PTAB Grants Rare Request For Live Witness Testimony In IPR

While PTAB proceedings are ordinarily decided “on the papers,” in certain rare cases the Board will permit live witness testimony at the oral hearing.

The Board’s precedential decision in K-40 v. Escort explains that “[t]he Board does not envision that live testimony will be necessary at many oral arguments.” K-40 Electronics, LLC v. Escort, Inc., IPR2013-00203 (PTAB May 21, 2014) (Paper 34) (made precedential March 18, 2019). Instead, “the Board envisions that live testimony will be necessary only […]

By | December 10th, 2019 ||

Schwimmer And Welch: “U.S. Law Inches Towards Protecting Trademark Reputation Without Use”

Trademark reputation without use is a jurisprudential paradox. Because of the international flow of information, use of a trademark in one country may give rise to a commercially valuable reputation in another where that trademark has not yet been used (at least not by the first owner). The goodwill arising from that reputation could be exploited by another party and consumers could be confused or deceived. This suggests that the reputation should be protected. […]

By | November 5th, 2019 ||

Think Before You Sign: Protecting IP Rights With MTAs

Material transfer agreements (MTAs) are contracts that allow one party to perform research using the materials of another party. These agreements provide a mechanism to protect the interests of the owners of discoveries and inventions, while promoting data and material sharing in the research community. Although these are admirable goals in principle, MTAs have a bad reputation with some researchers and institutions for being overly complex and, in fact, hindering research. Nonetheless, MTAs are […]

By | October 29th, 2019 ||