News/Events/Blogs

Most patent claims describe an invention using positive claim limitations that expressly recite the required elements or features of an invention. Sometimes, however, it is necessary, or desirable, to use a negative claim limitation to expressly specify an invention requires the absence of an element or feature. But when is it allowable to claim the negative?

The recent opportunities for remote work and learning have provided improvements in lifestyle for a number of employees and students. Many of those able to work or study from home have benefited from more flexible schedules, reduction in time and money spent on commuting, reduction in work- and school-related stress, and more family time. But those benefits have come with some new challenges. For example, professors and teachers have confronted the challenge of how to prevent students from cheating on exams.

Intellectual Property attorney Jo Dale Carothers is featured in the 2022 edition of San Diego Super Lawyers Magazine. In a section called “Prior Practice,” Jo Dale discusses how her academic career in engineering led to working with JPL to help decode images from the Mars Pathfinder. Her engineering expertise was later put to use in her work as an expert witness, which led her to her own law career.

Weintraub Tobin is pleased to announce that Jo Dale Carothers, Ph.D., has been selected to the 2022 San Diego Super Lawyers list. Each year, no more than five percent of lawyers in the state are selected to receive this honor by the research team at Super Lawyers.

When entering into contracts, parties commonly include forum selection clauses to govern future litigation between the parties. When doing so, parties need to actively consider whether they intend that forum selection clause to prohibit filing petitions, such as petitions for inter partes review of patents, with the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”). The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has generally recognized that parties can bargain away these rights,

Publication of an algorithm prevents the algorithm from being a trade secret, right? Not necessarily. The Federal Circuit just reminded us that under certain circumstances that may not be the case.

Since the Alice v. CLS Bank and Mayo v. Prometheus decisions, district courts and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has struggled to determine and navigate the boundary between what is and what is not patent-eligible subject matter. The result has been a tangle of intertwined decisions that create an extremely wide and fuzzy boundary. Attorneys are often left to throw up their hands when asked whether a new invention is patentable or whether an existing patent will likely withstand a patent eligibility challenge under 35 U.S.C.

Willful patent infringement can result in enhanced, and in some case treble, damages but not in every instance. Because the standard for finding willful infringement has traditionally been lower than that for enhancing damages, a finding of willful infringement does not guarantee an award of enhanced damages.  However, a 2019 Federal Circuit opinion caused confusion, suggesting the standards were essentially the same.  SRI Int’l, Inc.  v. Cisco Sys., Inc. (“SRI II”) 930 F.3d 1295 (Fed.

In ruling on motions to dismiss and motions for summary judgment, courts have found a number of patents ineligible under 35 U.S.C. § 101 as a matter of law.  However, in Berkheimer v. HP, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit indicated that in certain instances, the determination of patent eligibility under § 101 involves questions of fact and thus are questions for juries.

Sacramento, CA (August 19, 2021) – Weintraub Tobin, a leading California full-service law firm, is pleased to announce that 16 attorneys have been included in the 2022 edition of Best Lawyers in America and 6 Weintraub attorneys have been included in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch.

Weintraub Tobin’s recognized Best Lawyers in America 2022 are: