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Anna L. King and Luke S. Curran discuss why registration of sound marks is a key business strategy and will become more frequent at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in their article, “The Hidden Persuader: Sound Marks as Sonic Indicators of Source.” Click here to read the article.

Banner & Witcoff attorney Robert H. Resis was recognized by Law360 for his role in drafting the Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago amicus brief “calling for the full Federal Circuit to review its panel decision affirming that a Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. patent is unenforceable in part because of inequitable conduct of litigators during a later infringement case.” Click here…

Obviousness: The Analytic Framework May Control the Outcome By Sarah A. Kagan Some aspects of the law of obviousness seem hard to apply, as they are repeatedly challenged on appeals to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. One such aspect is the role of objective indicia of nonobviousness, which are sometimes also referred…

  Venue Okay in Cray? Federal Circuit Says “No Way” Federal Circuit Interprets Patent Venue Statute Post TC Heartland By Jeffrey H. Chang Ever since the Supreme Court held in TC Heartland that “a domestic corporation ‘resides’ only in its State of incorporation for purposes of the patent venue statute,” litigants and judges have focused…

Scott M. Kelly comments on issues facing the 5-year-old Patent Trial and Appeal Board in, “Apple Likes the Patent ‘Death Squad.’ Allergan Pays to Avoid It,” in Bloomberg Technology. Click here to read the article.

  Clinical Trials: When is the Right Time to File for a Patent? By Sarah A. Kagan Not uncommonly, clinical investigators ask, “When is the right time to file a patent application?” One case under consideration at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit may give some guidance on this question. A panel…

Husky Injection Molding Systems, a long-time Banner & Witcoff client, received a 2017 Legal Department Award at the Canadian Lawyer InHouse Innovatio Gala Dinner and Awards Presentation on Sept. 19 in Toronto, Ontario. Husky’s entry was co-submitted by Banner & Witcoff and Green Mountain Innovations. In recognition of Husky’s award, both Banner and Green Mountain sponsored the annual…

Bradley C. Wright explains why Allergan’s move to transfer its patents to the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe is a “risky strategy” in the Le Monde article, “Allergan passe un accord avec une tribu indienne pour protéger ses brevets (Allergan passes an agreement with an Indian tribe to protect its patents).” Click here to read the article (in…

Charles W. Shifley evaluates his service as an alternate juror in a recent medical malpractice case in his article, “Trial Lawyers Make Bad Jurors and I Can Prove It.” Click here to read the article.  

Phillip Articola examines how a patent application drafter can improve the chances that claims he or she writes pass muster under step one of the Alice two-step patent-eligibility test in Law360. Click here to read the article, “Tips For Drafting Patents That Won’t Need Alice Step 2.”