Delphion, a provider of online research tools and related products, has made its "Gallery of Obscure Patents" available free to the public. This compilation of "strange or intriguing" patents is periodically updated and visitors may also nominate a patent for inclusion on the list. Some patents of note include the "Santa Claus Detector" stocking device (U.S. Patent No. 5,523,741), the "Hat simulating a fried egg" (U.S. Patent No. 5,457,821), and the "Flushable vehicle spittoon" (U.S. Patent No. 4,989,275). Approximately 50 patents are highlighted in this gallery, which was recently named the "Website of the Week" by the Voice of America. Delphion also has a "Gallery of Historic Patents" available, currently highlighting a number of prominent historical patents including "Barbed Wire" (U.S. Patent No. 157,124), "Velvet type fabric and method for producing same" (Velcro) (U.S. Patent No. 2,717,437), and "The Electric Light Bulb" (U.S. Patent No. 223,898).

Delphion’s Gallery of Obscure Patents Website: LINK
Voice of America Article: LINK
Gallery of Historic Patents Website: LINK

In a summary judgment order issued on Tuesday, a Federal Court in St. Louis has confirmed the argument that baseball statistics are inherently public and that Major League Baseball has no intellectual property rights in them. In the August 9, 2006 summary judgment order in CBC Distribution and Marketing Inc. v. Major League Baseball Advanced Media, Judge Mary Ann Medler disagreed with Major League Baseball’s argument that reproducing baseball statistics were effectively “stealing” the rights of publicity of the players. According to Judge Medler, “[t]he names and playing records of major league baseball players as used in CBC’s fantasy games are not copyrightable,” and “[t]herefore, federal copyright law does not pre-empt the players’ claimed right of publicity.” Judge Medler also likened baseball statistics to “the names, towns and telephone numbers in a phone book, to census data, and to news of the day.” This ruling has an impact on the operators and participants of fantasy sports leagues, where an estimated 15 to 18 million people participate in the U.S. alone. Major League Baseball reportedly paid $50 million to the players union over a five year period for the rights in the statistics, and then, according to the Los Angeles Times, licensed the rights to a number of organizations, including ESPN, Yahoo!, and CBS Sportsline, for a reported $2 million each. CBC, an online provider of fantasy sports services, was unable to obtain a contract for the statistics in 2005, and suit was filed that year. Major League Baseball has publicly announced its intention to appeal this order.

Yahoo! News Article: LINK
Los Angeles Times Article: LINK
Northwest Herald (Illinois) Article: LINK
Sports Illustrated News Article: LINK

On Tuesday, SKYE International Inc., the parent corporation of Ion Tankless Inc., announced that its subsidiary obtained its second patent on its tankless water heater technology. U.S. Patent No. 7,088,915, entitled “Modular Tankless Water Heater,” issued on Tuesday and includes seven method claims of heating water comprising steps utilizing a tankless water heater. On May 16, 2006, ION Tankless obtained U.S. Patent No. 7,046,922, claiming several embodiments of the tankless water heater itself. The first method claim in the second patent claims a method of heating water comprising the steps of providing a tankless water heater module, injecting water into the flow path of the water heater, sensing the rate of water flow and the temperature of the water entering and exiting the flow path, and applying power to the water heater depending on the flow rate and temperature parameters. The tankless water heater itself comprises (in part) a module with a plurality of conduits, a heating element extending through a manifold coupled to the casing of the module defining a specific water flow path. According to the patent, this invention addresses inefficiencies of traditional water heaters (whereby a set volume of water is kept at a minimum hot temperature) and the potential wasting of water while a user waits for hot water at the tap (given that the tankless water heater may be positioned at or near a tap while a traditional water heater is usually found in one or two locations within a residence).

U.S. Patent No. 7,088,915: LINK
U.S. Patent No. 7,046,922 LINK
Business Wire News Article: LINK
SKYE International Inc. Website: LINK

According to last Friday’s Federal Register, the USPTO "is revising the results of practice in title 37 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) to require that a request for ex parte reexamination or for inter partes reexamination must meet all the applicable statutory requirements in 35 U.S.C. 302 or 311 (respectively) and the regulatory requirements in § 1.510 or § 1.915 (respectively) before a filing date is accorded to the request for ex parte reexamination or for inter partes reexamination." Specifically, the USPTO is amending the rules to address inconsistencies within the aforementioned citations. For example, § 1.510 provides the requirements regarding the content of an ex parte reexamination request, and the former version of § 1.510(d) stated that the filing date of that request is "(1) The date on which the request including the entire fee for requesting reexamination is received in the Patent and Trademark Office; or (2) The date on which the last portion of the fee for requesting reexamination is received." However, 35 U.S.C. § 302 states that "[t]he request must set forth the pertinency and manner of applying cited prior art to every claim for which reexamination is requested." As such, requesters for ex parte reexamination that followed § 1.501(d) and did not refer to 35 U.S.C. § 302 did not comply with the statutory requirements. (A similar inconsistency occurred regarding inter partes reexamination with the former version of § 1.919(a) and 35 U.S.C. § 311(b).). The specific rule changes modify § 1.501(c) and (d), as well as § 1.919(a), to clarify all of the requirements to obtain the respective reexamination filing dates. The changes were effective last Friday.

August 4, 2006 Federal Register Excerpt: LINK
37 C.F.R. § 1.510: LINK
35 U.S.C. § 302: LINK
37 C.F.R. § 1.915: LINK
35 U.S.C. § 311: LINK

Cereality Cereal Bar & Cafe was recently able to enforce its trademark against a second potential competitor in the apparently growing cereal restaurant market, and is reportedly working to enforce its rights against a third. Cereality, starting as a small restaurant on the campus of Arizona State University, was first successful in having the Cereology restaurant in Iowa change its business name to Cabinet. It recently enforced its mark against Cerealicious, a company based in Ohio that has several stores in the U.S., and Cerealicious soon thereafter changed its company name to Cereal Central. According to the azcentral.com news article linked below, Cereality may also be aiming to enforce its rights against a Canadian operator of a Cerealicious store in Toronto. Cereality has three locations where it sells bowls of cold and hot cereal, as well as cereal bars, to its patrons. According to Cereality’s website, “customers choose from their favorite brands [of cereal] and toppings. Pajama-clad Cereologists™ fill the orders. And customers choose and add their own milk, just the way they like it.” Cereality has a total of 14 registered and pending marks, including the name “Cereality” (U.S. Reg. No. 2,836,818) and the logo “Cereality Cereal Bar & Cafe” (Reg. No. 2,961,861).

azcentral.com News Article: LINK
Cereality Cereal Bar & Cafe Website: LINK

On Friday, Stephen Pinkos, the Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Deputy Director of the USPTO, spoke in New York about the growth of the economy and intellectual property theft. Speaking in front of a group of ConMed Corporation employees, Mr. Pinkos complimented the innovations of that company, but warned that "[p]rotecting intellectual property against piracy and counterfeiting is a key part of economic growth." It is noted by the USPTO that New York’s exports to China have increased significantly over the last few years, topping the $2 billion mark last year. As you may know, the Strategy Targeting Organized Piracy (STOP!) initiative by the federal government is focused on helping businesses enforce their domestic intellectual property rights and to stop the importation and trade of counterfeit goods. ConMed Corporation, according to its website, is "a global medical technology company that specializes in the development and sale of products and services" that provides products to physicians to assist with their patient care. According to the Utica, NY, Observer-Dispatch, ConMed Corporation has a total of 600 pending and issued patents in the United States.

USPTO News Release: LINK
ConMed Website: LINK
uticaOD.com Article: LINK
Strategy Targeting Organized Piracy (STOP!) Website: LINK

It was announced earlier this week that Silicon Laboratories Inc. and Power-One Inc. have settled their power supply patent dispute. In December 2005, Power-One filed suit against Silicon in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division, alleging infringement of two of its patents (U.S. Patent Nos. 6,936,999 ("System and method for controlling output-timing parameters of power converters") and 6,949,916 ("System and method for controlling a point-of-load regulator")). As part of the settlement, Silicon has agreed to join the Z-One™ Digital Power Alliance, where both parties will jointly focus on the development of Z-One compliant products utilizing specific products currently within each party's product respective product lines. In addition, Power-One will offer specific licenses to users of Silicon's Z-One products using the compliant interface, but no licenses are granted specifically to Silicon under this settlement.

U.S. Patent No. 6,936,999: LINK
U.S. Patent No. 6,949,916: LINK
EETimes.com News Article: LINK
Power-One Press Release: LINK
Silicon Laboratories Press Release: LINK

If you are like me, you undoubtedly have a number of free legal website resources bookmarked in your browser. In an effort to help you consolidate your own searching, I have developed a list of free legal resources on the left-hand column of the Daily Dose of IP blog. I have included some of the more popular searches, including recent Federal Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court opinions, U.S. patents and published patent applications, U.S. trademark information, the MPEP and TMEP, and statutory references including the Code of Federal Regulations and the U.S. Code. In due course, I will post a link to a more comprehensive free resource blog webpage, of which I hope you will find most useful and hopefully share with your friends and colleagues. If you are aware of a particularly useful free legal research tool, please post a comment to this article and I will work to incorporate your suggested reference into either the resource list of the left-hand column and/or the comprehensive free resource webpage I am currently developing. If you feel that you know someone who may find the Daily Dose of IP blog interesting and perhaps useful to his or her practice, please spread the word - thank you.

(Now that I have your attention) – Dunes™ CLE is currently accepting registrations for its "Current Issues in Patent Law" seminar on August 25th at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Topics will include patent law reform, the legal and business impacts of eBay v. MercExchange, non-obviousness reform and Teleflex, Inc. v. KSR Intern. Co., patentable subject matter regarding In re Lundgren and Labcorp v. Metabolite, and others. The seminar offers up to 6.0 hours of CLE credit (1.0 hours of ethics) depending on the state of which you are licensed. The fee for this seminar is $695. No word on whether Danny Ocean and his crew are planning a "visit" to the casino that day (sorry, I just had to). I neither represent Dunes™ CLE, nor do I endorse any particular CLE course.

Seminar Agenda: LINK
Seminar Registration Information: LINK
CLE Credit Information: LINK
eBay v. MercExchange: LINK
Bellagio Hotel & Casino Website: LINK

USA Technologies, Inc. recently announced that it obtained a patent on cashless and intelligent vending, the company’s 65th overall patent. U.S. Patent No. 7,076,329 (“Cashless vending transaction management by a vend assist mode of operation,” issued July 11, 2006), includes 35 claims on a “cashless transaction processing system” which may allow the use of credit cards and debit cards at vending machines that traditionally only accept cash. According to the patent, “a long felt need exists for a solution related to a cost effective system and method for remotely auditing vending equipment, and for providing additional payment options at the point of sale for goods and services vended from vending equipment.” This patent discloses the use of the “vend assist mode” which allows a computing platform to oversee, control, and authorize “the vend selection and sale price of a user selected vend item prior to fulfilling the user's request.”

U.S. Patent No. 7,076,329: LINK
USA Technologies Press Release: LINK
USA Technologies ePort® Website: LINK
finextra.com News Article: LINK