The swift and unregulated development of artificial intelligence (AI) is significantly affecting innovation and the intellectual property (IP) landscape. As AI-based products, applications, and techniques continue to emerge in high volume, IP protection and enforcement issues are expected to increase.
Yearly regulatory updates from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) constantly shape the post-grant patent trials landscape. This year’s proposed guidelines entail amendments on the rules surrounding standard practices in post-grant review (PGR), inter partes review (IPR), and covered business method (CBM).
As the biosimilar industry continues to grow, significant legal developments and trends also continue to emerge and pose challenges to market participants. Questions currently hounding the future of the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (BPCIA) litigation and regulatory pathway include the newly introduced Biologic Patent Transparency Act, the ongoing debates on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and the potential unavailability of inter partes and post-grant review proceedings for biosimilar manufacturers.
The rise of e-commerce in recent years had significantly helped businesses to gain better customer engagement and, thus, improve bottom lines. However, along with the surge of business opportunities on the internet, is the influx of criminals selling fake products and standing up brand infringing sites used for stealing credentials and propagating scams.
Issues on Section 101 patent eligibility have been significantly important, both for patent owners and defendants in patent litigations. With notable court decisions, such as American Axle, continuously raising the bar in this area of law, it is expected that developments under 35 U.S.C. § 101 will likely continue to bring complexity and challenges to inventors, owners, litigating parties, and applicants alike.
The Standard Essential Patent (SEP) litigation landscape continues to evolve as years pass. Interestingly, its interplay with other legal areas presents unique challenges for businesses and patent owners. Thus, practitioners are faced with significant hurdles in seeking claims based on FRAND and SEP infringements.
The International Trade Commission (ITC) is continuing its efforts to develop effective alternative procedures to continuously conduct Section 337 investigations even amidst the growing impact of the pandemic.
Over the years, significant waves of developments in trademark law have shaped the way businesses select, register, and enforce their brands. The reshaping of the legal landscape will continue this 2020 as a wider range of changes are expected to emerge from the rapid growth of digital technology. Brand owners and attorneys need to be fully aware of the recent trends and developments that will potentially dominate the rest of the year.
Important rule changes under the Trademark Modernization Act (TMA) of 2020 have been implemented in efforts to streamline key trademark procedures as well as to combat the surge of filings at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The new regulations are likely to have a profound impact on several aspects of the trademark law and practice.
Patent portfolio Managers are increasingly being asked to be business partners – they no longer solely responsible for proper protection for revenue streams and the ability to protect company for litigation to retaliate, they are being asked to advise the business units on the innovation landscape, which companies are research what tech, what countries are strongest in different domains. For this reason, more than ever integrated Patent portfolio management, and Collaboration between IP & R&D teams is more important than ever, with Patent portfolio managers leader the charger as strategic business partners and advisors.
The rising technological advancements has led President Biden’s administration to continuously rethink and reshape its patent-related efforts. Among its initiatives is the review and revamp of the standard-essential patent (SEP) licensing regulation – a step that would amend the 2019 guidance, particularly on concerns related to the issuance of injunctive relief in SEP cases and the proposed recommendations for alleged misconduct.
The COVID-19 pandemic has stirred a significant shift in the way businesses protect their trade secrets. With most communications and transactions becoming virtual, companies started optimizing the use of new technologies to better position themselves in the market. This has led to additional challenges and has opened more risks of trade secrets disputes.
With the ever-changing regulatory trends involving patent infringement, lawyers should be competent in furnishing a sound damage analysis to mitigate risks and effectively respond to damage discovery. Reasonable royalties are by far the most common form of damages awarded among the primary remedies available in patent infringement cases. However, the implications of MLC International v. Micron Technology have left questions among patent litigators, particularly on the required disclosure of a royalty rate during fact discovery.
As the COVID-19 crisis stretches into its third year, brands and generic drug companies will likely see the impact of continued regulatory developments in the Hatch-Waxman space.
Technological advancements have paved the way for businesses and organizations to leverage a faster and cheaper information technology (IT) and intellectual property (IP) processing. However, these massive digital trends, which are expected to continue in 2021 and beyond, have prompted unique challenges in the IP sector.
