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Patent Law Canons and Canards: Bonito Boats

Patently-O

For our patent law course today, the students read the Justice O’Connor unanimous opinion in Bonito Boats, Inc. The Florida courts had refused to enforce the law because it conflicted with Federal Patent Law. The Florida courts had refused to enforce the law because it conflicted with Federal Patent Law. 141 (1989).

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Prior Art: The Patent Pitfall

Larson & Larson

A high number of patent applications are given a non-final rejection from the USPTO according to Yale. Often, the reason that the patent office will cite for rejecting an application is the presence of prior art. You may have heard the term ‘prior art’ before in the context of patents. What is Prior Art?

Art 52
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Federal Circuit Narrows Scope for Copyrighting Software Function

Patently-O

Copyright infringement appeals are ordinarily not heard by the Federal Circuit, but in a case of what appears to be appellate-forum shopping, SAS had also included patent infringement allegations that they eventually stopped pursuing. WPL established that an earlier version of the SAS System, “SAS 76,” was in the public domain.

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My Word! Design Patents on a Typeface

LexBlog IP

Utility patents are for functional inventions. Design patents protect the look of something functional, regardless of whether the functional aspects are new. Because of this, a popular use of design patents is to protect the outside of common consumer products. Design patent protection can be a strong enforcement tool.

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Understanding The Patent Specification Of An Invention

Intepat

A patent specification is a disclosure to the public at large regarding the invention as well as the scope of protection that would be granted to the invention. It is a crucial techno-legal document constituted by scientific and technical disclosures which designate the basis of the rights of a patent. Amendments.