for RNA-Directed Target DNA Modification and for RNA-Directed Modulation of Transcription.” It was issued to inventors Jennifer A. Doudna and …