Banner Witcoff

Banner & Witcoff attorney Blair A. Silver was recognized by Law360 for his role in drafting the American Intellectual Property Law Association amicus brief that urges the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a ruling finding the federal government qualifies as a “person” who can challenge patents in America Invents Act reviews. The AIPLA said in its brief that there is a…

Bradley J. Van Pelt and Alisa S. Abbott examine two recent cases that have provided clarity on the consequences related to filing multiple embodiments in a design application, and the consequences related to filing only a single view in a design application for Law360. Click here to read the article, “Clarifying Multi-Embodiment And Single-View Design…

Aaron Bowling and R. Gregory Israelsen are recognized in the 2018 Managing Intellectual Property “IP Stars” list of “Rising Stars.” Each year IP Stars research analysts receive and analyze information on law firms and practitioners that provide IP services. Traditionally, the individual listings in IP Stars only featured senior IP practitioners. Following market feedback, MIP…

Robert S. Katz, the chair of the International Trademark Association’s Designs Committee, discusses how INTA’s new Guidelines for Examination of Industrial Designs will allow the association to better harmonize and converge its practices in a recent INTA announcement. Click here to read the full announcement.

  EU Court Finds There’s No Accounting for Taste in Copyright Lawsuit By Liz Brodzinski The Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union issued its ruling on the question of taste in the recent case of Levola Hengelo BV v. Smilde Foods BV, which was referred from Gerechtshof Arnhem-Leeuwarden, a Regional…

Anna King, who presented “Getting Your IP Into Shape” to the Chartered Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys in August in Bristol, England, is featured in the December 2018/January 2019 edition of CITMA Review. The article provides an overview of her insight into the challenges of, and strategies for, protecting trade dress in the United States.…

  Helsinn v. Teva at the Supreme Court: Did the America Invents Act Change the On-Sale Bar? By Sarah A. Kagan The U.S. Supreme Court entertained very lively oral arguments December 4, 2018, on the definition of prior art under the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA). Pub. L. No. 112-29, 125 Stat. 284, 285-286 (2011).…

Paul M. Rivard discusses the potential for Supreme Court justices to focus more on the text of the patent statute than its historical context during arguments in Helsinn Healthcare v. Teva Pharmaceuticals, and how that may influence their decision, in World Intellectual Property Review. Click here to read the article, “SCOTUS likely to reverse Helsinn v Teva ruling, say lawyers.”

Audra C. Eidem Heinze discusses the importance of patents to slot machine makers and which patents could face challenges in the Bloomberg article, “Slot-Machine Fight to Determine Which Companies Hit the Jackpot.” Click here to read the article.