Expert Analysis

• Tips For Accelerating Patent Prosecution In China

  

  In light of recent Chinese patent statistics showing at least eight to 10 months to first office action and an average of 22.7 months to final disposition from the date of filing, there are several strategies applicants may explore to speed through examination, say Aaron Wininger at Schwegman Lundberg and Lei Tan at Pujing Chemical.

• Use Of AI To Treat COVID-19 Shows Novel Inventorship Issues

  

  As technology and medical companies collaborate to deploy artificial intelligence to combat COVID-19, questions arise about how best to protect AI innovations as well as who should get credit as an inventor, say attorneys at Cadwalader.

• Israel's Generic COVID-19 Drug Licensing Lacks Due Process

  

  The Israel attorney general's special compulsory license for imported generic versions of Abbvie's patented antiviral drug Kaletra to treat COVID-19 does not provide a right of response, a hearing or direct judicial review, says Ephraim Heiliczer at Pearl Cohen.

• New US Policy On SEP Remedies Restores Critical Balance

  

  The new joint U.S. Department of Justice-U.S. Patent and Trademark Office policy on standard-essential patents, clarifying that injunctions are available in accordance with general remedies law, helps restore a power balance between technology innovators and users, and realigns U.S. patent law with other jurisdictions, say attorneys at McKool Smith.

• Vaccine IP Under Microscope With Coronavirus Outbreak

  

  The coronavirus global outbreak, which has focused attention on the role patent systems play in encouraging investment in vaccines and cures, affords an opportunity to examine the tension among patent rights, investments, governments and public health, say Gaby Longsworth and Robert Greene Sterne at Sterne Kessler.

• EU Lacks Effective Tool For Resolving Border Disputes

  

  The European Court of Justice recently found that it did not have jurisdiction over Slovenia's claim to enforce an arbitration award against Croatia, indicating that EU legal framework cannot be used to resolve intra-EU border disputes, and that a new mechanism should possibly be developed, says Akshay Sewlikar at Linklaters.

• Rebuttal

  AI Can't Accurately Predict Case Length And Cost — Yet

  

  A recent Law360 guest article argued that artificial intelligence can precisely estimate the length and cost of a new case, but several limitations will likely delay truly accurate predictions for years to come, says Andrew Russell at Shaw Keller.

• Trade Agreements With EU Will Still Be Elusive Post-Brexit

  

  Although a post-Brexit transitional arrangement largely preserves the status quo between the U.K. and the EU through the end of the year, intense trade negotiations for key industries are still to come, with the possibility of a no-deal exit in 2021, say attorneys at Baker Botts.

• Surefire Marketing Methods To Build Your Legal Practice

  

  Attorneys who take the time and the risk to showcase their talents through speaking, writing and teaching will find that opportunities will begin building upon themselves, says Daniel Karon of Karon LLC.

• Some Clarity On Inventor-Employee Compensation In The UK

  

  The recent U.K. Supreme Court decision in Shanks v. Unilver swept away a perception that some employers are simply too big to pay inventor compensation under the U.K.’s statutory compensation provisions, and may offer some hope to prospective employees, say attorneys at Haseltine Lake.

• The Rise Of Patent Wars In Europe's Gene Therapy Space

  

  Drug companies can prepare for increasing competition and a rise in contentious patent proceedings in Europe’s gene therapy industry by aligning patents, orphan designations and data exclusivity where possible, say Jane Hollywood and Frances Denney of CMS Legal.

• 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.