Expert Analysis

• Self-Driving Vehicles' Neural Networks Present IP Conundrum

  

  While autonomous vehicles' use of artificial intelligence through neural networks is highly innovative, the position of these networks within intellectual property has yet to be cemented, and a debate is ongoing as to whether they are best protected by patent, database rights or copyright, say Rajvinder Jagdev and Lin Liu of Powell Gilbert.

• Failure To Launch: The Patent Thicket Delay Of US Biosimilars

  

  Almost 10 years after enactment of the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act, AbbVie’s assertion of 18 patents against three Humira biosimilars shows that patent thickets remain an obstacle to launching follow-on biologics and help explain why U.S. launches lag behind those in Europe, say attorneys at Axinn.

• Huawei Case Might Mean UK Forum Sets Global FRAND Rates

  

  The U.K. Supreme Court’s eventual opinion in Unwired Planet v. Huawei will decide whether English courts are a proper forum for determining global fair license terms for standard-essential patents, and there are several reasons to question the English courts' creation of this approach, says Thomas Cotter of the University of Minnesota Law School.

• Must Inventors Be Humans? An Active Debate Over AI Patents

  

  With the first international patents naming artificially intelligent algorithms as inventors filed this summer, and with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s query into whether inventorship laws and regulations need revising, the debate over AI is testing the boundaries of patent laws in the U.S. and elsewhere, says Christian Mammen of Womble Bond.

• Henry Schein Case Illuminates Maze Of Arbitrability Questions

  

  While the U.S. Supreme Court’s Henry Schein decision strengthens the enforceability of arbitration provisions, the Fifth Circuit’s ruling on remand concerning arbitrability authority, exemplifies a need for careful drafting of arbitration clauses, say Andrew Behrman and Brandt Thomas Roessler at Baker Botts.

• Using Global Dossier To Simplify USPTO Disclosure Duty

  

  The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office can make compliance with its duty of disclosure less burdensome by allowing applicants to submit a list of patent families that are believed to have material information and defining electronically available records broadly to include the Global Dossier, whose use the USPTO recently encouraged, says Brian Dorini of InterDigital CE Holdings.

• The Unique Challenges Of Owning International Cannabis IP

  

  Due to the cost of prosecuting patents and the uncertainty in obtaining and enforcing cannabis patents in foreign jurisdictions, building a global cannabis patent portfolio presents complex strategic questions, says Jayashree Mitra of Zuber Lawler.

• IP Protection Still Elusive For Data Compilations In US And EU

  

  As businesses continue to increase investment into artificial intelligence systems, questions arise as to whether they can own or legally protect data compiled by those systems. Currently, in the U.S. and EU, obtaining copyright protection for databases is difficult and trade secret protection requires policies and procedures to establish rights, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.

• Perspectives

  Artisanal Miners' Roadblocks To Justice: Is A Path Clearing?

  

  Efforts to give small-scale gold miners, who face displacement, pollution and violence at sites around the world, access to fair and functioning justice systems have met with apathy from politicians and fierce resistance from powerful business lobbies, but there are signs that this may be changing, says Mark Pieth, president of the Basel Institute on Governance.

• How PTAB Is Applying New Patent Eligibility Guidance

  

  Since the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office released its revised patent eligibility guidance in January, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board has been reversing Section 101 rejections at a higher rate, say Nick Anderson and Braden Katterheinrich of Faegre Baker Daniels.

• Keys To Successful AI Patents In The US And Europe

  

  Unsurprisingly, the World Intellectual Property Organization recently reported that patent filings for artificial intelligence inventions are increasing rapidly. Stakeholders should be mindful of maintaining quality during this filing surge, says Drew Schulte of Haley Guiliano LLP.

• 9 Ways To Prepare Your IP Rights For Brexit

  

  Those with a European intellectual property portfolio should be considering how Brexit — scheduled for March 29 — will affect EU trademarks and registered community designs, says Paula Jill Krasny of Levenfeld Pearlstein LLC.

• 'Biosimilar V. Biosimilar' Patent Case May Be First Of Many

  

  ​While the idea of patent disputes between makers of follow-on drugs is nothing new​, the complaint recently filed by Coherus against Amgen in Delaware federal court is unique in that it pits one biosimilar developer against another, say attorneys with Goodwin Procter LLP.

• UK Patent Law: Hot Topics Of 2018 And What's Ahead

  

  English courts have been active in the past year, grappling with patent topics like plausibility and equivalents, and 2019 promises to be another exciting year as English patent lawyers await developments on obviousness, insufficiency and employee inventor compensation, says Jin Ooi of Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

• Coordinating Patent Strategies Across PTAB And EPO

  

  The positions, arguments and prior art raised in U.S. post-grant proceedings at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board may influence European Patent Office oppositions involving counterpart cases. Understanding the procedural similarities and differences between the two jurisdictions is key, says Drew Schulte of Haley Guiliano LLP.