Expert Analysis

• An Interview With Ex-USPTO Director Todd Dickinson: Part 1

  

  David Haas and Scott Weingust of Stout Risius Ross LLC recently had a candid discussion with Q. Todd Dickinson, former director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and current head of Polsinelli PC’s intellectual property public policy practice. He shared his thoughts on the evolution of IP policy since his time at the PTO and his current concerns about U.S. patent law.

• How China Became An IP Superpower

  

  China has repeatedly been labeled an intellectual property pirate and wholesale IP rights violator, but those labels are no longer accurate. Today, applicants who overlook China do so at their peril, says Jay Erstling, of counsel at Patterson Thuente Pedersen PA and former director of WIPO's Patent Cooperation Treaty Office.

• Real-World IP Tools In Virtual Worlds

  

  Nonmillennials usually approach things like virtual reality from the perspective of what we know as the “real” world. We compare objects and interactions with how they would be if generated by Mother Nature. This is the greatest challenge for intellectual property professionals working in a virtual environment, say Elizabeth Ferrill of Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner LLP and Joacim Lydén of Awapatent.

• Filing Foreign Patents: 3rd-Party Disclosure Considerations

  

  For U.S. patent applications filed following a disclosure of the invention, the one-year grace period provides a useful safety net. However, in other territories much stricter rules apply, say Hannah Buckley and Stuart Lumsden of Marks & Clerk.

• EU May Soon Surpass US As Patent Center

  

  Despite some uncertainty surrounding Brexit’s impact, the changing patent regime in Europe likely will make things easier for patent holders. Indeed, the new Unified Patent Court has several features that suggest it will be an appealing alternative to U.S. patent courts, say Ashley Keller and Katharine Wolanyk of Burford Capital LLC.

• What To Expect From NPE Activity In China

  

  An affiliate of nonpracticing entity Wi-LAN recently filed a patent suit against Sony in Nanjing, China. NPE activities have rarely been seen in China, so this raises the concern that international NPEs are now stepping in. Chinese patent litigation practice has two factors favorable to NPEs and two factors not favorable to NPEs, says Jackie Wong, legal counsel at Xiaomi Inc.

• US Patent Practice Drifting Toward Approach Prevalent Abroad

  

  Post-Alice cases on technical problems and technical solutions show that a problem-solution standard similar to the one adopted in Europe, Australia, China and Japan is seeing express endorsement by U.S. courts adjudicating Section 101 challenges, say Gurneet Singh and Harold Laidlaw of Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC.

• Tips For Addressing The IP Challenges Of 3-D Printing: Part 1

  

  The intellectual property rights of both manufacturers that use 3-D printing and manufacturers that don't may suffer through claim drafting that does not take into account the opportunities provided by 3-D manufacturing, say attorneys with Marks & Clerk.

• EU Unified Patent Court Will Proceed In 2017 — Now What?

  

  Although it is sensible to be cautious and plan accordingly, we believe that the European Union's Unified Patent Court will, after a possibly extended teething period, become a significant forum in which patents are litigated, say Trevor Cook and Anthony Trenton, leaders of WilmerHale's IP litigation practice in Europe.

• Comparing Patent Quality At The USPTO And EPO

  

  In this latest article in an ongoing series on patent quality, Professor Colleen Chien of Santa Clara University School of Law and Professor Jay Kesan of University of Illinois College of Law provide a snapshot of comparative patent inputs, processes and outcomes at the European Patent Office and U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

• Brexit And Supplemental Protection Certificates

  

  The procedure for applying for patents through the European Patent Office will be entirely unaffected by Brexit because the EPO was established by a separate treaty unrelated to the European Union. EU law, however, is critical to the acquisition and enforcement of other intellectual property rights, including supplemental protection certificates, say William Hubbard and Barry Herman of Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice LLP.

• Q&A With GAO Directors: Improving Patent Quality

  

  Overall, we were impressed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's commitment to improving patent quality through their Enhanced Patent Quality Initiative. However, we still recommended that the USPTO take a number of actions, say John Neumann and Frank Rusco of the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

• EU Court Brings New Copyright Liability For Linked Material

  

  The EU Court of Justice recently ruled that websites that merely link to infringing material can be liable for copyright infringement. If GS Media v. Sanoma stands, it threatens to disrupt common practices on a wide variety of websites and social media platforms, say Jennifer Stanley and Liwen Mah of Fenwick & West LLP.

• Best Of Times And Worst Of Times For International IP

  

  While the intellectual property environment is healthy, the international trade environment is not. The troubling situation raises the question of whether prevailing anti-trade sentiment will undercut IP harmonization progress and jeopardize the future of the global IP system, say Jay Erstling and Amy Salmela of Patterson Thuente Pedersen PA.

• The Complicated Role Of Copyright In EU Pay-TV Case

  

  While the European Commission's decision to close its antitrust investigation of Paramount Pictures does not mark the end of the pay-TV investigation, which continues against other studios and broadcasters, the history of the case and the terms of this settlement provide an interesting insight into the EC’s current views on the interaction between competition law and copyright, say Becket McGrath and Trupti Reddy of Cooley LLP.