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As much of the United States is taking steps towards getting back to normal, the USPTO continues to
implement programs to encourage investment and innovation in
technologies addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. Recently, the USPTO
expanded the Patents for Humanity program to add a category for
COVID-19 related inventions and separately rolled out a new pilot
program offering fee-free expedited
ex parte appeals for
patent applications related to certain categories of COVID-19
inventions.
Patents For Humanity
The Patents for Humanity program is designed to recognize
Uniindia: New Delhi, May 17 (UNI) China on Monday voiced it s support for waiving intellectual property protections for novel coronavirus vaccines to help developing nations suffering from the ongoing pandemic.
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A weekly summary of the precedential patent-related opinions
issued by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the
opinions designated precedential or informative by the Patent Trial
and Appeal Board.
Cap Export, LLC, et al. v. Zinus, Inc., et
al., No. 2020-2087 (Fed. Cir. (C.D. Cal.) May 5,
2021). Opinion by Dyk, joined by Bryson and Hughes.
Zinus owns a patent directed to an assemblable mattress
support. Cap Export filed a declaratory judgment action
against Zinus, alleging that the claims are invalid and not
Fast forward
India must take US’ patent waiver proposal forward and expedite the WTO process
The US surprised the world a few days ago by declaring its support for a waiver on patents for Covid vaccines. For a country which has always opposed relaxation of patents and blacklisted countries like India under its ‘Special 301’ clause for its supposed patent flexibilities this was no ordinary moment. Industry groups have argued that a waiver of patents will discourage innovation, a view that is generally speaking not without merit. However, in a global health emergency, IPRs, monopoly pricing and restricted supplies can block vaccine access to the developing world and that is indeed happening. The richest countries have cornered about 80 per cent of vaccine supplies so far. For a virus that knows no borders, the US seems to have realised that vaccine shortages in large swathes of the world will prolong the pandemic, dragging everybody down with it. Meanwhile, the impact of
Discovery in an IPR proceeding is limited compared to district court litigation in order to focus the proceedings and promote speed and efficiency. The PTAB Practice Guide and 37 C.F.R 42.51 provide.