By Scott Hervey

Just how valuable are baseball statistics? Apparently very valuable. In fact, baseball statistics are so valuable that CBC Distribution and Marketing, which has run the CDM Fantasy Sports leagues since 1992, has decided to sue Major League Baseball and challenge its copyright claim over player statistics. CBC agues that baseball statistics become historical facts as soon as a game is over, and that it shouldn’t have to pay for the right to use them. Major League Baseball claims that intellectual property law makes it illegal for fantasy leagues to commercially exploit the statistical profiles of its players. Continue Reading Fantasy Sports League Brings On the Heat In Challenging MLB’s Ownership Of Player Statistics

By Dale Campbell

Last week the United States Supreme Court denied the petition filed by the maker of the Blackberry seeking to overturn adverse rulings that the popular hand held email device violated patents owned by NTP, Inc., an East Coast based intellectual property holding company. The Supreme Court’s denial puts the Blackberry one step closer to enforcement of an issued permanent injunction. Continue Reading Will Your Blackberry Go Dark?

By Audrey Millemann

Amazon.com was recently in the news again. This time, it is defending its “1-click system” from accusations of patent infringement. The issue before the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals was one of first impression: whether a single patent claim could cover both a system and a method. The answer, according to the court, is no. Continue Reading In the Patent World, One Claim Equals One Class

By Scott Hervey

As 2005 comes to a close, it is time for companies to make resolutions regarding their intellectual property. These resolutions apply both to companies that have never taken serious steps to protect intellectual property, and those companies that have an understanding of the value of intellectual property and take active steps to secure and protect these assets. Just like resolutions to lose weight and stop smoking, these resolutions may be tough to stick with, but if a company does stick with these resolutions it will be a healthier and more robust company. Continue Reading IP Resolutions for 2006

By Pam Bertani

The prospect of obtaining patent protection for inventive business methods has become considerably more likely in light of a recent decision by the United States Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences, and corresponding guidelines subsequently issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. In the case of Ex Parte Lundgren, the Board reversed a patent examiner’s rejection of Lundgren’s business method patent claims, which the examiner rejected on the grounds that the claims were not linked to a computer or other electronic device; lacked a technological basis; were therefore outside the “technological arts”; and consequently did not constitute patentable subject matter. (Ex Parte Carl A. Lundgren, Appeal No. 2003-2088 (Bd. Pat. App. & Interf. Sept. 2005.) Within a few weeks after Ex Parte Lundgren was published, the PTO issued Interim Guidelines for Examination of Patent Applications for Patent Subject Matter Eligibility, which are consistent with Ex Parte Lungren, and confirm that patent examiners are no longer allowed to reject business method claims simply because those claims are not linked to a computer, database, or other electronic device. Continue Reading Business Method Patents – The Method Stands Alone