Category: Uncategorized

By Donald Zuhn – Last week, Mexican law firm OLIVARES reported that Mexico had published amendments to the Federal Law for the Protection of Industrial Property (FLPIP) on April 3, 2026, that introduce changes that will impact patent filing and prosecution strategies in that country.  The report notes that the amendments incorporate mechanisms that are…

The Decision on Priority By Kevin E. Noonan – On March 26, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, without holding an oral hearing and despite a rather sharply worded opinion by the Federal Circuit vacating and remanding its earlier priority decision (see “Regents of the University of California v. Broad Institute, Inc. (Fed. Cir. 2025)“), granted…

By Donald Zuhn – Earlier this year, Argentine intellectual property law firm Berken IP reported that Argentina had signed a Reciprocal Trade and Investment Agreement with the United States that included several commitments to harmonize its intellectual property system with international standards.  Among those commitments were “expeditiously” repealing the Guidelines for the Examination of Chemical-Pharmaceutical Patent Applications;…

By Dunstan Barnes, Catalina “Caty” Medrano, and Tristan Morgan – On March 12, 2026, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John A. Squires announced new supplemental guidance regarding examination of design patent applications related to computer-generated interfaces and icons.  Prior to this announcement, the U.S. was lagging behind three of the other four major design…

By Kevin E. Noonan – The course of the proceedings involving the attempts to remove Judge Pauline Newman from the Federal Circuit is long, and in many senses tragic (see links below).  Just when you might think the last Act has begun (see “Judge Newman Seeks Recourse from Supreme Court“), the Judicial Conduct and Disability…

Despite a pointed decision by the Federal Circuit vacating and remanding the matter to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, yesterday the Board once again granted priority for CRISPR technology to the Broad Institute. A more detailed discussion of the basis for this judgment will follow.

By Kevin E. Noonan – The Parties – Senior Party Broad Institute, Harvard University, and MIT (collectively, “Broad”) and Junior Party Regents of the University of California, Berkeley; University of Vienna; and Emmanuelle Charpentier (collectively “CVC”) – each timely filed a paper on conception dates upon which they intend to rely in the Patent Trial…

By Michael Borella – Among the many failings of the current U.S. patent eligibility framework under 35 U.S.C. § 101, perhaps none is more corrosive to the patent system’s basic function than the fact that the framework keeps changing.  The judicial exceptions to patentability are, in theory, stable background principles.  These exceptions limit the breadth…

By Kevin E. Noonan – Neither the Parties nor the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) have been resting in addressing the decision by the Federal Circuit that vacated and remanded the Board’s decision awarding priority in Interference No. 106,115 to Senior Party The Broad Institute, Harvard University, and MIT (collectively, “Broad”; Junior Party is…

By Kevin E. Noonan – The course of the proceedings involving the attempts to remove Judge Pauline Newman from the Federal Circuit is long and in many senses tragic (see links below).  Last week the latest, and likely last, Act of this sad drama was initiated by Judge Newman filing a petition for certiorari with…