Banner Witcoff

Binal J. Patel discusses why banks are not only obtaining more patents, but also higher-quality patents, in Bloomberg Businessweek. Please click here to read the article, “Wall Street Is Trying to Beat Silicon Valley at Its Own Game.”

Katie L. Becker, Matthew P. Becker, Joseph J. Berghammer, Aaron Bowling, Scott A. Burow, Marc S. Cooperman, Azuka C. Dike, Louis DiSanto, Katie Laatsch Fink, Shawn P. Gorman, Michael J. Harris, Audra C. Eidem Heinze, Sean J. Jungels, Kevin C. Keenan, Michael L. Krashin, Erik S. Maurer, Timothy C. Meece, Janice V. Mitrius, Jon O.…

Ross A. Dannenberg discusses the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s rejection of Sony’s attempt to trademark the words, “Let’s Play,” in Gamasutra. Mr. Dannenberg says it’s interesting that the trademark was rejected based on someone else’s trademark — “Let’z Play” — and not due to undescriptiveness. Please click here to read the article.

Banner and Witcoff is recognized as a top firm in the 2016 edition of the World Trademark Review 1000, the premier standalone research directory that focuses exclusively on trademark practices and practitioners. Helen Hill Minsker also received a top individual ranking in trademark prosecution and strategy in the 2016 edition. According to World Trademark Review:…

Banner & Witcoff welcomes associates Daniel Douglas and Nigel Fontenot to its Washington, D.C., office and Pei Wu to its Boston office. Mr. Douglas focuses his practice on patent prosecution in the fields of computer software, user interfaces, business methods, algorithms, wearable devices, networks and signal processing, voice recognition, artificial intelligence, and computational linguistics. He…

Mr. Iwanicki discusses the significance of Ariosa Diagnostics Inc. v. Sequenom Inc. in the Law360 article, “Patent Cases to Watch in 2016.” In this case, a Federal Circuit panel invalidated a patent on Sequenom’s prenatal DNA test as patent-ineligible because it is directed to a natural phenomenon. The full Federal Circuit decided not to review the case. It is now expected…

TAM TRADEMARK VICTORY MAY PROVIDE GAME PLAN FOR WASHINGTON REDSKINS By R. Gregory Israelsen Last week, the Federal Circuit held en banc that the disparagement provision of Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act is unconstitutional in violation of the First Amendment. Writing for the majority in In Re Simon Shiao Tam on December 22, Judge…

John M. Fleming discusses how focusing on intellectual property could potentially help negotiate the price of a company down in Mergers & Acquisitions. Please click here to read the article, “How Intellectual Property Affects M&A Valuation.” Registration is required.

Ernest V. Linek reviews the significance of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit’s decision in The Authors Guild et al. v. Google, Inc. inIntellectual Property Magazine. Linek says in the article that the Oct. 16, 2015, decision “highlights the fact that the fair use deference to a charge of copyright infringement requires…

HEIGHTENED PATENT PLEADING STANDARD, DISCOVERY PROPORTIONALITY, AND OTHER RECENT AMENDMENTS TO THE FEDERAL RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE By Jeffrey H. Chang Amendments made by the Supreme Court to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (Rules) took effect December 1, 2015. The amendmentsfundamentally change litigation in federal courts, including heightening the standard for pleading direct patent…