Intellectual Property

Getting The Snaps And Tweets Into Evidence

Litigants who proffer data obtained from social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram must authenticate that data before it will be admitted as evidence. Attorneys with Pepper Hamilton LLP examine decisions from Pennsylvania and other jurisdictions to determine whether courts are imposing a more demanding standard for social media data than other documentary evidence.

A Wish For Nonexistent Cheap Drugs Is Not Standing To Sue

The releases of highly effective, highly priced drugs to treat chronic diseases has bred a spate of efforts by activists to disenfranchise drug developers of their patent rights. The Federal Circuit's decision this month in AIDS Healthcare Foundation v. Gilead demonstrates how choosing the wrong venue for your patent challenge can doom it before it even starts, says Nicholas Landau of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP.

Keys To Protecting Communications With Litigation Funders

As different jurisdictions impose their own disclosure requirements regarding commercial litigation finance, there can be no “one size fits all” approach to ensuring confidentiality. But litigants, lawyers and litigation funders may be able to decrease disclosure risks through a handful of best practices, says Alan Guy of Vannin Capital.

How Supplemental Brief Can Help Ex Parte Appeals At PTAB

For a patent applicant, a supplemental appeal brief can be a handy tool to support your appeal when the law is changing in your favor. We recently saw this firsthand with Yahoo, says John Rauch of Brinks Gilson & Lione.

Trade Rep Hints At More CFIUS Scrutiny Of Biotech Deals

The Section 301 report issued in March by the United States Trade Representative highlighted foreign acquisitions and investments in the U.S. biotechnology industry. Counsel on both sides of a transaction in this sector should consider carefully whether involvement by foreign entities, especially from China, should be filed for review by CFIUS before closing, say Stephen Mahinka and Carl Valenstein of Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP.

The Accidental Tourist: Examining Analogies In WesternGeco

​​While WesternGeco v. Ion concerns the ability of a U.S. patent owner to recover lost profits for foreign sales based on domestic acts of infringement, counsel and the U.S. Supreme Court justices at oral argument framed many points using an analogy of a French visitor who is hit by a car. The respondent’s version may not have worked, say Daniel McDonald and Ryan Borelo of Merchant & Gould PC.

Searching For Strategies In The USPTO Berkheimer Memo

Now that the first articles on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's post-Berkheimer eligibility guidance have been digested, it is time to take a deeper look and derive or strengthen arguments for patentable subject matter eligibility during patent prosecution, says Christopher Hall of Womble Bond Dickinson LLP.

1 Year Of TC Heartland, 7 Lessons About Patent Venue

A year ago, the U.S. Supreme Court upended long-standing practice when it held that a domestic corporation “resides” only in its state of incorporation for purposes of the patent venue statute. The TC Heartland decision created many questions that courts have been grappling with ever since, says Manuel Velez of Mayer Brown LLP.

Opinion

ITC Should Reconsider Realtek R&D Standard

The U.S. International Trade Commission’s 2014 Realtek decision negatively impacts legitimate, domestic research and development by inserting hurdles that were neither required by the relevant statutory provisions nor consistent with the realities of how companies conduct and document their R&D efforts, says Rett Snotherly of Levi & Snotherly PLLC.

Introducing The Legal Industry To Millennial Business Owners

​The current business climate has produced vast opportunities for seasoned lawyers to create valuable connections with millennial business owners, but first lawyers must cleanse their palate of misconceptions regarding millennials, says Yaima Seigley of Isaac Wiles Burkholder & Teetor LLC.