Doing things out of proper sequence can require a do-over. But in law, as elsewhere, the do-over may come too late.
Just ask Abraxis, a drug maker that today lost a lawsuit because the company it bought patents from didn't own them at the time.
Abraxis signed an Asset Purchase Agreement with AstraZeneca in April 2006.
Russian scientists come up with a way to make an ozone-friendly agent that helps prepare materials useful in making units that store hot or cold. They tell the American company that hired them about the results of their study. And the U.S. firm starts using the process that their Russian colleagues discovered.
Does the U.S. outfit qualify
Blawgletter recalls early on hearing about "the bow tie rule". People who wear bow ties, the rule supposes, want to stand out. They regard themselves as unique. They desire others to see visible proof of their disdain for norms, wardrobe-wise and otherwise. And you don't want them on your jury. They'll tend to disagree with other
A U.S. patent grants a monopoly. It entitles the owner — often a company that employs the inventor, who assigns it to her employer, usually by contractual obligation — to practice the invention exclusively for a period of time. After the monopoly ends, though, anyone may use the invention. But during the monopoly period the
You call your friend's cell phone. You wait briefly as the system recognizes your number and also your friend's. Once that happens, in most cases, you'll start hearing either a busy signal (bawmp-bawmp-bawmp) or a ringback tone.
But, just as people may customize the sounds their phones make when calls come in to them
The Federal Circuit today tossed the work of a jury on grounds that the losing parties never raised before their appeal. "Plain error", the panel held.
Uh.
The plaintiff, WordTech Systems, alleged that Integrated Network Systems, and two men who worked at INS, infringed patents relating to robo-copying compact disks. At trial, the district court
Stephen Colbert (courtesy of NPR) explains the meaning of backsies thus:
Mr. COLBERT: Backsies is the technical term for reneging on a previously settled agreement.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. COLBERT: We've all done backsies, asking for the return of your Barbie doll or baseball card. In fact, 50 percent of all American marriages end
You know something odd has happened in the law when a court takes 38 pages to say a basic thing — like that a patent must describe the invention it aims to cover.
The 11-judge Federal Circuit did just that today, 9-2. The court held that 35 U.S.C. § 112, first paragraph, "contains a written description
U.S. District Judge Ron Clark today used his seat on a Federal Circuit panel as soapbox for speaking out against de novo review of Markman rulings.
In Markman v. Westview Instruments, Inc., 517 U.S. 370 (1996), the Court snatched from juries the task of deciding what operative words in a patent mean. The Court held that
Flyswatter by Rube Goldberg.
You've heard about the genius whose incandescent idea for a new contraption wakes him in the hours before sunup. You'll also recall Edison's cutesy statement that "[g]enius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration."
Both the burning thought that disturbs the inventor's slumber and the drudgery that produces the pre-dawn