On September 5, 2019, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a revised Examination Guidelines 4-19, “Requirement of U.S.-Licensed Attorney for Foreign-Domiciled Trademark Applicants and Registrants.” The Exam Guidelines 4-19, originally effective on August 3, 2019, were new formal requirements for trademark applications originating by applicants domiciled outside the United States. The rules originally required …
New TM Counsel Rules Creating Problems with Immigration Requirements
The USPTO promulgated new rules on August 3, 2019, requiring foreign entities applying for a trademark registration to retain U.S.-based counsel for filing and prosecution of the trademark application. The new rule specifically requires all trademark applicants to retain a U.S.-admitted attorney to handle all trademark matters before the USPTO. The rule was aimed at …
CannabIP: U.S. Patent No. 10,245,237 B2
U.S. Patent No. 10,245,237 B2 (‘237) issued on April 2, 2019, for “Compressed Tablet Containing Cannabidiol, Method for its Manufacture and Use of Such Tablet in Oral Treatment of Psychosis or Anxiety Disorders.” It was issued to inventors Jan Albert de Vries, of Zelhem, Netherlands, Maria Vanesa Fernandez Cid, of Haarlem, Netherlands, Ana Maria Hervedia …
CannabIP: DEA Legalizes Some CBD Products
On August 26, 2019, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced an expansion of a federal program allowing legalized cannabis research, by allowing additional applications from cannabis cultivators. In doing so, the DEA will increase the pool of potential legal sourcing of cannabis for medical and scientific research. Currently, the only cannabis that can be …
TechPat: U.S. Patent No. 10,337,029 B2
The Regents of the University of California was recently issued a seventh patent in their portfolio of CRISPR-based research. U.S. Patent No. 10,337,029 B2 (‘029) issued on July 2, 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 Martin …
Fed Circuit Watch: Fed Circuit Declines to Expand Design Patent Law
On July 23, 2019, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit publicly released an intriguing design patent ruling involving design patents covering Ford’s F-150 truck. In Automotive Body Parts Assn. v. Ford Global Techs., LLC,[1] the Fed Circuit declined to expand trademark law’s functionality doctrine to design patent law, and also declined to create …
Fed Circuit Watch: Issued Patents are Presumptively Valid and Patent-Eligible
On June 25, 2019, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit handed down CellSpin Soft, Inc. v. Fitbit, Inc.,[1] in what is an important case dealing with patent-eligibility under 35 U.S.C. §101, further hardening by the Fed Circuit that factual allegations in the pleadings can support patent-eligibility. Further, Cellspin held that issued patents are …
TechPat: Monsanto Loses Third Glyphosate Jury Verdict; Fourth Trial Set in Missouri Today
Monsanto Corp., the Big Ag company which manufactures the weed killer ROUNDUP®, and was the loser in three California jury trials which $2.48 billion in potential damages, in which all the plaintiffs asserted the active ingredient in ROUNDUP, glyphosate, caused their non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL), is getting ready for a fourth trial, this time in its …
CannabIP: U.S. Patent No. PP30,434 P3
U.S. Patent No. PP30,434 P3 (‘434) issued on April 23, 2019, for “Cannabis Plant Named ‘LW-BB1’.” It was issued to inventors Andrew Alfred, Ian Dumpert, and Christopher Chapdeline of Denver, Colorado, and Kasey Greenwald of Evergreen, Colorado. The applicant/assignee is Green Brands, LLC. This patent is a plant patent under 35 U.S.C. §161, which protects …
Fed Circuit Watch: No State Sovereign Immunity in IPR
On June 14, 2019, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit delivered its long-awaited opinion on state sovereign immunity in post-grant proceedings in Regents of the Univ. of Minnesota v. LSI Corporation.[1] Like it ruled in the sister case last year, Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe v. Mylan Pharms. Inc.,[2] dealing with tribal sovereign immunity, …