The Senate passed the America Invents Act (the “AIA”) this evening without amendment. So, patent reform is headed to the White House where President Obama is expected to sign the AIA into law within the next two weeks. Based upon that, I will be following up my post from earlier today identifying four key provisions
What Patent Reform Means for Retailers: 4 Key Provisions of the America Invent Act
The patent blogs are abuzz with detailed analysis of cloture votes and Senate procedure. I will not repeat what my colleagues have already ably done — Patently-O and Patent Docs are two examples. The critical take-away is that the Senate has limited debate on the House version of the America Invents Act, H.R. 1249, (the
Retail: A definition in transition
One of the interesting facets of retail patent litigation is understanding what “retail” means. It used to be simple — brick and mortar stores and their suppliers (which were usually manufacturers as well). Today, the definition is much less clear. Between the internet, a more global marketplace and the intense specialization of many businesses, the
Patent Reform (Almost) Arrives
Today the House of Representatives passed H.R. 1249 the America Invents Act. The Senate passed a version of the bill (S. 23) earlier this year, but because there are significant differences in the two bills, the America Invents Act is headed to a joint conference where the differences have to be ironed out before the
Is Post-Grant Patent Review Coming to the Retail Industry?
As patent reform looks increasingly likely, the retail industry is beginning to look at how patent reform will impact the retail supply chain. Earlier this week, the National Retail Foundation (“NRF”) wrote to Congress supporting Section 18 of H.R. 1249 which creates a post-grant, adversary proceeding for challenging the validity of patents at the Patent
Retail Patent Litigation
Welcome to the Retail Patent Litigation blog. Many have asked me why after five successful years of blogging at my Chicago IP Litigation blog I would start another blog. Ultimately, I am starting this blog for the same reason I started (and will continue writing) the Chicago IP Litigation blog. I have an active patent