As the scope of design patent protection continues to expand, now is an excellent time to explore how digital innovations can be protected. Whether developing user interfaces, immersive environments, or other novel digital designs, opportunities now exist to pursue broader design protection and strengthen intellectual property strategies.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is no stranger to the rapidly expanding role of artificial intelligence (AI) in legal practice. From AI-assisted prior art searches to automated drafting tools, artificial intelligence has become increasingly embedded in modern patent prosecution. Yet as inventors and practitioners increasingly turn to generative AI for assistance, a critical question emerges: could disclosing your invention to an AI system constitute a public disclosure that jeopardizes your potential patent rights? Unfortunately, the answer to this critical question is nuanced. While the USPTO has provided some guidance, recent case law and statutory obligations seem to suggest that inventors and practitioners must proceed with caution when utilizing generative AI.

At the time of writing this article, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) has issued more than 7.8 million federal trademark registrations. While the USPTO has been granting federal registrations for trademarks since 1870, more than half of all federal trademark registrations have been granted in just the past 20 years. No doubt about it, brand owners are increasingly aware of the value and benefits that having a federal trademark registration provides.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has transformed content creation, producing everything from written articles and music to artwork and code. As AI-generated content becomes more common, questions about intellectual property rights and copyright protection have arisen. This article explores briefly the legal landscape surrounding AI-generated works, looking at current regulations, court cases, and ongoing debates.

Use of modeling, neural networks, and artificial intelligence today is exploding. Our office has helped many global clients in protecting their valuable rights to new inventions and products relating to this exciting technology. Some of the more frequent questions we get from inventors in this area is “…I know my idea is new and valuable but I am having trouble identifying what is patentable about my new invention to modeling and how I can protect my rights in it?” The good news is that inventions relating to modeling, neural networks, and AI are patentable and can be protected in various and often, multiple, ways. This article addresses some of the issues and answers to these questions, and discusses ways that an invention in this area can be protected.

When the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) was signed into law in late 2011, the “buzz word” circulating the patent community was “first to file”. While the AIA has been in effect for more than 10 years, the urgency implied by “first to file” is still sometimes underappreciated by the uninitiated. A recent Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC)[1], Sanho v. Kaijet[2], highlights how changes brought by the AIA impact real world inventions, and highlights the urgency behind the “first to file” standard.

One very important and critical aspect of the patent examination process with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is the Information Disclosure Statement, also known as IDS for short. We will discuss how integral an IDS is to the patent process further because it is the applicant’s duty to work in good faith with the USPTO to inform them of any prior art that applicant is aware of up to the issuance of a patent. Prior art is described as any evidence/references/information publicly known before the effective filing date of a patent application, whether it be an already existing product, patent application or publication of the product. The USPTO considers the references disclosed on the IDS when reviewing the filed patent application during examination.

We are pleased to announce the promotion of Adam Smith to Partner at Standley Law Group LLP!