Litigation News

Litigation news from around the web

    Feed has no items.

Planet Depos We Make It Happen

  • Spring Cleaning Checklist – Office Edition (Updated)
    by Carly Wilson on March 22, 2024 at 5:00 pm

    Organization is vital to the legal professional. Leap into spring with a quick office clean-up to boost productivity and lift your mood. The post Spring Cleaning Checklist – Office Edition (Updated) appeared first on Planet Depos.

  • Navigating the Intersection of AI and Intellectual Property Law
    by Brittany Jones on March 5, 2024 at 4:13 pm

    Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a game changer across various sectors, and intellectual property (IP) law is no exception. As AI technologies continue to evolve at a rapid pace, legal professionals will see a surge in IP litigation, ranging from patent infringement cases to copyright issues surrounding AI-generated content.   One of the primary hurdles of The post Navigating the Intersection of AI and Intellectual Property Law appeared first on Planet Depos.

  • Planet Depos Releases the Ultimate International Deposition Guide for 2024
    by Brittany Jones on February 9, 2024 at 2:42 pm

    The 2024 Planet Depos International Deposition Guide is your ultimate resource hub when conducting international depositions. From understanding different legal systems to obtaining the necessary permissions, we’ve got you covered. Our experienced team is well-versed in managing depositions around the globe, ensuring a smooth and efficient process no matter when or where they take place.  The post Planet Depos Releases the Ultimate International Deposition Guide for 2024 appeared first on Planet Depos.

  • Not Just Playing Court Reporter on TV (Updated)
    by Suzanne Quinson on December 26, 2023 at 6:00 pm

    Judge Judy has a new show, and on this show, the real-life and onscreen court reporter, will be getting more attention than TV court reporters usually get. The post Not Just Playing Court Reporter on TV (Updated) appeared first on Planet Depos.

  • How Court Reporters and Their Teams Can Work Better Together (Updated)
    by Darlene Williams on December 11, 2023 at 6:00 pm

    Court reporters need to work closely with their teams, and there are great pieces of technology out there to help. The post How Court Reporters and Their Teams Can Work Better Together (Updated) appeared first on Planet Depos.

Director's Blog: the latest from USPTO leadership Updates from America’s innovation agency

  • Help us LEAP forward with PTAB assistance for practitioners and inventors
    by USPTO on February 29, 2024 at 2:21 pm

    Blog by Kathi Vidal, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTOLEAP-eligible practitioners speak with PTAB judges (in person and on screen) about logistics for oral hearings, during a LEAP to Chambers event at a PTAB hearing room in Alexandria, VirginiaSince the moment I was sworn in as Director of this great agency two years ago, I have been guided by the conviction that we must open the doors of opportunity in the innovation community to everyone, not just a select few. Only when every inventor and entrepreneur has an equal chance to bring their new ideas and products to the global marketplace, on a level playing field, does our nation truly thrive.There are many things we have done at the USPTO to push those doors of opportunity wide open, but I want to highlight a few in particular that I need your help in sharing with others. Collectively, they make access to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) easier and more transparent than ever, for both legal practitioners and the inventors they represent.First, we are eager to engage with the public on our proposed rule to amend the criteria individuals must meet to practice before the PTAB. This rule will expand opportunities for more individuals to participate in our innovation ecosystem, while not compromising our goal of issuing and maintaining robust and reliable intellectual property rights. We encourage stakeholders to submit comments by May 21.The next two programs are part of our continuing efforts, through the Legal Experience and Advancement Program (LEAP), to empower the next generation of advocates and prepare them for meaningful, impactful work early in their careers.“LEAP to Chambers” brings eligible practitioners to a USPTO hearing facility, where a PTAB judge will give them a behind-the-scenes tour. They will get a feel for the hearing room by standing behind the podium and testing out their openings. They will learn how to display evidence at a hearing, and they may sit at the bench and view the hearing room and evidence from the judges’ vantage point. A remote judge also will join the tour to provide tips on how to most effectively argue before a hybrid panel of in-person and remote judges.After the tour, judges spend time with practitioners highlighting effective advocacy techniques and answering questions. These conversations are a safe space for practitioners outside the context of a real argument or ongoing proceeding to seek clarification on PTAB procedures.In “LEAP to Law Schools,” judges visit law schools and offer an overview of PTAB proceedings, including demonstration of a mock argument. By exposing law school students to PTAB so early in their legal careers, the USPTO encourages greater and more inclusive participation by law students in the intellectual property field and better equips them to practice before the USPTO.Law students speak with PTAB judges in small groups during a LEAP to Law School event at Texas A&M Law School in Fort Worth, Texas, in October 2023.In addition to these two new programs, PTAB continues to offer LEAP-eligible practitioners the opportunity to present mock oral arguments and practice their advocacy skills before a panel of judges and receive individualized feedback.Since LEAP launched more than three years ago, over 350 eligible practitioners and 135 law firms have participated. But we are still just getting started, and we need your help. Whether you are in-house or work for a large law firm, or anything in between, please share these free training opportunities widely within your professional networks, and encourage the next generation of practitioners to take full advantage of them.We also recently launched a new PTAB Moot Court Competition for law students to develop and practice the written and oral advocacy skills needed for America Invents Act (AIA) proceedings. This free, fully virtual program is open to teams of students who will be enrolled in law school full-time or part-time during the 2024-2025 academic year. Students will get to work closely with an Administrative Patent Judge (APJ) coach, receive practical tips and experience on how to best present a case before the PTAB, and participate in live oral arguments before a panel of APJs. We encourage law school faculty members or administrators to visit the program webpage for more information and submit an interest form by March 31.Another opportunity we need your help in promoting is the PTAB Pro Bono Program , which serves under-resourced inventors seeking to appeal a patentability rejection by an examiner. We launched the program in 2022 in collaboration with the PTAB Bar Association, and since then, a number of licensed patent attorneys, registered to practice before the USPTO, have offered their free services to represent independent inventors, inventor groups, and inventor-owned small businesses in ex parte appeals. Where we need your help most is in promoting the program more widely within the inventor community. To be eligible for PTAB pro bono assistance, an individual inventor must:• Reside in the United States;• Have a total household income of less than 400% of the federal poverty guidelines; • Successfully complete a training course consisting of two videos, one on how PTAB Pro Bono operates and how to apply for assistance, and the other on the ex parte appeal process;• Apply to the program within one month from the date of an office action in which the claims have been twice or finally rejected; and• Not be under an obligation to assign (sell or give ownership of) the application or resulting patent to a third party. Inventors who are part of an inventor group of up to four known inventors must meet the qualifications listed above. Inventor-owned small businesses are eligible if they are 100% inventor-owned and if each inventor-owner meets the qualifications listed above. If the business was operating in the calendar year prior to the application for pro bono assistance, it must have had a total gross income of less than $150,000, and the business must expect/project a total gross income of less than $150,000 in the calendar year when the application for pro bono assistance is filed.Please visit the LEAP and PTAB Pro Bono pages of the USPTO website for more information, share them with others, and feel free to contact me at Director@uspto.gov if you can’t find your answers there. I look forward to discussing these programs and more at the PTAB Bar Association Annual Conference on March 7. Together, we can make a difference for the next generation of patent practitioners, the inventors they represent, and our nation’s future!

  • AI and inventorship guidance: Incentivizing human ingenuity and investment in AI-assisted inventions
    by USPTO on February 12, 2024 at 9:42 pm

    Blog by Kathi Vidal, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTOBolstered by the Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Department of Commerce is taking the lead on providing a key framework that guides our nation’s approach to AI and its intersection with intellectual property (IP). Included in the Executive Order (EO) were specific USPTO directives that enhance the great work our agency started last year, including:• Providing guidance to our patent examiners and applicants addressing inventorship and the use of AI, including generative AI, in the inventive process, including illustrative examples in which AI systems play different roles in inventive processes and how, in each example, inventorship issues ought to be analyzed;• Issuing additional guidance to our patent examiners and applicants on patent eligibility to address innovation in AI and critical and emerging technologies and other considerations at the intersection of AI and IP; and• Consulting with the U.S. Copyright Office to issue recommendations to the President on potential executive actions relating to copyright and AI, including addressing the scope of protection for works produced using AI and the treatment of copyrighted works in AI training.Today, based on the exceptional public feedback we’ve received, we announced our Inventorship Guidance for AI-Assisted Inventions in the Federal Register – the first of these directives. The guidance, which is effective on February 13, 2024, provides instructions to examiners and stakeholders on how to determine whether the human contribution to an innovation is significant enough to qualify for a patent when AI also contributed. The guidance embraces the use of AI in innovation and provides that AI-assisted inventions are not categorically unpatentable. The guidance instructs examiners on how to determine the correct inventor(s) to be named in a patent or patent application for inventions created by humans with the assistance of one or more AI systems. Additionally, we’ve posted specific examples of hypothetical situations and how the guidance would apply to those situations to further assist our examiners and applicants in their understanding.The patent system was developed to incentivize and protect human ingenuity and the investments needed to translate that ingenuity into marketable products and solutions. The patent system also incentivizes the sharing of ideas and solutions so that others may build on them. The right balance must be struck between awarding patent protection to promote human ingenuity and investment for AI-assisted inventions while not unnecessarily locking up innovation for future developments.To that end, the guidance provides that patent protection may be sought for inventions in which a human provided a significant contribution to the invention. The guidance builds on the existing inventorship framework and the “significant contribution” test from the Federal Circuit’s 1998 Pannu case (Pannu v. Iolab Corp., 155 F.3d 1344 (Fed. Cir. 1998), which patent examiners have been applying for decades. Instead of considering whether or not the contributions of the AI system to an invention would rise to the same level of inventorship if those contributions were made by a human, the key question this guidance helps address is whether the human named on a patent made a significant enough contribution to be a named as an inventor. To secure patent protection, there must be at least one named human inventor who meets that requirement.The specific examples we have provided help explain how the guidance will be applied. For example, they show that merely recognizing a problem and presenting that problem to an AI system is not enough to establish someone as an inventor. That said, if an individual made a signification contribution through the construction of a prompt, that could be sufficient. However, maintaining “intellectual domination” over an AI system, does not, without more, make a person an inventor of any inventions created through that AI system.  As AI becomes ubiquitous, including as people build on each other’s AI-assisted inventions, it will become increasingly difficult to identify the ways in which AI plays a role in the inventive process. Therefore, the USPTO is not, at this time, implementing any new requirement to disclose the use of AI, beyond that which is required in rare circumstances by USPTO rules.The USPTO will continue to presume that the named inventor(s) in an application are the actual inventor(s). And applicants will continue to be responsible for meeting their existing duties to the USPTO. Only in the rare instance where an examiner determines from the file record or extrinsic evidence that one or more of the named inventors may not have invented the claimed subject matter, would questions of inventorship be raised during examination. From an examiner’s perspective, it will not matter if AI, or other advanced computer system, performed actions that would rise to the level of inventorship. What matters, under the guidance, is whether at least one human’s actions can be shown to rise to the level of inventorship and is listed as an inventor on the application.This guidance does not entitle inventors to a patent. The patents must also meet all the other criteria for patentability including patent eligibility, novelty and nonobviousness. The USPTO is also assessing these other criteria in view of AI.Lastly, because the patent system is built to encourage the sharing of ideas and solutions so that others may build on them, the guidance does not take into consideration whether any intellectual property was utilized in the training of any AI systems used as part of the inventive process. A patent only gives the applicant exclusive rights to their invention, and does not give the applicant the right to use someone else’s invention. For example, when an applicant invents on top of another patent, it is up to the applicant to secure whatever other IP rights they need to use their invention. To learn more about what the guidance is and is not, and to get your questions answered and provide feedback, we invite you to attend our upcoming public webinar on March 5 from 1-2 p.m. ET. The USPTO will also be engaging with its international counterparts to discuss the inventorship guidance and the future of patenting AI-assisted inventions with the aim of harmonizing AI policy across borders. The USPTO is taking an iterative approach with the guidance so we will continue to engage with stakeholders, both here and abroad, to determine if any updates or additional guidance is needed. To provide your feedback by the May 13, 2024 deadline, visit the Federal Register.In addition to providing the inventorship guidance, we have also been working on guidance related to other AI and emerging technology IP policy matters. We have issued guidance for practitioners using AI when practicing before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) and Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB). We are working on additional guidance for practitioners using AI, as well as, updating patent eligibility guidance relating to AI inventions, and will be seeking public input on the way in which AI impacts other aspects of patentability.  I also want to thank all of you who provided comments to the Copyright Office’s Notice of Inquiry (NOI) related to the intersection of AI and copyright. In consultation with the Copyright Office, the USPTO is working to help inform U.S. policy on these issues. The underlying principles supporting the copyright system and the patent system – while both encouraging and incentivizing creativity – are a little different, with copyright protection providing exclusive rights to the creator of the original work of authorship and works that derive from that original (subject to exceptions such as fair use), while the patent system provides protection to different inventors for their inventions that build off or improve an original work. We will be further exploring these issues and more at a public symposium on IP and AI at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, on March 27 (both in person and remotely). The symposium – which will include representation from the Copyright Office – will build on previous AI/Emerging Technologies (ET) partnership events and feature panel discussions by experts in the field of patent, trademark, and copyright law that focus on (1) a comparison of copyright and patent law approaches to the type and level of human contribution needed to satisfy authorship and inventorship requirements; (2) ongoing copyright litigation involving generative AI; and (3) a discussion of laws and policy considerations surrounding Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) issues, including the intersection of NIL and generative AI. While we play our role in shaping U.S. policy, including through engagements with the public and with Congress, we are also working internationally and across U.S. government to support the National AI Initiative and other initiatives set forth in the EO. Recently, we partnered with the National Science Foundation on their National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) pilot, bringing together 10 federal agencies and 25 private sector, nonprofit, and philanthropic organizations to build a shared AI research infrastructure. We are also working closely with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) on ways to strengthen U.S. leadership and competitiveness in advancing technologies critical to the nation’s economy and security. I look forward to further discussing our AI efforts over the course of the next few months, including with leaders and experts from across the world at this month’s World Governments Summit on AI. We invite you to learn more about these events and initiatives on our AI and ET Partnership page. We look forward to working with all of you to further build AI policy to promote a safe and bright future for all Americans. 

  • Support for protecting and enforcing your IP in China
    by USPTO on January 18, 2024 at 1:22 pm

    Blog by Kathi Vidal, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTODirector Vidal spoke with local entrepreneurs and business owners at the China IP Road Show in San Diego. The road show is one of several USPTO tools and programs for U.S. entities doing business in China.Since the start of my tenure as Director in spring 2022, protecting and enforcing intellectual property (IP) rights in China has been an essential part of our agency efforts to strengthen the global IP system. U.S. businesses operating in China regularly cite insufficient protection and enforcement of IP as a top concern, and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has placed China on its “priority watch” list for over a decade, detailing a long list of IP concerns reported by U.S. businesses operating in China. I am committed to promoting a level playing field for U.S. rights holders in China and providing insight on the unique challenges they face. We are fortunate to have a USPTO team of attorneys and IP experts focused on China. The China team includes over a dozen stateside IP attorneys and three IP attachés and legal staff in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, China. These experts engage with other federal agencies, U.S. stakeholders, and their Chinese government counterparts to advocate for U.S. rights holders doing business in and exporting to China.We offer an array of valuable tools for doing business in China, including the recently updated China IPR Toolkit. Designed especially for small and medium-sized businesses, the revised toolkit offers an in-depth look at the IP environment in China, including the avenues for protection and enforcement.It can be difficult to do business in China. The China IPR Toolkit can serve as a helpful first stop on that journey. It is available as a free download from the USPTO website.I’ve seen first-hand American businesses working to educate themselves on China IP. In October, I joined private sector and government experts in San Diego at the USPTO China IP Roadshow. These one-day, in-person events held around the country detail for local entrepreneurs and businesses how they can protect and enforce their IP in China. They are tailored to their specific locales, taking into account the leading local industries—biotech, manufacturing, agriculture, or the creative industries, to name a few. We bring in experts who can address the particular challenges faced by these businesses. We also offer the expertise and knowledge of the USPTO’s China IP specialists, local businesspeople, and IP experts. Since 2017, we’ve held more than 30 China IP Road Show events in every corner of the country. To learn more about past and upcoming China IP Road Shows, visit the USPTO website.In our work, I’m grateful for the leadership of U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. Secretary Raimondo traveled to Beijing and Shanghai last year to meet with her Chinese government counterparts and representatives of leading U.S. businesses operating in China. She and China’s Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao agreed that U.S. and Chinese subject matter experts will hold technical discussions regarding strengthening the protection of trade secrets and confidential business information during administrative licensing proceedings in China. To facilitate that initiative, I have made the USPTO’s China IP experts available to support it and any other related IP initiatives that develop. The China IPR Toolkit and the China IP Road Shows are just two of a number of initiatives spearheaded by our China team. I encourage you to visit the China IP page of our website to see the resources we offer, and sign up for future road shows and webinars.  

  • Improving our service to America’s innovators
    by OCCO on November 7, 2023 at 6:41 pm

    Vaishali Udupa, Commissioner for PatentsAs we announced in September, as part of our modernization efforts to provide more extensible technology and functionality, the EFS-Web and Private Patent Application Information Retrieval (Private PAIR) tools are being retired after their decades of use as electronic filing and application management systems for our Patents customers. Starting November 15, 2023, the Patent Center system will fully replace EFS-Web and Private PAIR. Making this transition to Patent Center is essential to ensuring that our tools evolve, that we stay up to date on the latest digital capabilities, and that we continue to deliver excellent customer service to meet your needs. We are postponing the original transition date (previously November 8) to better respond to and incorporate additional valuable stakeholder feedback into the Patent Center system. Specifically, we are working to increase usability for sponsored accounts with large amounts of customer numbers and address any related issues. We are also ramping up coverage to our Electronic Business Center to respond to questions in real-time and help ensure a smooth transition for our stakeholders.A one-stop shop for Patents customers Patent Center pulls all the steps of filing and managing a patent application together into one central system. It offers a next-generation user interface and better overall system performance and security. Patent Center also includes new features to streamline the application process:No need to create a new account: you can use the USPTO.gov accounts and sponsorships that you’ve already created for EFS-Web and Private PAIR. The ability to upload your patent application specification, claims, abstract, and drawings in a single DOCX document without having to manually separate sections. The ability to upload multiple documents at once using the drag and drop interface.The ability to download multiple documents at one time in a single PDF or ZIP file. The ability to confirm the status of submitted documents and successful payments with separate submission and payment receipts. In addition, if you want to get familiar with Patent Center’s features without actually submitting anything, you can explore Training Mode, an interactive simulation to safely practice filing DOCX and PDF documents. You’ll also receive real-time feedback. Future updates We’re not stopping here. Since its launch six years ago, we’ve rigorously tested Patent Center and made improvements based on your feedback. We will continue to use your input to enhance the system’s functionality. If you have a suggestion or an idea for new functionality or performance improvement send them to emod@uspto.gov. We review these ideas weekly. Retiring our legacy EFS-Web and Private PAIR systems ensures that we are better protecting confidential application materials and investing patent user fees responsibly. Maintaining these legacy systems during the development and testing of Patent Center made sense to ensure there was no interruption in service. Patent Center is now ready to become the sole system, and it is time to turn off the legacy systems so we can reinvest recovered resources into developing your ideas for new functionality and performance improvements. You can access instructional guides, resources, our on-demand webinar, a list of top 25 questions and answers from previous training sessions, and contact information for technical assistance all on the Patent Center information webpage. Thank you for all the feedback you’ve provided in Patent Center’s six years of operation. We appreciate your continued engagement as we seek to improve our service to you.

  • Tips on taking control of your creative IP
    by OCCO on October 11, 2023 at 7:05 pm

    Blog by Kathi Vidal, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO  On September 20, Director Vidal spoke with Kim Tignor, executive director of Take Creative Control, about the importance of creators participating in the IP economy. (Photo courtesy of Take Creative Control) When I first began my tenure as Director in the spring of last year, I pledged to strongly advocate for the value of intellectual property (IP) and its protection. As we work throughout the world to strengthen the IP ecosystem through new laws, policies, practices and collaborations, I consider it an honor to also be an ambassador for IP, impressing upon those with great ideas – including our youth, women across the globe, and our military – the importance of protecting IP. This month, preceding her trilateral meetings with Europe and Japan in Munich, Germany, Director Vidal spoke met with 5th graders on the military base in Rota, Spain and with women entrepreneurs at Ambassador Julissa Reynoso’s residence in Madrid, Spain Patented inventions are in every common device and product you use every day, such as your smartphone, car, or even your hair dryer, brush, and comb. Indeed, the USPTO just granted the 1 millionth design patent for a comb created by Agustina Huckaby, an inventor and licensed cosmetologist from Fort Worth, Texas: In fact, many products are covered by multiple patents, including for follow-on innovations that improved the product. One example I like to use is Thomas Edison, whose original light bulb that he submitted to the USPTO in the 1800’s is sitting on my desk at our headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. When I go into classrooms and ask whether Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, the kids know! They say, “No - he just invented a better filament.” In addition to being able to protect your idea or design with a patent, you can also protect your product, service or company with a trademark. Some widely recognized trademarks are the Nike swoosh; images of the brand names of products including Barbie dolls; Clorox bleach; the unique stitching on the back pocket of Levi’s jeans; and the name and some popular lyrics of musician Taylor Swift. Catchy slogans you come up with for your product or service, such as “If you spray it when you say it no problem” that two 10-year-old girls on a military base in Rota, Spain, came up for their spit-proof headset, can also be trademarked. 5th graders on the military base in Rota, Spain presenting their “spit-proof headset” to Director Vidal during her visit to the base.Trademarks can even be scents. Scent marks protect a unique smell from being copied by other similar products. Play-Doh, for instance, has its scent protected. We recently posted this popular Instagram video asking members of the public if they could identify the unique smell of this scent mark - check out who immediately guessed it.What about that poem you wrote? Or the picture you took at the school play (or one that turned out so well you may want to sell it online)? Copyrights are there to save the day and to protect you against someone else copying (or to compensate you if they do!). How about that great BBQ sauce that won first prize the state fair and you want to start bottling it and selling it at farmers markets (and maybe later in national stores or online)? Or that drink recipe you concocted? Or perfume? In comes trade secrets. If you take the right steps to ensure nobody has access to your “secret sauce” you may be able to protect your creation just like Coca-Cola did with their famous recipe. Indeed, intellectual property is all around us. Because anyone can be a creator. But people sometimes ask me why they should go through the trouble of protecting their IP. Simple: When you get a patent, trademark, create a work eligible for copyright protection – or protect your trade secret – it’s a valuable asset. You’re investing in yourself and your idea. Our research has found that companies in IP-intensive industries tend to employ more workers, whose average weekly earnings of $1,517 in 2019 were 60% higher than in other industries. Other research shows that protecting one’s IP is crucial to the success of their business. For example, according to a joint study by Harvard Business School and NYU’s Stern School of Business, when used as collateral, a company’s first patent increases venture capital funding by 76% over three years. It can also help serve as an important employee recruiting tool: The approval of a startup’s first patent application increases its employee growth by 36% over the next five years. Further, protecting your IP can also increase your market share – a new company with a patent increases its sales by a cumulative 80% more than companies that do not have a patent. As for trademarks, not only are they important assets, if you end up deciding to launch a business or expand to other areas in the U.S., a federal trademark that you can only get from the USPTO will protect you. You can use your trademark to stop copycat products at the borders or have online resellers remove copycat offerings. You can also use your copyright to have copycat material taken down from the internet. Confused about what type of intellectual property you might need? The USPTO now has an easy-to-use new online tool that lets you figure out what type of IP you have and whether it’s protectable by a patent, copyright, trademark, and/or trade secret. We call it the IP Identifier. It’s a very popular tool among those visitors to our website who are new to IP, with more than 100,000 visits to the page since we launched it earlier this year. Registering your IP protects your IP – and you. Even during the period when one of our thousands of knowledgeable examiners is reviewing your application, just the submission of your application filing may provide some legal protection in the event someone later tries to claim your idea. And, having a “patent pending” can help you get funding! Many applicants pursue the help and services of legal counsel. The 84 Patent and Trademark Resource Centers nationwide – often found in academic and community libraries near you – have lists of attorneys they can refer you to, in addition to providing free expert advice on filing and USPTO processes. And for under-resourced inventors, you may be eligible for free legal help filing an application through our Patent Pro Bono program or Law School Clinic program. Check out our information on free legal help. For more information on USPTO programs, visit our Inclusive Innovation webpage. There are programs for kids, teachers, women, college students, military veterans and spouses, and more. We hope to see you at a no-cost USPTO program soon! 

Above the Law A Legal Web Site – News, Insights, and Opinions on Law Firms, Lawyers, Law School, Law Suits, Judges and Courts

  • Morning Docket: 03.29.24
    by Above the Law on March 29, 2024 at 12:59 pm

    * Rudy fights to keep his condo from creditors. [Bloomberg Law News] * Simpson Thacher tells lawyers to relax more. Also bill more. [Roll on Friday] * Kim Kardashian sued for attributing knockoff furniture to famed furniture designer. [ABA Journal] * South Carolina maps deemed too racist reauthorized for one more election. Because YOLO. [Reuters] * Black woman sentenced to 5 years for voting once illegally in 2016 because she didn't realize her supervised release rendered her ineligible finally acquitted. [The Guardian] * Meanwhile, white Republican who believes 2020 election was stolen voted repeatedly over the years despite multiple felony sentences. Somehow there will be an effort to make this a "both sides do it" story. [Washington Post] * Diddy's lawyers think those DHS raids were excessive. I mean... who doesn't bring a tank to raid a house that you're pretty sure the target isn't in at the moment? [NPR] The post Morning Docket: 03.29.24 appeared first on Above the Law.

  • Ron DeSantis Still Stuck Trying To Spin Disney Losses — See Also
    by Chris Williams on March 28, 2024 at 10:15 pm

    Takes A Certain Amount Of Skill To Lose Like This: Almost looks like DeSantis came out ahead if you close your eyes really hard. New Office, New Policy: Freshfields decides to change things up. Travis Scott Denies Blame For Astroworld Deaths: Performing a song doesn't always establish a duty of care. Sometimes, Winners Quit: Should you really be clerking for that judge? Long Live The Scandal: Biglaw firm still facing consequences for ethical breach. The post Ron DeSantis Still Stuck Trying To Spin Disney Losses — See Also appeared first on Above the Law.

  • Thanks To Our Advertisers
    by Above the Law on March 28, 2024 at 9:47 pm

    Working with you is the best. The post Thanks To Our Advertisers appeared first on Above the Law.

  • That’s A Whole Lotta Nonequity Partners
    by Kathryn Rubino on March 28, 2024 at 9:17 pm

    Partners -- of the nonequity variety -- are soaring at this firm. The post That’s A Whole Lotta Nonequity Partners appeared first on Above the Law.

  • Travis Scott Rejects Responsibility For Poor Astroworld Management
    by Chris Williams on March 28, 2024 at 8:16 pm

    Not his fault it got too lit at the night show. The post Travis Scott Rejects Responsibility For Poor Astroworld Management appeared first on Above the Law.

LJN - Internet Law & Strategy The newsletter publishing arm of ALM, publishers of The National Law Journal, The American Lawyer and legal newspapers of record throughout the U.S.