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DOD Proposes Substantial Revision to Intellectual Property Rules

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 09.29.10

On September 27, 2010, the DoD published a proposed rule which would substantially revise the DFARS Part 227 rules and the associated clauses relating to Intellectual Property. There are numerous proposed changes which collectively are a mixed bag, but perhaps the most problematic change relates to the treatment of commercial technical data and commercial computer software, which includes a caveat that any government funding eliminates the commercial item nature of the product.

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Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.20.25

Design Patent Application Drawings & Prosecution History Must Be Clear (Merely Translucent Won’t Suffice!)

Design patents offer protection for the ornamental appearance of a product, focusing on aspects like its shape and surface decoration, as opposed to the functional aspects protected by utility patents. The scope of a design patent is defined by the drawings and any descriptive language within the patent itself. Recent decisions by the Federal Circuit emphasize the need for clarity in the prosecution history of a design patent in order to preserve desired scope to preserve intentional narrowing (and to avoid unintentional sacrifice of desired claim scope)....