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Expect Increased Scrutiny from the USPTO Regarding Trademark Use Claims

Client Alert | 1 min read | 08.13.14

Trademark applicants and registrants may experience increased scrutiny of their trademark use claims in light of the results of a recent Pilot Program, conducted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), showing that fifty percent (50%) of approximately 500 randomly selected registrants could not support the claims made in previously filed Declarations of Use. See USPTO Report. Each selected registrant had been asked to submit specimens showing use for two additional goods or services per class in addition to the specimen already submitted with the Declaration.

The USPTO is continuing to study the matter and it is unclear what formal actions it ultimately will take. It is clear the USPTO believes this is a problem that needs to be addressed. The USPTO has stated it may conduct other similar audits and there is nothing to prevent it from auditing applications as well. Trademark owners should exercise extra care to insure that a mark is in use for all goods and services listed in an application or registration before filing a Declaration of Use or Statement of Use.

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Client Alert | 2 min read | 11.14.25

Defining Claim Terms by Implication: Lexicography Lessons from Aortic Innovations LLC v. Edwards Lifesciences Corporation

Claim construction is a key stage of most patent litigations, where the court must decide the meaning of any disputed terms in the patent claims.  Generally, claim terms are given their plain and ordinary meaning except under two circumstances: (1) when the patentee acts as its own lexicographer and sets out a definition for the term; and (2) when the patentee disavows the full scope of the term either in the specification or during prosecution.  Thorner v. Sony Comput. Ent. Am. LLC, 669 F.3d 1362, 1365 (Fed. Cir. 2012).  The Federal Circuit’s recent decision in Aortic Innovations LLC v. Edwards Lifesciences Corp. highlights that patentees can act as their own lexicographers through consistent, interchangeable usage of terms across the specification, effectively defining terms by implication....

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