Patently-O Bits & Bytes by Lawrence Higgins

Pro Bono Patents!

  • Members of the Twin Cities legal community are launching a pilot program to provide pro bono legal services to low-income, independent inventors. One of the programs goals is to put a dent in the USPTO’s backlog of patent applications, by increasing the efficiency of the applications submitted by independent inventors. This Pro Bono program is encouraged by the USPTO and the program’s success may help spark innovation across the nation. [Link]

Should Disney be allowed to trademark "SEAL TEAM 6"?

  • The Navy is challenging Disney’s attempt to trademark the name of the elite squad that took out Bin Laden. On May 3rd Disney filed the mark "SEAL TEAM 6" for various goods and services. [Link] [Link] [Link] However, it looks like the Navy did not like Disney trying to profit off of their work, so the Navy filed for the mark "SEAL TEAM" on May 13th. [Link] It looks like the Navy is trying to create a likelihood of confusion with the mark "SEAL TEAM", so that the USPTO will not issue the mark to Disney under 15 USC 1052(d). [Link]

Groklaw new editor will be Mark Webbink

  • Pamela Jones (PJ) the editor of Groklaw announced in early April that she was not going to write any more articles for Groklaw. However, PJ was bombarded with messages asking to keep the website going, so she asked Mark Webbink to become the new editor. Mark Webbink accepted the proposal and is officially the new writer of Groklaw. Mark is a visiting professor at New York Law School where he runs the Center for Patent Innovations, oversees the Peer To Patent project, and is a senior lecturing fellow at Duke University School of Law where he teaches intellectual property courses. [Link]

Inventor of the Year Award

  • IPO Education Foundation is seeking nominations for its 38th National Inventor of the Year Award. The award presents an opportunity for nominators to obtain major recognition for a deserving employee, client, or colleague as one of America's most outstanding inventors. Nominators could get recognition for themselves and their firm. The deadline for nominations is June 1. [Link]

Patent Jobs:

  • O’Shea Getz is seeking a patent attorney with at least 4 years of experience to work in their Springfield, MA office. [Link]
  • Klarquist Sparkman is looking for an IP litigation associate with 1-2 years of experience to work in their Portland office. [Link]
  • Laird Technologies is searching for an IP manager with 3 years of patent prosecution experience to work at their Chesterfield, MO location. [Link]
  • Ballard Spahr is seeking an IP litigation associate with 3-5 years of experience to work in their Philadelphia office. [Link]

Upcoming Events:

  • The Berkeley Center for Law & Technology (BCLT) and the USPTO are co-hosting a conference on the interface between the PTO and the District Courts on June 7th in Berkeley, California. The keynote address will be delivered by Teresa Stanek Rae. Guest speakers include Robert Bahr, Elaine Gin, and Stuart Graham. [Link]
  • AIPLA’s Chemical Patent Practice Road Show: Prosecution and Litigation Strategies will be held in Chicago on June 23rd. This seminar will cover advanced issues relating to chemical patent prosecution and litigation. Guest Speakers include Sharon Barner, Bradley Crawford (from MBHB), Whitney Remily, Michael Tierney, and Alexander Wilson. [Link]
  • The National Association of Patent Practitioners (NAPP) will hold their 2011 Annual Meeting and Nuts & Bolts Short Course at the Venetian Palazzo Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 16-19, 2011. [Link]

Contact Lawrence.Higgins@patentlyo.com with leads for future Bits and Bytes.

25 thoughts on “Patently-O Bits & Bytes by Lawrence Higgins

  1. 25

    Disney is an easy target, but why no mention of the other avaricious bandwagon-hopping applicants?

  2. 24

    Great video.

    Now take the exact same concept and instead of electronic components as blocks, use molecules such as oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen, and you can “build anything” from the already existing prior art.

    Imagine that – There is nothing new under the sun.

  3. 22

    The problem there is they are not Bargain Basement Prices. And you don’t get what you pay for. And if you’re lucky, you might also get all kinds of squiggly little double s’s to add to the chain, among them 18 U.S.C.Statute 873, of course only if that is the same IPS company we are both speaking of.

  4. 21

    RE: NO GEE, et cetera.

    Dear Sir,

    Further to my notes above, please contact Mooney and Associates [sic] for superior Intellectual Property Services at bargain basement prices. Rest assured, you WILL get exactly what you pay for.

    Sincerely,

  5. 20

    Sorry if it is your alma mater or whatever.

    No, not mine.

    You probably would not have found that level of friendliness at my old school.

    Nor at the school that hosts my law school, either. A bunch of smug rich kids, for the most part. But the law school was (and is) excellent, even though you certainly wouldn’t have known that by peeping through the windows.

  6. 19

    Oh, and also what I could see outside of the building. Just overall not very impressive. I’m sure there are great minds working hard up in there sometimes but the school itself, meh.

    Sorry if it is your alma mater or whatever.

    On the other hand though pretty much all the students and parents (it was graduatin’ day) I spoke to around campus were pretty friendly. You probably would not have found that level of friendliness at my old school.

  7. 17

    That’s what I said. Although technically I only stopped by as more of an afterthought and because a chic I was stopping to see goes to school at the Berk. In any event, I dislike schools that shut the whole thing down right after exams.

  8. 16

    Looks like RoundAndRound just got a final rejection and needs to “unload.”

    Here’s an idea, R&R: why not trademark “Joplin 142”? And “Joplin 143”, “Joplin 144”, and “Joplin 145”, just in case.

    Then you can sell your IP to Disney when they try to exploit the tragedy for $$$.

    Everyone knows that our troops are out there dying for Disney’s IP rights. And also defending the rights of insurance companies against a “government takeover” of healthcare. GOD BLESS AMERICA!

  9. 13

    No surprise – with some of the things 6 has written here, I wouldn’t even admit him to a non-ABA-accredited law school. Or let him anywhere near my kids. Or my patent applications.

  10. 12

    Speaking of “frkn 1diots” there might be room for you Mooney in the pro bono world. You would finally get a chance to provide free services to your steam grate buddies.

    I strongly believe that providing free patent law related services would be quite suitable for you since you believe all patent related work product to be crxp anyway. And your “clients” would finally be getting what they are paying for from you.

  11. 11

    Hint: that is how intellectual property enforcement is done you frckn 1diot.

    There’s only one frckn 1diot here and he works for Walt (or used to).

  12. 10

    It may have had something to do with the constellation of dancing red laser dots that began mysteriously appearing at board meetings…

    And with all due respect to Mooney, which is, um, none, far from being a greedy pig, Disney would be well advised to trademark the phrase, notwithstanding the Navy’s long and venerable prior use, in the event they, for example, produce a movie and sell it overseas. Hint: that is how intellectual property enforcement is done you frckn 1diot.

  13. 9

    6 travels across the country to visit a law school, where he’s uninvited, and they won’t let him in. From what he can see peering through the windows, he is unimpressed with the quality of the faculty, the research resources, clinical programs, career services, etc.

    Awesome story, 6!

  14. 8

    “•The Berkeley Center for Law & Technology (BCLT) and the USPTO are co-hosting a conference on the interface between the PTO and the District Courts on June 7th in Berkeley, California. The keynote address will be delivered by Teresa Stanek. Guest speakers include Robert Bahr, Elaine Gin, and Stuart Graham. [Link] ”

    I was just out there to check out the school of lawl but it was all shut for the day since I spent too much time sight seeing in the city. Either way, from what I saw I wasn’t impressed.

  15. 7

    Assuming that the requirement are met for securing a trademark, there is nothing within trademark law that prevents Disney from securing trademarks associated with various classes of goods and services.

    The issue here, however, is not one of law. It is one of public relations, and on this score Disney has succeeded splendily is generating negative publicity.

  16. 4

    One of the programs goals is to put a dent in the USPTO’s backlog of patent applications, by increasing the efficiency of the applications submitted by independent inventors.

    Is there any empirical evidence that the subset of pro se applicants who file intractable applications make up a non-negliible portion of the USPTO’s backlog? Do they have some insight that Mineapolis & St. Paul are the source of a disproportiate number of those?

  17. 3

    I too read that Disney had abandoned its efforts, but the article made no mention of what the USN is doing with its application.

  18. 2

    Could Disney secure registrations? Yes.

    Should Disney do it? Not if it wants to create a PR nightmare.

    More problematic than Disney, however, it that the USN apparently tried to create an issue by filing its own application. Seriously, an application stating that the product/service is the provision of military services?

    What’s next? GAO for “accounting services”?

  19. 1

    Should Disney be allowed to trademark “SEAL TEAM 6”?

    I thought I read in the WSJ yesterday that Disney abandoned their application after it became clear that Disney was going to come off looking like a greedy pig.

Comments are closed.