Banner Witcoff

As companies continue to spend valuable time and money developing new technologies and innovative products, Banner & Witcoff is offering a new online resource on how they can protect these assets. Similar to previous hard-copy editions, MyIPLaw introduces the purpose and importance of procurement and enforcement of utility patents, design patents, trademarks, domain names, copyrights…

Robert F. Altherr Jr., Ross A. Dannenberg, Rajit Kapur, Scott M. Kelly, Frederic M. Meeker, Chunhsi Andy Mu, Joseph M. Potenza and Bradley C. Wright were named to the 2018 Washington, D.C. Super Lawyers and Rising Stars lists for their work in intellectual property law. The Super Lawyers lists represent the top 5 percent of…

Did Congress Create a New Form of Infringement Without Providing Full Compensation? By Sarah A. Kagan and Lisa M. Hemmendinger The Supreme Court heard oral arguments April 16, 2018, in WesternGeco LLC v. ION Geophysical Corporation (No. 16-1011), another of a series of patent cases in which it may find that a rigid Federal Circuit…

The IPKat highlights Ross A. Dannenberg’s discussion of 10 types of lawsuits that have shaped the games industry in the United States at the More than Just a Game: IV Edition in London. Click here to read the article.

Patently-O highlights Sarah A. Kagan’s recent IP Alert on the Federal Circuit arguments in Gilead Sciences v. Merck in its article, “An Interesting Pending Appeal Involving Violation of an NDA to Prosecute an Application.” Click here to read the article. Click here to read Ms. Kagan’s IP Alert on the case.

Which Patent Trial and Appeal Board Trial Decisions Cannot be Appealed? By Sarah A. Kagan The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit heard oral arguments on March 6, 2018, in the appeal of Altaire Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Paragon Bioteck, Inc., 2017-1487, from the post grant review (PGR) decision of the U.S. Patent and…

  Inherency and Obviousness: Strange Bedfellows By Sarah A. Kagan The concept of disclosure by inherency exists in tension with the concept of obviousness. Inherency looks back at prior art and analyzes what was disclosed but unappreciated at that time. Obviousness looks at what a person of skill in the art knew at the time…

Banner & Witcoff is recognized for patent prosecution and litigation in Illinois, and prosecution in Washington, D.C. in the 2018 edition of the IAM Patent 1000. Joseph J. Berghammer is recognized for prosecution in Illinois; John P. Iwanicki is recognized for prosecution in Massachusetts; Ross A. Dannenberg, Robert S. Katz, Frederic M. Meeker and Darrell G. Mottley are recognized for prosecution in…

When is a Published Patent Application Entitled to an Earlier Date as a Reference? By Sarah A. Kagan A recent petition to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit for rehearing en banc has raised questions as to what qualifies as prior art to an invention. The definition of prior art is one…

  Confidentiality Agreements Get Teeth By Sarah A. Kagan Do you consider Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) and Material Transfer Agreements (MTAs) mere hoops to jump through before you can get what you really want? Do you think you can sign them and then forget about them, without a program to monitor and enforce compliance? If so,…