By Audrey A. Millemann  

In another attempt to address the question of the patentability of business methods, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals has vacated its September 2007 decision in In re Comiskey (499 F.3d 1365).

  

The patent application filed by Comiskey, in 1999, claimed a method for mandatory arbitration and a system, using a computer, for performing the method. The PTO examiner rejected both the method and system claims as obvious under § 103. Comiskey appealed to the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences, who affirmed the rejections. 
 Continue Reading Federal Circuit Revisits Comiskey

By Audrey A. Millemann

The beginning of the year is a good time to review your clients’ intellectual property needs. The first and most important thing to do is to determine what intellectual property the client has. Once the intellectual property has been identified, the means of protecting it can be analyzed and a plan for establishing protection set up. 

What is Intellectual Property?

Almost anything can constitute intellectual property. IP may fall into one or more of the following categories: inventions that can be patented, expression that is copyrightable, names or logos that are trademarks, and information that is a trade secret. Continue Reading Intellectual Property Basics