Blog

Over the past year our firm has been reporting on major intellectual property developments and the R&D and commercialization efforts in the microbiome. The importance of this scientific area for bringing new drug therapies to the marketplace has now been given a big shot in the arm by the US government. On Friday, May 13, the White House launched a public-private coalition “to foster the integrated study of microbiomes across different ecosystems.” This expansive R&D effort comes with $121 million of funding from the federal government, with another $100+ million of investments from academia and the private sector.

On Wednesday, President Obama signed the Defend Trade Secrets Act. His action follows the bill’s passage in Congress, which we previously reported here: /trade-secrets-bill-passes-house-goes-white-house/

In a signing ceremony in the Oval Office, President Obama recognized the legislation’s historic importance, commenting that the law “for the first time will provide civil actions for companies or individuals that are stealing trade secrets from our American innovators[1].”

Mark A. Thomas, partner at Dilworth IP, will be hosting a FREE webinar on Wednesday, June 8th at 1:00 PM (EDT). This session, entitled Two Years After Alice – A Challenging Adventure for Software Patents, will discuss the aftermath of the 2014 Supreme Court decision in Alice Corp v. CLS Bank International. Alice has grown beyond a less than satisfying Supreme Court decision to become the most significant threat to billions of dollars in software patents. This webinar will be of particular benefit to in-house counsel as it will explore recent Patent Office guidance and federal court decisions with a practical focus on protecting software and getting more patents allowed under evolving Alice standards. The webinar will also touch on the impact of Alice and how it has changed the legal landscape.

Dilworth IP is sponsoring the 2016 Biotech Bootcamp which will be hosted by the Yale Office of Cooperative Research and will be held at Evans Hall in New Haven, CT on Thursday May 12th. This one-day workshop seeks to educate Yale faculty and researchers on how to commercialize their ideas for drug discovery and biological therapeutics, with an emphasis on engaging pharmaceutical and venture capital firms by creating “fundable ideas.” The keynote speakers this year are Crystal McKellar, Managing Director & General Council at Mithril Capital and George Yancopoulos, President of Regeneron Research Laboratories.

On Wednesday, April 27, the House of Representatives voted 410-2 to approve the Defend Trade Secret Act (S. 1890). The bipartisan measure, which is supported by the White House, is expected to be signed into law in the coming days.

On May 5th, the US Patent and Trademark Office published an update to the Interim Guidance titled “May 2016 Subject Matter Eligibility Update” to provide its examining corps with additional guidelines for determining subject matter eligibility under 35 USC §101.

The publication includes a memorandum, “Formulating a Subject Matter Eligibility Rejection and Evaluating the Applicant’s Response to a Subject Matter Eligibility Rejection,” which “seeks to improve examiner correspondence with regard to subject matter eligibility rejections.” It was issued in response to public comments.

Jessica Miles of Dilworth IP will be presenting a talk for the 5th Annual Connecticut Symbiosis Meeting on Monday, May 9th at Yale’s West Campus. This annual symposium brings together researchers from Yale University, The University of Connecticut, and Jackson Laboratory who study microbes that live in close association with animals, plants, and other species. The event will highlight work in a number of research areas, including the human microbiome, microbial communities, microbiomes of insects that spread infection, and host-microbe interactions. Julia Oh, of Jackson Laboratory, will deliver this year’s keynote address. In her talk, Jessica will share her recent discovery of genes that are required for Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a common bacteria in the environment and cause of life-threatening infection in hospital settings, to grow in a fly model of infection.

Frederick Spaeth, Partner at Dilworth IP, will be speaking at the 32nd Annual Joint Patent Practice Seminar which will take place at the New York Marriot Marquis on Thursday, April 21st. The annual event is hosted by the Joint Patent Practice Continuing Legal Education, Inc. (JPPCLE, Inc.), as a one-day seminar of featured speakers who offer comprehensive and concise presentations on various recent developments in patent law; including cases, legislation and regulations. Fred’s talk will focus on the 2015 IPR case American Megatrends et al. v Kinglite Holdings, and will consider the use of a U.S. patent as prior art against an earlier filed patent in the context of an Inter Partes Review.

Frederick A. Spaeth, Partner at Dilworth IP, will be presenting a talk on how to protect intellectual property assets in an ever-evolving world of cloud-based technology. His talk will be part of a business law seminar hosted by the Greater Bridgeport Bar Association, and entitled “Intellectual Property Due Diligence for Start-Up Entities.” The event will take place on Thursday, April 14th at 1057 Broad Street in Bridgeport, CT.

With an 87-0 vote, the Senate approved the Defend Trade Secret Act (DTSA, S. 1890) on Monday. The bill, which was backed by the White House, amends the Economic Espionage Act of 1996 (EEA) to provide recourse for companies that experience trade secret theft.

Currently, the EEA criminalizes trade secret theft, but, according to Senate Finance Committee chair and bill co-sponsor Orrin Hatch (R-UT), relies on an overburdened Department of Justice for enforcement. Moreover, companies seeking redress must contend with a patchwork of variable state laws.