Bryce Pilz
One of the more complicated issues in patent law is determining the correct inventors to name on a patent application.  This issue can be counterintuitive to those familiar with the more liberal standards governing naming authors to a scholarly publication.  Determining inventorship, on the other hand, is rigidly dictated by patent law and severe […]

Bryce Pilz

A federal court ruling last week requires Google to turn over to Viacom’s lawyers information about every user that accessed YouTube content since 2005.  The order relates to a billion dollar copyright infringement suit brought by Viacom against Google.  It again raises significant issues about user privacy on the Internet.  It also raises for […]

Bryce Pilz
No class of patents has received as much criticism as “business method patents” – a term that came to the forefront of public attention in 1998 when the Federal Circuit ruled (in the “State Street Bank” case) that there was no such thing as a business method exception to patentability.  After this decision, applicants […]

Bryce Pilz
Whether or not you work directly with software, you have probably heard the term “open source.”  In very general terms, “open source” technology is licensed under certain principles that guarantee the freedom to use the technology downstream (i.e., by the licensees, sublicenses, or other users).  A technology license is the way a holder of […]

Is it okay to review other patents in my field?  This is a question that entrepreneurs often ask their patent attorneys.  Unfortunately, up until a recent court ruling, there was significant risk involved in becoming aware of a patent that potentially covered your technology.  Let’s examine this change in the law that lessens the risk […]

The patentability of software or business methods has received much attention in recent years. In 1998, the courts confirmed that business methods and software are indeed patentable subject matter and applications in these fields skyrocketed. Just because one can obtain patent protection for software, though, does not mean that it is always prudent […]

Two of the main criteria for obtaining a patent are that the invention must be “new” and also must be “nonobvious.” This second hurdle of “nonobviousness” has received much attention in recent years because of several high profile patents that appeared to be obvious variations of known technology. The question of obviousness is […]

One of the most mistaken aspects of patent law is the rights one actually possesses by owning a patent. Does a patent covering an invention allow you to make and sell that invention? The answer that surprises many is, no. Having a patent does not give one the rights to practice the […]

Bryce Pilz, J.D.
If you follow patent law, you have probably heard a lot about “patent reform” recently. Patent reform refers to recent efforts in Congress, federal courts, and the Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”) to amend the patent system in order to reign in the scope of patent rights in this country. […]