Also known as: patents · patented · patenting · patentable · Patentability · patentee · patentor · letters patent
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A government grant conferring upon the inventor the exclusive right to make, use, and sell an invention for a limited period. The grant creates a property interest enforceable through infringement actions in federal court.
Premier Manufacturing obtained a judgment that Progressive Healthcare infringed its deployment patent. The district court has yet to conduct an accounting of damages. Premier files a notice of appeal to the Federal Circuit. The appeal proceeds immediately because the judgment is final except for the accounting.
Prism Analytics wins a patent infringement verdict against Pinnacle Holdings with modest actual damages. The jury awards a large punitive component. The court reduces the award after applying the guideposts that compare the punitive amount to actual harm and to available civil penalties.
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Parker Phillips, a performer, sues a broadcaster for airing his entire human-cannonball act without consent. The court distinguishes the claim from patent or copyright protection because the interest protected is the performer's proprietary right to control commercial exploitation of the act itself.
Perry Pratt receives a signed presidential commission for a federal post. The Secretary of State refuses to deliver the document. The court holds that the appointment is complete upon signing and that delivery is not required for the commission to take effect.
Paige Porter photographs a famous inventor for a portrait. A lithographer copies the image. The court recognizes that the photograph qualifies for copyright protection because it embodies the photographer's original intellectual conception, akin to the originality required for patentable inventions.
Pamela Phillips registers the distinctive green-gold color of her cleaning pads as a trademark. A competitor uses the same shade. The court upholds the registration because the color has acquired secondary meaning and serves as a source identifier without being functional.
A judgment that is final except for an accounting is immediately appealable to the Federal Circuit under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(c)(2). The statute expressly authorizes the appeal so that liability can be reviewed without waiting for the damages phase to conclude.
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Property subject to a general power of appointment created by the donee is treated as owned by the donee for creditor purposes. A judgment creditor may therefore execute against patents that the donee later appoints, even though the assets sit in an irrevocable trust.
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A party seeking fact work product must demonstrate substantial need for the materials and undue hardship in obtaining their substantial equivalent by other means. Opinion work product reflecting attorney mental impressions receives stronger protection and is rarely ordered produced.
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Withdrawal is permitted when the client persists in a course of action that the lawyer reasonably believes involves fraud, such as filing applications based on misappropriated code after the lawyer has raised the issue and the client has refused to investigate or modify the filings.
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…of an officer by the Executive. A commission is only evidence of an appointment. Delivery is not necessary to the validity of letters patent. The President cannot authorize a Secretary of State to omit the performance of those duties which are enjoined by law. When a commission for an officer not holding his office at the will…