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By Kay Brooks

Today the United States Supreme Court ruled that Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional. The case, United States v. Windsor, 570 U.S. ____ (2013), involved the portion of DOMA that stated that the federal government will only recognize marriages between opposite-sex spouses for purposes of federal law. There are over 1,000 federal laws that address marital status, and DOMA’s Section 3 denied validly married same-sex couples myriad protections and responsibilities under federal law. Because of the Windsor decision, same-sex spouses who are validly married under state law will now also be treated as married under federal law.

Continue Reading Supreme Court Rules DOMA Section 3 Unconstitutional

By Hilary Lamar

The United States Supreme Court issued its opinion in Hollingsworth v. Perry, 570 U.S. ___ (2013), this morning, regarding the validity of Proposition 8. The outcome is that same-sex marriage is once again legal in California. The Supreme Court did not rule on a specific right to same-sex marriage, but rather it stated that neither it nor the federal Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (which includes California) had the power to hear the case. Hollingsworth is largely a procedural case, and it requires some background to fully understand.

Continue Reading Marriage Equality Returns to California

Over the years many articles have been published describing common misconceptions in connection with intellectual property laws, yet rarely do these articles address a common misunderstanding about patent laws which will fundamentally alter many readers’ beliefs regarding the value of obtaining a patent. Some will be shocked to learn that obtaining a patent relating to an invention does not allow the patent holder to actually practice the covered invention.

On many occasions when the subject of patent law arises in conversation, it quickly becomes obvious that many believe that a United States patent gives its holder the right to practice whatever invention is covered by that patent. This belief is incorrect, and operating under this misconception could lead to significant liability. How can this be? Although counterintuitive, the answer is based on the fact that the right acquired under a patent grant is a right to exclude others from practicing an invention. The grant is not an affirmative right to actually make, use, sell or offer for sale the subject matter of the patent.Continue Reading Surprise! Your Patent Doesn’t Protect You

By Audrey Millemann

 

Zombies have become part of our lives. We are fascinated with vampires, but we are obsessed with zombies.   

Our obsession is best evidenced by the tremendous success of AMC’s television series “The Walking Dead,” about the zombie apocalypse. The show first aired on Halloween night in 2010 and was watched by 5.35 million viewers. It premiered worldwide the same week, in 120 countries. The premier was preceded by a zombie invasion (orchestrated by AMC and Fox) on October 26, 2010 in 26 cities throughout the world, including Hong Kong, Taipei, and Los Angeles.  The show is now going strong in its fourth season.

Movies about zombies are also alive and well. Since 1980, zombie movies have brought in almost $1 billion. The highest grossing zombie movie was Sony’s 2009 “Zombieland,” bringing in $75 million since it opened.  “Warm Bodies,” one of several zom-rom-coms (as this genre is now called) has grossed $65 million since it opened three months ago. Other favorites include the “Resident Evil” and “Night of the Living Dead” series, and “Shaun of the Dead.”

Thus, even though zombies have been walking (slowly) among us for hundreds (thousands?) of years, we have really just recently (as evidenced by our 33 years of TV and movies) noticed them. Zombies have been here all along. In fact, they are way ahead of us in the intellectual property world. Continue Reading Zombies Have IP Too

By Audrey A. Millemann

Enablement is one of the requirements a patent application must satisfy in order for the patent to be granted. Enablement means that the specification (the written text and drawings) teaches a person skilled in the art how to make and use the invention. 35 U.S.C. §112, ¶1. The enablement requirement is satisfied if a person, after reading the specification, could make and use the invention without undue experimentation. 

In Cephalon, Inc. v. Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 707 F.3d 1330, 2013 U.S.App. LEXIS 3203 (Fed. Cir., February 14, 2013), the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals held that experimentation is not “undue” even if it is “complicated and difficult.” 

Cephalon owned two patents covering a method of drug delivery, which used effervescent agents to increase the absorption of the drug. Cephalon sold the brand-name drug Fentora to treat breakthrough cancer pain, which utilized the patented method. Continue Reading Patent Enablement: Undue Experimentation Does Not Mean No Experimentation