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Category Archives: Patent and Trademark

EUIPO’s TMview database expands to Chinese market

“As of … the 19 May 2021, TMview will include trade mark data made available by the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), taking the total number of trade marks in the search tool from 62 to over 90 million from 75 participating IP Offices. Over 32 million Chinese trade marks are now available in the… Continue Reading

USPTO chief information officer most excited about new search algorithms

FedScoop – “New search algorithms for relevant prior art most excite the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s CIO right now. USPTO created the machine-learning algorithms to increase the speed at which patents are examined by importing relevant prior art — all information on its claim of originality — into pending applications sent to art units, said Jamie Holcombe. Filtering… Continue Reading

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, August 15, 2020

Via LLRX – Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, August 15, 2020 – Privacy and security issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the… Continue Reading

Supreme Court says generic domains like booking.com can be trademarked

ars technica: “The US Patent and Trademark Office erred by finding the term booking.com was too generic for trademark protection, the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday. Trademark law prohibits anyone from registering generic terms that describe a class of products or services. Anyone can start a store company called “The Wine Company,” but they can’t… Continue Reading

The Covid-19 Vaccine Should Belong to the People

The Nation – The US government has the authority under existing law to break patent monopolies. “…The idea that some people would not receive a vaccine was once unthinkable. In a now legendary story, Jonas Salk developed the polio vaccine in 1955—and then gave it away for free. An interviewer once asked Salk who owned… Continue Reading

Supreme Court to Consider Whether Web Addresses Using Generic Terms May Be Trademarked

CRS Legal Sidebar via LC – Isn’t It Generic: Supreme Court to Consider Whether Web Addresses Using Generic Terms May Be Trademarked – June 2, 2020: “What can be trademarked? On May 4, 2020, in its first telephonic oral argument ever, the Supreme Court heard arguments addressing this question. Generally, trademarks protect the goodwill that… Continue Reading

10 Million Patents – United States Patent and Trademark Office

10 Million Patents – United States Patent and Trademark Office – “Patents through history. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued patent number 10 million on June 19, 2018. This milestone of human ingenuity perhaps exceeds even the Founding Fathers’ expectations when they called for a patent system in the Constitution to “promote… Continue Reading

How Patent Abuse Could Hurt the Fight Against the Pandemic

Slate – Scientific research that is funded by the public should be available to the public. “Scientific research that is funded by the public should be available to the public. That commonsense principle is no more apparent than in the middle of a public health crisis. And for the most part, researchers and journal publishers… Continue Reading

Amazon files patent for tech to identify you using the veins in your hand

USA Today: “What if you could pay for your groceries using your veins?  Amazon filed a patent for technology that could identify you by scanning the wrinkles in the palm of your hand and by using a light to see beneath your skin to your blood vessels. The resulting images could be used to identify you… Continue Reading

Computers have an unlikely origin story: the 1890 census

FastCompany – David Lindsay Roberts – “The inventor of punched cards, which led to the first computers and companies like IBM, was aiming to solve a gnarly problem at the time: data collection for the census…The U.S. Constitution requires that a population count be conducted at the beginning of every decade. This census has always been charged… Continue Reading