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 February 2010
  
 
 
 
 
You May Be Due Additional Patent Term Under a Recent Federal Court Decision 
By: David J. Muzilla, Patent Agent 
icon3On January 7, 2010, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) upheld a challenge by drug producer Wyeth to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)'s determination limiting patent term adjustment. In the decision, the CAFC held that the USPTO was sometimes miscalculating patent term adjustment under the Patent Statute. 
It's No Surprise: Your Own Copyright Registration Can Be Prior Art
icon4The differences between copyrights, trademarks, and patents can be confusing to a person who lacks experience with intellectual property, as illustrated in In Re Lister, in which an inventor may have been confused by the differences between copyrights and patents when he first obtained a copyright registration for a manuscript disclosing his invention. The filing of that copyright application may have undermined the inventor's ability to obtain a patent on his invention.

Damage Awards for Falsely Marking Unpatented Products Now Calculated on a Per-Product Basis
By: Michael C. Campbell, Esq. 

icon1Traditionally, courts have held that falsely marking multiple products not covered by the listed patent(s) constituted a 'single offense' of false marking under Section 292 of the Patent Act. Based on this interpretation, patent owners in violation were imposed a single fine of not more than $500; however, in its recent decision in The Forest Group, Inc. v. Bon Tool Co., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit rejected this interpretation of Section 292 by the courts and now permits fines of not more than $500 for each product falsely marked.


Google Library Project Settlement Amended        
By: Cheri Michel, Paralegal

icon2Several years ago, Google, Inc. started the ambitious project of creating a digital library by scanning books at several partner universities and public libraries. It did not take long for lawsuits to be filed on behalf of authors and publishers. 
 
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A reminder - March 15th is the deadline for Ohio inventors to apply for the first Ohio Patent Award to recognize individuals or organizations and their counsel who have contributed new intellectual property in the form of a granted patent within Ohio. Click here for more information and to obtain a copy of the application form.

 
  
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