Although America Invents Act (AIA) patent practice is entering its 8th year, many pre-AIA patent applications remain pending. This requires practitioners to stay attentive as to whether examination is being conducted under pre-AIA practice, and to ensure that the pre-AIA rules are correctly applied. In this regard, to avoid unnecessarily ceding claim scope to disqualified prior art, it is imperative for practitioners to verify whether U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Examiners are properly applying…

A bipartisan group of Senators, including the Chair and ranking minority member of the Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, has proposed legislation that would allow the US Patent & Trademark Office to collect demographic data on patent applicants. The bill, known as the Inventor Diversity for Economic Advancement Act of 2021 or, more simply, the “IDEA Act,” comes as a response to increasing public concerns about the lack of diversity among inventors named…

We are delighted to share a recent journal article by our China IP expert, Paolo Beconcini, as published in the Review of Intellectual Property Law (RIPL). In this article, Dr. Beconcini provides a thorough and well-documented review of recent changes in China’s regulations on trade secret protection and enforcement. Many of these changes were made in response to the U.S. WTO lawsuit of 2018 and the U.S.-China Trade Wars, including shifting the burden of proof and…

We are delighted to share an interesting article by our colleagues in France, Catherine Muyl and Marion Cavalier, about whether and how a common word in a regional dialect can qualify as a trademark in France. They describe a case where a company named Krampouz that makes plates for cooking crepes registered the marks “KRAMPOUZ” and “KRAMPOUZ BILLIG.” The word “krampouz” means crêpe in Breton, and “billig” indicates the cast iron plate on which crêpes…

Back in July and December 2020, we wrote about the seeming rise in allegations of infringement allegations under the doctrine of equivalents (DOE) in life sciences cases. We noted that in those recent cases the Federal Circuit provided in-depth analyses of the application of DOE, prosecution history estoppel, and the various other limits on the DOE, and suggested that potential infringers needed to keep an eye on the substantive evolution of the doctrine. But a…

In the last of his recent series of blogs on IP in China, Dr. Paolo Beconcini discusses amendments expanding the scope of design protection in China and predicts a new flood of “junk” design applications. He discusses the basis and requirements for Chinese design patents, including issues relating to functionality. He also discusses some structural issues that have contributed low-quality filings, including the lack of required substantive examination. The blog can be found here.…

We are delighted to share the recent recognition of our global trademark practice by World Trademark Review for 2021.  Squire Patton Boggs received renewed recognition as a leading firm in the “China (foreign)” chapter, and for its UK and Germany practices.  In addition, two of our US partners – Deborah Lodge and Phil Zender – were recognized as “Recommended Experts.”  As reported, Ms. Lodge “has a deft touch on strategic branding matters and adds value…