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New Electronic Discovery Rules Approved

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 04.19.06

As will be discussed in more detail at our upcoming Ounce Of Prevention Seminars in D.C. (April 27-28) and Irvine (May 11-12), the United States Supreme Court recently approved each of the proposed amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure concerning the discovery of electronically stored information. The amendments, which will take effect on December 1, 2006, are designed to acknowledge the differences between electronically stored information and traditional paper files, including the vastly greater volume of electronic material; differences in the way that electronic files are created, stored, collected, and archived; and the particular challenges parties face when trying to identify, preserve, and produce potentially relevant electronic material.

Insights

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)....