This paved the way for the second challenge against the BMS patent, on grounds of lack of novelty (since the drug had already been on the market before it had been patented) and that the product patent application pre-dated the amended Patent Act [ 30].
As the standards took shape, Rambus engineers played even dirtier, amending their patent applications to make sure that they would cover even more of the standards, according to the FTC.
The government has initiated the process of amending the Patents Act to revise and consolidate the entire intellectual property system including other laws such as Trade and Service Marks Act, 1986.
Indeed, two years ago, Congress amended the patent law to provide defenses for business-method patent claims not accorded to other sorts of patents.
The federal circuit, a specialized court with national jurisdiction over patent appeals, ruled that Festo could not sue SMC because it had amended its patent applications while they were being processed.
Congress may take years to amend the patent laws, but open licenses are available now, and can mitigate pressing patent problems.
In one of the biggest, Festo Corp. v. Shoketsu Kinzoku Kogyo Kabushiki Co., the U.S. Supreme Court on May 28 ruled in favor of inventors by unanimously overturning a lower court decision that limited patent holders' ability to amend their patents.
eLexchin, J. Brief to the Industry, Science and Technology Committee on Bill C-9, An Act to Amend the Patent Act and the Food and Drugs Act.
It amended the Patent Act and Food and Drugs Act to allow the limited use of government-issued, third-party licensing in Canada for humanitarian purposes.
iBill C-56, An Act to amend the Patent Act and the Food and Drugs Act, 2nd Sess., 36th Parl., 2003 (1st reading 6 November 2003).
