Recent Posts

Analyzing Tech Regulation: Shapiro's Critique and Policy Recommendations

UPCOMING EVENT: Automated Decision-Making Technology and Artificial Intelligence

Free Speech and Trademark Law Clash in Vidal v. Elster

Using Technical Solutions to Address Issues in Privacy Law: A Talk by Professor Zubair Shafiq

An Introduction to Venture Capital

Archive

Analyzing Tech Regulation: Shapiro's Critique and Policy Recommendations

Posted By Rebecca Tsang, Mar 13, 2024

UPCOMING EVENT: CILS Presents: Evolution of the Merger Guidelines: Is This Fox Too Clever by Half?

Editor’s Note: This post is related to a program hosted by The Center for Innovation, Law, and Society (CILS). Professor Carl Shapiro teaches at the Graduate School at the Haas School of Business and the Department of Economics at the University of California at Berkeley. He has multiple publications in areas of industrial organization, competition policy, patents, the economics of innovation and competitive strategy.

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UPCOMING EVENT: Automated Decision-Making Technology and Artificial Intelligence

Posted By Yenna Ahn, Jan 30, 2024

Editor’s Note: This post is related to a program hosted by The Center for Innovation, Law, and Society (CILS). Professor Lydia de la Torre is a dual-qualified attorney (US/EU) and teaches privacy, data protection, and A.I. courses at UC Davis Law and UC Law San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings). Vinhcent Le is the Senior Legal Counsel of Tech Equity, The Greenlining Institute.

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Free Speech and Trademark Law Clash in Vidal v. Elster

Posted By Maja Kozlowska, Jan 26, 2024

On November 1st, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Vidal v. Elster,^[1] a case concerning restrictions to registrable trademarks under section 2 of the Lanham Act (the Name Clause) .^[2] This Clause prevents the registration of trademarks that use the name of a living individual without consent. This provision barred petitioner Steve Elster from registering the phrase TRUMP TOO SMALL for use on t-shirts and other apparel without first obtaining Donald Trump’s consent. This consent proved tough to obtain and the US Trademark Office denied registration. Elster appealed to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which unanimously reversed the decision of the Trademark Office on constitutional grounds.^[3] The Court of Appeals held that the denial of registration violated Elster’s First Amendment rights. The Trademark Office appealed to the Supreme Court.

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Using Technical Solutions to Address Issues in Privacy Law: A Talk by Professor Zubair Shafiq

Posted By Devon Siebels, Nov 9, 2023

On November 13th, King Hall’s Center for Innovation, Law, and Society will host a talk by UC Davis Professor of Computer Science Zubair Shafiq. Professor Shafiq’s research focuses on the implementation of computer science solutions and frameworks to help make the internet more private and secure.

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An Introduction to Venture Capital

Posted By Charlie Rieder, Oct 14, 2023

On October 16th, King Hall’s Center for Innovation, Law and Society will host Samsung Associate General Counsel Cindy Dole (Class of ’09). Her talk will revolve around venture capital’s role in innovation and the role of lawyers in the venture capital investment process. This post aims to provide a basic overview of how venture capital (“VC”) funding works.

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KHIPLA IP News Blog Revival

Posted By KHIPLA, Oct 14, 2023

After several years without posts, KHIPLA is excited to restart the IP News Blog! The blog will include short posts about technological, creative, scientific, and legal issues of interest to KHIPLA members. In particular, posts will highlight topics related to upcoming KHIPLA speaker events and upcoming speakers for King Hall’s new Center for Innovation Law and Society (CILS). We hope this will be an opportunity for students interested innovation, art, technology, and the law to collaborate, learn from each other, and contribute to the organization.

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Issue of fact in the Patent Subject Matter Inquiry - Well-understood, Routine, Conventional Activities (WRUC) --2019 Revised Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance Reflects the Federal Circuit's Holding in Berkheimer v. HP, Inc.

Posted By Weijie Wang, Sep 30, 2019

The 2019 Revised Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance (“2019 PEG”) was issued on January 7, 2019, by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”). Notably, it revises the procedures in the USPTO's eligibility framework for determining whether a claim is directed to a judicial exception (Step 2A in the framework) and whether a claim amounts to significantly more (step 2B in the framework), corresponding to the Supreme Court's two-step framework to determine the patent-eligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101, described in Mayo[1] and Alice.[2]

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The Flake Resolution Unravels Progress in American Data Privacy for Inadequate Reasons

Posted By Chancellor Tseng, Mar 29, 2017

On March 7th, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) introduced a resolution to block Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Internet privacy rules instituted during the Obama administration. Specifically, the resolution would nullify current FCC requirements for Internet Service Providers (ISPs)—e.g., Comcast and Verizon—to obtain consumer consent before sharing private user information. The resolution would widely impact regulation of users’ sensitive data, ranging from user names and addresses to communication content, location, and Internet search history.

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UC Berkeley Loses CRISPR Gene-Editing Technology Patent Decision, But Remains Optimistic

Posted By Jason Churchill, Feb 28, 2017

PTAB Issues Decision in UC Berkeley v Broad Institute Patent Dispute

On February 15, 2017, the Patent Trial & Appeal Board (PTAB) issued a ruling in a high-profile case, handing a loss to UC Berkeley in a long-standing fight with the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard over patent rights to the CRISPR technology. The 51-page per curiam decision can be found here.

The CRISPR technology—described as “one of the greatest life sciences inventions ever”— has vast potential both as a research tool and for treatment of genetically-based diseases. Scientists discovered that some bacteria possess a form of acquired immunity that allows them to recognize invading viruses and destroy them by cutting the viral DNA into pieces. Researchers quickly harnessed this remarkable discovery and adapted these bacterial anti-viral defense systems into a revolutionary genetic engineering tool, called the CRISPR technology. It offers fast and easy genomic editing, that is, programmable alteration of DNA sequences at any desired location in the genome. The method is a substantial improvement over earlier available genomic editing approaches, and the stakes are high. Some observers have suggested that the patent rights may be worth billions of dollars. Certainly, whoever controls the patent rights to CRISPR stands to collect extraordinary sums of money through licensing fees.

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To what Extent is Software Patentable Subject Matter?

Posted By Sofie Andersen, Apr 14, 2016

Does the Federal Circuit leave a door open for the patentability of software in DDR Holdings?

Ever since the test used in Mayo was affirmed by the Supreme Court in Alice, many commentators noted, that this could be the end of software patents. With DDR Holding, the Federal Circuit allowed a software patent for the first time since Alice, which makes for an interesting future in the area.

The reason that the test set forth in Mayo and Alice had everyone wondering if software was doomed, requires an explanation of the strict test (the “Alice Framework”). The Alice Framework consists of two parts. The first part of the test is to identify, whether the claims at issue somehow comprises an abstract idea (one of the three judge-made exceptions to patentable subject matter). If it does, the court should determine, whether the claims add “significantly more” than the abstract idea at issue.

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