News & Resources

Posted on Jan 29, 2014 in Articles

In the TV show “Shark Tank,” a business owner stands before five potential investors (the sharks) and asks them to invest in a business in exchange for a percentage of the equity. Invariably the conversation turns to patents. “Do you have a patent on your idea?” the sharks ask. “Yes,” replies the business owner. With that final nugget of information, the sharks may offer $50,000, $100,000, or even more, in return for partial ownership in the company.

Posted on Jan 17, 2014 in News

Congratulations to firm partner James Kozuch, who was elected to the Board of Directors for the Bar Association of Lehigh County (BALC) yesterday and will serve a two-year term on BALC’s Board.

Posted on Jan 15, 2014 in Events

The firm’s managing partner, David Tener, will be lecturing on patents relating to Omega-3 fatty acid supplements at the GOED Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah on February 6, 2014.

Posted on Jan 14, 2014 in Blog

Today, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit invalidated the FCC’s net neutrality rules.

Posted on Jan 1, 2014 in Blog

The USPTO adjusted many of its fees today. While certain fees were increased, others were reduced, such as patent issue fees, or eliminated, such as patent publication fees and electronic assignment recordation fees.

Posted on Nov 6, 2013 in Articles

One hundred and seventy-one—that is the number of patent lawsuits that have been filed against Apple since the beginning of 2009. While Apple was sued for patent infringement more than any other company over the last four years, others are not far behind. Since 2009, Hewlett-Packard has been sued for infringement 137 times, Samsung has been sued for infringement 133 times, and AT&T has been sued for infringement 127 times.

Posted on Sep 4, 2013 in Articles

Twenty-four years ago, I wrote my first software patent application, “Debugging Parallel Programs by Serialization.” A little more than two years after filing the application, the patent issued with claims that lacked mention of any structural component of a computer. In fact, the closest the first claim came to a tangible result was the step of “displaying information.” The software patent attracted little attention during its lifespan and expired unnoticed.

Posted on Jul 3, 2013 in Articles

You might think that “understandable patent claims” is an oxymoron. Patents are usually very challenging to read. The technology described may be difficult to understand, and the claims read like nothing else in the English language. Understanding a well-written claim can be hard. Understanding a poorly written claim might be nearly impossible.

Posted on May 1, 2013 in Articles

As an intellectual property attorney, the federal jurisdiction of patent-related cases always seemed clear to me. 28 U.S.C. 1338 provides that: “The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action arising under any act of Congress relating to patents.” When Congress enacted that statute, it took things a step further, for the statute also states, “No state court shall have jurisdiction over any claim for relief arising under any act of Congress relating to patents.”

Posted on May 13, 2010 in Articles

Shakespeare’s words are timeless: “A rose by any other name is just as sweet.” But, what is in a name? Does it really matter? The Board of Appeals for the Federal Circuit says, “yes it does.” A US Patent concludes with claims. But, what are the words in those claims? And, what do those words mean?