I frequently receive a variety of inquiries from independent inventors who set out to draft their own patent applications.  One typical inquiry goes something like this: “I have a draft patent application and I would like to get an attorney to review and make any necessary changes before I file it with the Patent Office.”  This is quite a reasonable request, and in fact a very good idea.  I have encouraged this myself on numerous occasions, but a bit of clarification might be useful. It Continue reading →

Cheap and fast patent drawings that are high quality. Believe it or not, it's something we can do. Granted there are stipulations to ensure the patent illustrations are cheap, fast, and good but if you follow the tips below it can and will happen. On Thursday, March 19th our owner...

If you’re looking for a super cool geek gift, well, we tend to have plenty around here. And now I’ve found one more, with the incredibly creative vintage patent art from RetroFoto on Etsy. The vintage camera patent drawings are just such an...

If your design requires a photorealistic image to show it is different from prior designs, it may not be innovative enough. Historically, a “patent draftsman” created illustrations used to represent inventions in both utility and design patents. He or she was an illustrator familiar with the conventions used in patent law to represent visual issues requiring clarification such as reflectivity, materials, and defining surface curvature. They would also use solid or broken lines to specify which parts of the design were included or not included in the patent claim. The resulting drawings were...

The year 2014 is quickly winding down and we wanted to take some time to review the best patent applications that we reviewed here on IPWatchdog. The Companies We Follow series has greatly expanded over just the past few months to include the Walt Disney Company, DuPont and other innovative members of the Dow Jones Industrial Index. Outside of this series, this writer, often with the help of Gene, has covered many technological trends that...

UK has an Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) that is the go-to-agency when considering policy implications of potential changes to the laws. One recent focus of the UKIPO has been industrial design rights and “the extent to which the design industry is properly supported by the Intellectual Property Framework.” In a new whitepaper, the agency has released a proposal for amending the law and procedures of UK design...

In a meticulous 207-page opinion released on April 25, Judge James Robart in the Western District of Washington has crafted the first-ever judicial determination of a "reasonable and nondiscriminatory" (RAND) royalty rate for patents essential to industry standards. To some observers, the dense opinion (captioned "Findings of Fact and Conclusion of Law") may be nothing more than another bit of procedural arcana in the interminable litigation over smart phone patents (summarized here), this time in...

Back in January, Scott Daniels pondered the question of whether patent applicants and patentees have a chance of success when appealingPatent Office rejections to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The sad and candid truth is “not much of a chance.” As Scott pointed out, where the Federal Circuit is reviewing a validity decision from the district courts, the Federal Circuit reviews the claim construction de novo. The Federal Circuit also chooses not the most likely meaning, but the broadest reasonable meaning for disputed claim language. That is, the claim construction most likely to invalidate the claim in question. Now, we ask whether the same fate is likely to befall claims that are being asserted in...

K-Tech Telecommunications v. Time Warner (Fed. Cir.2013) The district court dismissed K-Tech's infringement lawsuit on a FRCP R. 12(b)(6) motion for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Following the Supreme Court decisions of Twombly and Iqbal, federal courts have generally required plaintiffs to add more particularity and factual allegations into their complaint and the district court's decision in this case follows that trend. The Federal Circuit, however...

Whichever marketing genius came up with the Apple catchphrase, "There's an app for that," has a lot to answer for – or brag about. It's heard so often these days that it’s become a cliché. Touch Bionic’s i-limb ultra revolution robotic artificial hand gives yet another reason to repeat the phrase. It’s linked to a smartphone app, which allows for greater control of the hand, including the ability to program it to suit the wearer’s personal needs...