International Patent Group, LLC
Suite 700, 1816 Crowchild Trail N.W. T2M 3Y7 Calgary, AB, Canada

Secret Sales are Still Prior Art per (SCOTUS) - The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Federal Circuit’s interpretation of the on sale bar affirming that Congress did not alter the meaning of ‘on sale’ when it enacted the AIA. The particular focus here was whether secret sales continue to qualify as prior art under the revised Section 102. Here, the court says yes an inventor’s sale of an invention to a third party who is obligated to keep the invention confidential can qualify as prior art under 102(a). See Helsinn Healthcare v. Teva Pharma USA. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf/17-1229_2co3.pdf

Samsung Owes Apple $539M For Infringing IP - On May 24, 2018, in a landmark patent case, a Jury unanimous held that Samsung owes Apple Inc. $538.6 million for infringing design and utility patents covering smartphone technology.

USPTO patent practitioners and foreign jurisdiction patent practitioners shall receive the same treatment as attorneys on all issues affecting privilege or waiver, such as communications with employees or assistants of the practitioner and communications between multiple practitioners. https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys//FR-2017-11-07/pdf/2017-24190.pdf

DANGER of not disclosing all known prior art during prosecution. A U.S. patent was found unenforceable because prior art references that were material to patentability, and which were known to the attorneys involved with the prosecution of that patent application, were not presented to the USPTO despite the duty those attorneys had in disclosing the information pursuant. http://www.cafc.uscourts.gov//16-1346.Opinion.7-24-2017.1.

The USPTO recently released a report on views and recommendations from the public regarding patent eligible subject matter https://www.uspto.gov//files/documents/101-Report_FINAL.pdf. It is the USPTO's intention to provide a review of patent eligibility law and a record of public views on the impact of the recent Supreme Court patent eligibility jurisprudence and public recommendations for a path forward.