How does the use of or contribution to open-source software impact your intellectual property rights?
In this month's episode, we’re talking about software and the convoluted risk/reward interplay between patents, copyrights, and open source. Use of free open-source code can be an invaluable tool when building complex software applications. Why reinvent wheels? And depending on resources and budget, sometimes it’s the only practical way. But like with most things, free often isn’t really free. The cost is just transferred somewhere else. When it comes to open source, these short term savings can have significant long term consequences for your intellectual property rights.
⦿ Can you mix open source with commercial software and still keep your code private?
⦿ Can you patent your own software that uses open-source software? If so, could you ever actually assert those rights?
⦿ Can you patent open-source software you author and why would you?
We'll discuss answers to these questions and more. Kristen Hansen, Patent Strategist and software patent guru here at Aurora, leads a discussion along with our all star patent panel, exploring:
⦿ The fundamentals of open-source licensing and how certain viral license types can require you to publicly make available your company’s source code.
⦿ How copyrights, patents, and open-source licenses differ in terms of software protection strategies.
⦿ And whether or not – and why you might – patent open-source software and the often proprietary code that leverages it, as well as the associated patent right assertion risks that can come with doing so.
We look at concerns through the eyes of both users and authors of open source. And pragmatically as we can, highlight how it’s possible to construct a strategy where open-source innovation is encouraged without forgoing all future earning power and without blocking others from using it.
Kristen has worked both as a Software Engineer and a Software Patent Agent for the last two decades. She has worked closely with software inventors from Big Tech Valley giants looking to utilize open-source software, while still maintaining their assertable patent portfolios. We couldn’t think of a better person to lead this conversation! Kristen is also joined today by our always exceptional group of IP experts including:
⦿ Dr. Ashley Sloat, President and Director of Patent Strategy at Aurora
⦿ Dr. David Jackrel, President of Jackrel Consulting
⦿ Ty Davis, Patent Strategy Associate at Aurora
Listen to the podcast:
Learn more: https://www.aurorapatents.com/blog/open-source-and-patent-rights
There are hundreds of open source licenses. Most developers don't take the time to read or understand them, but can you continue to ignore them? We have seen a rise in litigation around open source license over the last 10 years. And, in the last 12 months we have seen the first examples of OSS copyright trolls that are taking developers to court in an attempt to monetize GPL violations.
This presentation covers: How OSS licenses are enforced;
What are the main types of OSS licenses; How to identify them;
and what steps you need to take to ensure you are complying.
We cover use case scenarios and do a "deep dive" on the most used licenses today and how to understand them
Speakers from Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, and Black Duck discuss Open Source Software (OSS) issues from industry and government perspectives. The speakers also delve into the White House open-source policy directive and the impact that releasing federally funded software will have on technology transfer.
OSSF 2018 - Jilayne Lovejoy - Training: Intro to Open SourceFINOS
This training session will cover some of the topics from the OpenChain curriculum, including:
introduction to intellectual property law as related to open source
introduction to open source licenses
overview of using open source software in products and open source license compliance
considerations for open source contributions and projects
The goal of this session is to provide basic foundation knowledge of open source software upon which to start building policy, process and practices within your organization.
From Sensors expo & conference 2016.
Rogue Wave CTO Rod Cope presented on open source software for the IoT and will explain how the devil's in the details.
Open source software (OSS) is growing in software development today especially in the IoT space, driving technical innovation, enabling productivity gains, and touching everything from big data and cloud to mobile and embedded. The use of OSS is favorable, because it decreases the time to market and reduces cost. Despite its importance and reach, there’s little understanding within the development community regarding OSS license obligations and what is requested for compliance.
While it’s free, easy to find, and pushes software to the market faster, it’s vital to understand how to use OSS safely.
There are hundreds of open source licenses. Most developers don't take the time to read or understand them, but can you continue to ignore them? We have seen a rise in litigation around open source license over the last 10 years. And, in the last 12 months we have seen the first examples of OSS copyright trolls that are taking developers to court in an attempt to monetize GPL violations.
This presentation covers: How OSS licenses are enforced;
What are the main types of OSS licenses; How to identify them;
and what steps you need to take to ensure you are complying.
We cover use case scenarios and do a "deep dive" on the most used licenses today and how to understand them
Speakers from Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, and Black Duck discuss Open Source Software (OSS) issues from industry and government perspectives. The speakers also delve into the White House open-source policy directive and the impact that releasing federally funded software will have on technology transfer.
OSSF 2018 - Jilayne Lovejoy - Training: Intro to Open SourceFINOS
This training session will cover some of the topics from the OpenChain curriculum, including:
introduction to intellectual property law as related to open source
introduction to open source licenses
overview of using open source software in products and open source license compliance
considerations for open source contributions and projects
The goal of this session is to provide basic foundation knowledge of open source software upon which to start building policy, process and practices within your organization.
From Sensors expo & conference 2016.
Rogue Wave CTO Rod Cope presented on open source software for the IoT and will explain how the devil's in the details.
Open source software (OSS) is growing in software development today especially in the IoT space, driving technical innovation, enabling productivity gains, and touching everything from big data and cloud to mobile and embedded. The use of OSS is favorable, because it decreases the time to market and reduces cost. Despite its importance and reach, there’s little understanding within the development community regarding OSS license obligations and what is requested for compliance.
While it’s free, easy to find, and pushes software to the market faster, it’s vital to understand how to use OSS safely.
Managing the Software Supply Chain: Policies that Promote Innovation While Op...FINOS
Jeff Luszcz, Flexera Software: Managing the Software Supply Chain: Policies that Promote Innovation While Optimizing Security and Compliance.
Do you build software, sell software consulting services, or contribute to the open source community? Understanding your software supply chain and learning the best way to manage them is worth your time. As the consumption of open source and other third party software increases, companies who know how to manage and influence the supply chain have a competitive advantage over those who don’t do it as well. Developers, Architects, and IP attorneys need to understand the long term impact of leveraging Open Source and Third Party software in their enterprise software, internal tools and web services. Join Jeff Luszcz, VP of Product Management at Flexera, as he walks through best practices to manage OSS in the financial services world.
Presented by Brooks Kushman and Rogue Wave Software at the Embedded Systems Conference. It provides both legal and practical considerations in developing embedded systems using open source software (OSS). It discusses open source development tools, how to integrate OSS into embedded systems and different OSS licenses, and provide a road map to compliance.
Best practices for using open source software in the enterpriseMarcel de Vries
Most of us understand the benefits of using open source software (OSS) and libraries. Heck, even Microsoft embraces it, so why can’t you adopt it as well in your enterprise? Open source can be a blessing and a curse at the same time. We probably all remember incidents like the “heart bleed” vulnerability in a popular open source implementation of SSL. So, if open source becomes more and more prevalent, how can we cope with the challenges that lay at hand? We will be challenged with all sorts of questions in the enterprise: What are the license implications when I take a dependency on a library with a viral type of license? What version of open source libraries are we using and are they the choice of the generic public or did we select one we now need to maintain ourselves? Are there known vulnerabilities in the libraries we use, and if so, are we affected by that? In this session, we take a practical approach to using open source libraries in product development for the enterprise. We touch briefly on the license types and the ones to look out for. We show you how an artefact repository system can help you to answer a lot of the tough questions. Learn how to integrate a system that is very popular, called Nexus, in your continuous deployment strategy and ensure a frictionless experience for your developers. We show integration with NuGet and how to manage open source dependencies using proxy facilities so you can ensure only a curated set of libraries are used, and meet compliance requirements for your business.
On the path to innovation, development teams fear nothing but try to avoid three things: Re-work, lawyers, and, missing deadlines. In this presentation, Rod Cope will discuss what to do when software is not license compliant, to help avoid lawyers getting involved, disrupting schedules and potential architectural or code changes.
How to keep developers happy and lawyers calm (Presented at ESC Boston)Rogue Wave Software
On the path to innovation, development teams fear nothing but try to avoid three things: Re-work, lawyers, and, missing deadlines. In this talk, Rod Cope will discuss what to do when software is not license compliant, to help avoid lawyers getting involved, disrupting schedules and potential architectural or code changes.
The initial step in helping make sure teams are in compliance with open source licenses is education.
The goal is to provide concrete steps towards development teams adopting a vested interest in paying attention to what open source they download and how it's used.
Some open source projects make it very simple to understand what license applies to the published works. Unfortunately, not all projects are created equal.
CAFC Chronicles: Costly Tales of Claim Construction FailsAurora Consulting
The difference between getting claim construction right and getting it wrong is the difference between a valid patent and an invalid patent – and the difference between millions of dollars awarded from infringement decisions vs. ending up with a worthless piece of paper.
In this month’s episode, Dr. David Jackrel, President of Jackrel Consulting, leads a discussion into three real-world applications for patent claim construction, as tested and decided upon by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. This is the highest court in the land under the Supreme Court for handling intellectual property disputes – and establishes much of the legal precedent the patent world has to go on … for better and for worse. The panel dissects the claims for each case, discusses the court’s analysis, and provides tips and strategies for more effective claim drafting in light of the strengths and weaknesses of the litigated patents.
Dave is joined today by our always exceptional group, including:
⦿ Dr. Ashley Sloat, President and Director of Patent Strategy at Aurora
⦿ Kristen Hansen, Patent Strategy Specialist at Aurora
⦿ Ty Davis, Patent Strategy Associate at Aurora
Listen here: https://patentlystrategic.buzzsprout.com/1734511/14991984-cafc-chronicles-costly-tales-of-claim-construction-fails
We’re talking about AI and its impact on the patent system.
This month's episode evaluates where we presently are and considers where it could all be heading. Dr. David Jackrel, President of Jackrel consulting and Dr. Ashley Sloat, President and Director of Patent Strategy at Aurora, lead a two-part discussion with our all-star panel that begins with a deep dive on the present state of AI patent tools for searching, proofreading, drafting, and prosecution – and then moves on to an exploration of how these tools could eventually provide solutions for many problems plaguing the industry including PTAB invalidation rates, hindsight bias, prior art search quality, and the unsustainable bar. Discussion highlights include:
⦿ ChatGPT 4.0 vs. professionals on core competencies
⦿ Why AI is evolving so rapidly
⦿ AI problems and hallucinations
⦿ AI and public disclosure risk
⦿ AI implications for inventorship
⦿ Current state of AI-assisted patent searching, proofreading, drafting (rule and LLM-based), and prosecution tools
⦿ AI's potential future role in the patent system for fixing issues with the PTAB, search quality, and the unsustainable bar
Episode: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1734511/14678900
More Related Content
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Managing the Software Supply Chain: Policies that Promote Innovation While Op...FINOS
Jeff Luszcz, Flexera Software: Managing the Software Supply Chain: Policies that Promote Innovation While Optimizing Security and Compliance.
Do you build software, sell software consulting services, or contribute to the open source community? Understanding your software supply chain and learning the best way to manage them is worth your time. As the consumption of open source and other third party software increases, companies who know how to manage and influence the supply chain have a competitive advantage over those who don’t do it as well. Developers, Architects, and IP attorneys need to understand the long term impact of leveraging Open Source and Third Party software in their enterprise software, internal tools and web services. Join Jeff Luszcz, VP of Product Management at Flexera, as he walks through best practices to manage OSS in the financial services world.
Presented by Brooks Kushman and Rogue Wave Software at the Embedded Systems Conference. It provides both legal and practical considerations in developing embedded systems using open source software (OSS). It discusses open source development tools, how to integrate OSS into embedded systems and different OSS licenses, and provide a road map to compliance.
Best practices for using open source software in the enterpriseMarcel de Vries
Most of us understand the benefits of using open source software (OSS) and libraries. Heck, even Microsoft embraces it, so why can’t you adopt it as well in your enterprise? Open source can be a blessing and a curse at the same time. We probably all remember incidents like the “heart bleed” vulnerability in a popular open source implementation of SSL. So, if open source becomes more and more prevalent, how can we cope with the challenges that lay at hand? We will be challenged with all sorts of questions in the enterprise: What are the license implications when I take a dependency on a library with a viral type of license? What version of open source libraries are we using and are they the choice of the generic public or did we select one we now need to maintain ourselves? Are there known vulnerabilities in the libraries we use, and if so, are we affected by that? In this session, we take a practical approach to using open source libraries in product development for the enterprise. We touch briefly on the license types and the ones to look out for. We show you how an artefact repository system can help you to answer a lot of the tough questions. Learn how to integrate a system that is very popular, called Nexus, in your continuous deployment strategy and ensure a frictionless experience for your developers. We show integration with NuGet and how to manage open source dependencies using proxy facilities so you can ensure only a curated set of libraries are used, and meet compliance requirements for your business.
On the path to innovation, development teams fear nothing but try to avoid three things: Re-work, lawyers, and, missing deadlines. In this presentation, Rod Cope will discuss what to do when software is not license compliant, to help avoid lawyers getting involved, disrupting schedules and potential architectural or code changes.
How to keep developers happy and lawyers calm (Presented at ESC Boston)Rogue Wave Software
On the path to innovation, development teams fear nothing but try to avoid three things: Re-work, lawyers, and, missing deadlines. In this talk, Rod Cope will discuss what to do when software is not license compliant, to help avoid lawyers getting involved, disrupting schedules and potential architectural or code changes.
The initial step in helping make sure teams are in compliance with open source licenses is education.
The goal is to provide concrete steps towards development teams adopting a vested interest in paying attention to what open source they download and how it's used.
Some open source projects make it very simple to understand what license applies to the published works. Unfortunately, not all projects are created equal.
CAFC Chronicles: Costly Tales of Claim Construction FailsAurora Consulting
The difference between getting claim construction right and getting it wrong is the difference between a valid patent and an invalid patent – and the difference between millions of dollars awarded from infringement decisions vs. ending up with a worthless piece of paper.
In this month’s episode, Dr. David Jackrel, President of Jackrel Consulting, leads a discussion into three real-world applications for patent claim construction, as tested and decided upon by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. This is the highest court in the land under the Supreme Court for handling intellectual property disputes – and establishes much of the legal precedent the patent world has to go on … for better and for worse. The panel dissects the claims for each case, discusses the court’s analysis, and provides tips and strategies for more effective claim drafting in light of the strengths and weaknesses of the litigated patents.
Dave is joined today by our always exceptional group, including:
⦿ Dr. Ashley Sloat, President and Director of Patent Strategy at Aurora
⦿ Kristen Hansen, Patent Strategy Specialist at Aurora
⦿ Ty Davis, Patent Strategy Associate at Aurora
Listen here: https://patentlystrategic.buzzsprout.com/1734511/14991984-cafc-chronicles-costly-tales-of-claim-construction-fails
We’re talking about AI and its impact on the patent system.
This month's episode evaluates where we presently are and considers where it could all be heading. Dr. David Jackrel, President of Jackrel consulting and Dr. Ashley Sloat, President and Director of Patent Strategy at Aurora, lead a two-part discussion with our all-star panel that begins with a deep dive on the present state of AI patent tools for searching, proofreading, drafting, and prosecution – and then moves on to an exploration of how these tools could eventually provide solutions for many problems plaguing the industry including PTAB invalidation rates, hindsight bias, prior art search quality, and the unsustainable bar. Discussion highlights include:
⦿ ChatGPT 4.0 vs. professionals on core competencies
⦿ Why AI is evolving so rapidly
⦿ AI problems and hallucinations
⦿ AI and public disclosure risk
⦿ AI implications for inventorship
⦿ Current state of AI-assisted patent searching, proofreading, drafting (rule and LLM-based), and prosecution tools
⦿ AI's potential future role in the patent system for fixing issues with the PTAB, search quality, and the unsustainable bar
Episode: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1734511/14678900
Claim Construction: Building Strong Patent FoundationsAurora Consulting
Claim construction is a process in which courts attempt to interpret the meaning and scope of the claims of a patent. It’s sort of like reverse engineering – or maybe more accurately reconstructing – what an inventor and their practitioner meant back when they drafted the patent application. While your patent might not be tested in a court for many years, understanding the sometimes surprising language specifics and context traps while drafting now can help set you up for success later when defending your patent or attempting to stop an infringer. The words you choose now and the support you provide when drafting are your opportunity to help derisk the process of courts and juries later interpreting what you meant. And oftentimes, claim construction can be the KEY FACTOR in resolving disputes even before litigation, with the facts that come out of claim construction deciding the monetary value and payouts in settlements.
In breaking this all down, Kristen and the panel discuss:
* The evolution of claim terms
* Claim construction basics and a historical look at what are called Markman hearings
* Intrinsic evidence vs. extrinsic evidence
* Claim construction in prosecution vs. litigation
The global video game market topped $182 billion in 2022 and is projected to exceed $300 billion by 2026. To put those numbers into perspective, this makes gaming bigger than the film and music industries combined – and dwarfs the combined revenue of the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL! Worldwide boardgame sales, while significantly less, still account for over $2 billion. That’s a whole lotta IP in need of protection, so in this month’s episode, we’re talking games. From patenting classic boardgames like Monopoly and Battleship back in the 1930s to challenges with protecting modern innovations in areas like game development and VR, our experts are breaking down everything you need to know about patenting games so you don’t end up just rolling the dice when investing in protections for your entertaining innovations.
Episode Overview: From Pieces to Pixels
As a bonus, in this month’s episode, we’re bringing you two dealers: Dr. David Jackrel, President of Jackrel Consulting, will be covering the physical realm of board games and toys. Kristen Hansen, Patent Strategist and software guru here at Aurora, will be covering all things computer and video games in the second half. David, Kristen, and the panel discuss:
⦿ Types of IP protection for games including options for patents, trademarks, and copyrights
⦿ Subject matter eligibility concerns for game patents
⦿ Claim analysis examples
⦿ Patentable aspects of video games
⦿ The hierarchy of video game elements
Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1734511/14028086
In this month's podcast episode, we’re talking about claims – the fundamental building blocks of a patent. There simply is not a more important concept to grasp in all of patenting. As a former chief justice of the Federal Circuit once famously said, “The name of the game is the claim.” And in terms of what game you’re playing, the claims are where you separate the patents playing checkers from the patents playing chess.
This is where your patent practitioner earns their money and as you’ll learn today, also where the mostly costly mistakes can be born. As David Cohen, a Patently Strategic regular, has said in the past, "Ninety percent of the mental exercise in drafting patents is in the strategy of looking around corners, anticipating the future, and trying to capture as many would-be infringers as possible.” How your claims are crafted is literally the difference between a patent being an intellectual asset and a worthless stack of paper.
In this month’s episode, Ty Davis, Patent Strategy Associate here at Aurora, leads a discussion, along with our all star patent panel, delving deeply into:
⦿ Claim fundamentals
⦿ Claim drafting strategies
⦿ How to think about claims in the context of infringement
⦿ And in the game of patenting, how to move like a queen, so you’re not treated like a pawn.
Ty is joined by our always exceptional group of IP experts, including:
⦿ Dr. Ashley Sloat, President and Director of Patent Strategy at Aurora
⦿ Kristen Hansen, Patent Strategist at Aurora
⦿ Dr. David Jackrel, President of Jackrel Consulting
⦿ Marie Smyth, Patent Agent, formerly with Greenberg Traurig and Meta
⦿ Porter Thames, J.D. and Patent Agent at SMU Science and Technology Law Review
** Mossoff Minute **
This month's Mossoff Minute, featuring Professor Adam Mossoff, looks at the poorly named Advancing America's Interests Act and its potential impact on the ITC being able to block import of products that infringe on American patents.
Podcast: https://patentlystrategic.buzzsprout.com/1734511/13729977-patent-claims-the-name-of-the-game
Life science patents have grown increasingly vulnerable to rejection and invalidation due to subject matter eligibility and enablement interpretations. The implications are staggering with over 80% of abandoned life science applications having a final rejection stating that the innovation did not include patentable subject matter. In this talk, we’ll explore how to avoid these rejections, understand the implications for new drugs, and provide practical tips for creating robust life science patents.
In this month's episode, we’re talking about the use of government grants and the strings that can come attached to your IP! We’re exploring the various types of small business research grants, how the Bayh-Dole Act regulates inventions generated under government grants, licensing and ownership implications for your patent when using federal dollars, and the sticky webs that you may find yourself in if you are not carefully tracking IP and adhering to the numerous provisions and timelines.
Dr. Ashley Sloat, President and Director of Patent Strategy here at Aurora, leads the discussion along with our all-star patent panel, exploring:
⦿ How the Bye-Dole Act of 1980 regulates inventions under government grants
⦿ As a small business, what types of grants are available to you and whether or not they can cover IP-related costs
⦿ The rights of the federal government to your Invention when you use grant money
⦿ Implications for using subcontractors to perform the work under the grant
⦿ And of course, some of the biggest gotcha’s and practical tips for avoiding them
Ashley is also joined today by our always exceptional group of IP experts including:
⦿ Kristen Hansen, Patent Strategy Specialist at Aurora
⦿ Dr. David Jackrel, President of Jackrel Consulting
⦿ Ty Davis, Patent Strategy Associate at Aurora
** Mossoff Minute **
This month's Mossoff Minute, featuring Professor Adam Mossoff, looks at the introduction of a very important piece of patent reform legislation called the PREVAIL Act.
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We’re leading off Season 3 with a close look at a Supreme Court patent case that could have profound impacts on the invention enablement problems we covered heavily in Season 2. SCOTUS is set to hear opening arguments in Amgen v Sanofi on March 27th. For the first time in over 75 years, the Supreme Court is evaluating the meaning and scope of the enablement requirement. For those who’ve been following along, you’ll know that this has become one of the bigger issues plaguing patenting and especially so in the life sciences.
Dr. Ashley Sloat, President and Director of Patent Strategy at Aurora, leads our discussion today along with our all star patent panel, exploring the scientific background around antibodies necessary to understand the claims, a brief case history of Amgen v Sanofi, an overview of the enablement factors and tests that have been historically applied in courts and how they might apply to this case, and a discussion around open questions and the potential unintended consequences of the Supreme Court only taking up one-half of the two-sided enablement coin. This ends up being a really great, spirited conversation with panel members coming down strongly on both sides of the case with very compelling arguments – really highlighting the complexities and fundamental issues the court will have to face.
Ashley is joined today by our always exceptional group of IP experts including:
⦿ David Cohen, Principal at Cohen Sciences
⦿ Kristen Hansen, Patent Strategist at Aurora
⦿ David Jackrel, President of Jackrel Consulting
⦿ Ty Davis, Patent Strategy Associate at Aurora
Foreign filing licenses – surprisingly sneaky and easy to overlook, but can come with significant consequences if you do. Many countries, including the US, require inventors to receive special permission to file with patent offices outside of the inventor’s …or invention’s… country. A foreign filing license is a government issued document that represents this permission for inventors and companies to file in foreign countries. Failing to receive this permission can come with serious ramifications including fines, patent revocation, and even imprisonment!
Why so serious? Well, like with most matters of foreign export compliance, it comes down to each nation’s strong desire to protect its own security and economic interests. Allowing ideas to cross borders comes with the risk of the unauthorized exportation of technologies and sensitive information that could have implications for military applications, national security, and state secrets.
In this month’s episode, we're bringing you along for a tale of international mystery and intrigue and into the clandestine world of foreign filing licenses. Ty Davis, Patent Strategy Associate at Aurora, along with our all star patent panel, discusses:
⦿ The three main categories of filing license requirements
⦿ Strategies for data collection and how to navigate potential conflicts
⦿ And some example walkthroughs of international filing conflicts and their resolutions
Ty is joined by our always exceptional group of IP experts, including:
⦿ Ashley Sloat, President and Director of Patent Strategy at Aurora
⦿ Kristen Hansen, Patent Strategist at Aurora
⦿ David Jackrel, President of Jackrel Consulting
https://www.aurorapatents.com/patently-strategic-podcast.html
If there was a guidebook we could hand to inventors on the first day following the conception of their idea, this episode would be it.
When is it safe to talk about or sell your invention? How do you hedge against invalidation and rejection from competitor IP? How do you ensure you actually own your invention?
In this month’s episode, Dr. Ashley Sloat, President and Director of Patent Strategy at Aurora, leads a discussion along with our all star patent panel, exploring the most common patenting missteps taken by inventors and startups. The focus largely centers around three key areas:
1) Publicly disclosing your invention before you have filed a patent application.
2) Not searching to see if your invention or something similar already exists commercially or in publicly available resources.
3) Not carefully contracting with outside vendors and employees to make sure you own your invention.
The group highlights best practices for not making the mistakes in the first place and explores available remedial options should you already be in need of a rescue line.
Ashley is also joined today by our always exceptional group of IP experts including:
⦿ Kristen Hansen, Patent Strategist at Aurora
⦿ Ty Davis, Patent Strategy Associate at Aurora
⦿ David Jackrel, President of Jackrel Consulting
Think your innovation is sufficiently enabled to secure, defend, and assert your patent rights? If it’s a biological, chemical, or emerging technology invention then you might want to think again. In today’s episode we’re looking into how to get more predictable results from the unpredictable arts.
Some technologies, like those rooted in physics and mechanics, are considered “predictable” by the US Patent Office, while others, like biological and chemical technologies, are generally considered “unpredictable.” It follows that the amount of disclosure required to enable an invention is related to the predictability of the technology, and so-called unpredictable arts require more description to teach a reader how to “make and use” the technology. Similarly, emerging technologies, being less well known, also require more disclosure to be fully enabled.
In this month’s episode, David Jackrel, President of Jackrel Consulting, leads a discussion along with our all star patent panel, exploring enablement for the unpredictable arts and emerging technologies. The panel discusses peculiarities of patenting unpredictable art and emerging technologies, with a focus on modern case law and statutes to arrive at a set of best practices for getting more predictable results when patenting these technologies.
Dave is also joined today by our always exceptional group of IP experts including:
⦿ Dr. Ashley Sloat, President and Director of Patent Strategy at Aurora
⦿ Kristen Hansen, Patent Strategist at Aurora
⦿ Shelley Couturier, Patent Strategist and Search Specialist
Before joining the group, as we often do, we’d like to provide a short primer on some key concepts in this episode for those newer to the world of patenting. This primer covers:
⦿ Section 112
⦿ What is the MPEP?
⦿ Specification vs. Claims
⦿ Genus vs. Species Claims
⦿ Markush Groups
Into the Patentverse Vol. 2: AR, VR, and Virtual InfringementAurora Consulting
We’re slipping our headsets on and heading back into the metaverse! Earlier this year, we began our foray into this world with a deep dive into the building blocks that could very well form the structural and economic underpinnings of the metaverse by exploring the tech concepts and IP implications surrounding Web 3.0, blockchain, cryptocurrency, and NFTs. Today we build on this, by expanding our conversation into the most likely interfaces for the metaverse, as well as how patentability and infringement could play out as we meld innovations between the physical and digitals realms.
In this month’s episode, Kristen Hansen, Patent Strategist and software patent guru here at Aurora, leads a discussion along with our all star patent panel, exploring questions including:
⦿ What is the metaverse?
⦿ How do virtual and augmented realities fit in?
⦿ And what does infringement look like in the metaverse or what might it look like in the future?
Along the way, the group also shares some great tips for drafting claims around the virtual world to get around physical world prior art, as well as some pointers for avoiding split infringement for processes that are performed in a distributed manner – as will almost always be the case with metaverse-based innovations.
Kristen worked on VR and AR patents for nearly a decade, including those held by some of the Valley giants looking to define the space. We honestly couldn’t think of a better person to lead this conversation. Kristen is also joined today by our always exceptional group of IP experts including:
⦿ Dr. Ashley Sloat, President and Director of Patent Strategy at Aurora
⦿ David Jackrel, President of Jackrel Consulting
⦿ Ty Davis, Patent Strategy Associate
⦿ Dr. Sophia Li, Patent Strategy Fellow
Word choice matters a great deal in the world of patenting. You’re using the English language to draw a picture around highly technical concepts. The precision with which this is done, down to the semantic level, can make all of the difference when it comes to your patent application being rejected or granted – and the future likelihood of your ability to assert your rights or defend against invalidation. Word choice too narrow or overly specific – and you can easily be designed around by competitors. Word choice too broad and only describing what something is vs what it does and you risk rejection or invalidation for what will be ruled as linguistic tricks to get more coverage than what you actually invented. The tension is real and the case law interpretation is fluid, but it all still comes down to determining if the chosen words will enable a person of ordinary skill in the art to carry out an invention – in the interest of other inventors being able to build on the idea, while also avoiding trespassing with infringement.
One very particular place this tension between breadth of coverage and specificity in enablement arises is with the concept of Means-Plus-Function claim language. In this month’s episode, Dr. Ashley Sloat, President and Director of Patent Strategy here at Aurora, leads a discussion, along with our all star patent panel, into the nuanced world of Means-Plus-Function claiming. The group digs into the statute, explores relevant case law in an analysis of the kinds of word choices that have and haven’t caused problems for inventors, and also provides some great drafting tips for de-risking the use of Means-Plus-Function claim language.
Ashley is joined today by our always exceptional group of IP experts including:
⦿ Kristen Hansen, Patent Strategist at Aurora
⦿ Dr. David Jackrel, President of Jackrel Consulting
⦿ David Cohen, Principal at Cohen Sciences
⦿ Shelley Couturier, Patent Strategist and Search Specialist
Before jumping into the deep with the panel, we also provide a quick primer on key concepts including specification vs claims, Section 112 enablement, functional claim language, and nonce words.
In this month's episode of the Patently Strategic Podcast, we’re discussing a recent court decision that judges have said could threaten "most every invention for which a patent has ever been granted", turning the patent system into a "litigation gamble."
Dr. David Jackrel, President of Jackrel Consulting, leads a discussion into American Axle’s recent bid to have the Supreme Court overturn a lower court decision that invalidated the company’s patent in a closely followed legal battle with rival Neapco Holdings. This case offered a much anticipated opportunity to more broadly clarify patent eligibility in a time where many believe that court precedent has undermined the U.S. patent process and, in the words of retired U.S. Court of Appeals Chief Judge Paul Michel, “confused and distorted the law of eligibility”, making it an “illogical, unpredictable, chaotic” mess. Critics of these rulings and the resulting present state of IP law claim that the confusion and inconsistency has led to courts canceling many patents that should be protected. The Solicitor General has stated that problems arising from the application of Section 101 have “made it difficult for inventors, businesses, and other patent stakeholders to reliably and predictably determine what subject matter is patent eligible”.
Despite cries for help and urges to provide clarification from multiple presidential administrations, the Solicitor General, members of Congress, the Federal Circuit Court, IP bar associations, and the Patent Office, the Supreme Court refused to hear this case, leaving many inventors and industries in limbo since as a USPTO spokesperson said after the ruling, innovation "cannot thrive in uncertainty."
David and our all star patent panel discuss the case law, its implications, how present statute is being conflated and taking section 101 well beyond its gatekeeping function, and in their analysis of the American Axle patent, provide some great tips that may have changed American Axle’s present fate – and can hopefully improve your odds of success if approached intentionally at the drafting stage.
Blog: https://www.aurorapatents.com/blog/american-axle-ip-uncertainty-for-the-innovation-economy
Podcast: https://patentlystrategic.buzzsprout.com/1734511/11226664-from-alice-to-axle-ip-uncertainty-for-the-innovation-economy
Prenuptial Patenting: Responsible Engagement with Engineering FirmsAurora Consulting
You have your big idea and now it’s time to breathe it into existence, but you need some help with the development. Like many others, you may turn to the aid of an engineering firm or dev shop. This relationship is a marriage of sorts. But it’s a marriage that is designed to inevitably end in divorce. How cleanly, smoothly, and successfully this separation goes depends on the steps that you take before it officially begins.
Dr. Ashley Sloat, President and Director of Patent Strategy at Aurora, leads a discussion into Responsible Engagement with Engineering Firms, or what we affectionately refer to here as “Prenuptial Patenting”. Ashley and our all star patent panel walk you down the aisle and explore everything you need to know to experience marital bliss and an amicable divorce with your engineering partners. This talk covers the full life cycle from vetting partners to post development concerns and everything in between – with particular focus on relationship complexities like IP ownership, assignment from engineering firm inventors back to you, and how to avoid the traps of viral IP.
Blog post: https://www.aurorapatents.com/blog/prenuptial-patenting
Podcast Episode: https://patentlystrategic.buzzsprout.com
Fortifying Life Science Patents: Eligibility and EnablementAurora Consulting
The life sciences are currently facing at least two major plagues in our patent world. The first is that many life science innovations have been deemed ineligible in terms of patentable subject matter. In other words, the courts and the patent office believe that the patent laws are not meant to protect these innovations. The second plague is that the courts believe that many life sciences patents are not enabled. In other words, they are not described in sufficient detail to enable one of skill in the art to make and use the invention.
These subject matter eligibility and enablement plagues manifest in dreaded Section 101 and 112 rejections. In this month’s episode, Dr. Ashley Sloat, President and Director of Patent Strategy at Aurora, leads a discussion, along with our all star patent panel, delving deeply into these rejections and, in the interest of avoiding a podcast 101 rejection, provides some very practical application tips that will help to fortify your life science patent applications.
Blog post: https://www.aurorapatents.com/blog/fortifying-life-science-patents
Podcast Episode: https://patentlystrategic.buzzsprout.com
Web 3 and IP: Cryptocurrencies, Blockchain, and NFTsAurora Consulting
“Metaverse” is the buzziest of the buzzwords in tech and will soon be joining the ranks of “AI” and “ML” as requisite keywords in the next generation of pitch decks and patent applications. But what are the core components of the Metaverse? And what are their implications in the world of intellectual property? The Patently Strategic Podcast will be exploring this topic over the course of several upcoming episodes.
** Web 3.0: Metaverse Building Block **
We begin our exploration with Web 3.0. While it may prove to be the next great tech revolution, the broad shape and definition of the Metaverse is still more firmly baked in science fiction than in commercial tech reality. Many of its core building blocks, however, are likely right in front of our eyes (or headsets, perhaps). History shows that most major technology revolutions are rarely leaps, but instead evolutionary products of incremental steps, composed of many existing building blocks, met with market readiness. The Web 3.0 innovations of blockchain, cryptocurrency, and NFTs that are taking shape in front of us will no doubt be among these essential building blocks. With an ability to touch both our physical and virtual worlds, cryptocurrencies could form the monetary basis for all economic activity in the Metaverse. NFTs make it possible for unique items to exist and assets to be exclusively owned in the digital realm. The very foundations and infrastructure for the Metaverse and its virtual worlds could be built on blockchain.
Perhaps the Metaverse is simply how we experience the third major phase of the web – or maybe in its purest, most decentralized form, the Metaverse is built entirely on top of it. In any case, it's hard to imagine a future where the two are not inextricably linked.
** IP Implications **
This third phase of the internet also poses some of the most interesting questions for the world of IP. What will the impact be on digital property rights in a secure marketplace, governed by smart contracts? How will copyrights play in digital worlds with their own art and governance? Is there merit in considering a new type of protection category outside of patents and copyrights?
** Episode Overview **
In our inaugural IPWatchdog episode, Kristen Hansen, Patent Strategist and software patent guru, leads a discussion along with our all star patent panel, digging into:
* The fundamentals of blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and NFTs – and why the hype
* The state of the technology
* Questions around what web evolution, blockchain, and NFT technology means for IP ownership
Strategies for protecting blockchain and cryptocurrency innovations
Podcast Link: https://patentlystrategic.buzzsprout.com/1734511/10694308-into-the-patentverse-web-3-0-blockchain-cryptocurrency-and-nfts
Blog post: https://www.aurorapatents.com/blog/new-podcast-into-the-patentverse-vol-1
Demystifying the concept of Common Ownership and how it can be leveraged to disqualify prior art that might otherwise cause a rejection during prosecution.
Dr. Ashley Sloat, President and Director of Patent Strategy at Aurora leads this discussion, digging into Common Ownership exceptions, joint research exceptions, and terminal disclaimer practice.
Podcast: https://patentlystrategic.buzzsprout.com/1734511/10647883-common-ownership-whose-prior-art-is-it-anyway
Blog post: https://www.aurorapatents.com/blog/new-podcast-common-ownership
Inventorship: Who should be listed as an inventor for a patent?Aurora Consulting
In the US especially, patents are granted to inventors. More often than not, that’s more than one person and the ideas themselves are fluid concepts that often evolve through many handoffs from initial conception through implementation and sometimes even throughout patent prosecution, but how do we determine who all should – and is legally required to be – named as an inventor?
In the constitutionally expressed interest of protecting inventors and the conception of their ideas, failure to include the right people can be a death sentence for a patent and grounds for invalidity.
Daniel Wright, Partnership Manager and Patent Strategist here at Aurora, leads a deep dive into the origins of inventorship, breaks down who is and isn’t eligible for inclusion as an inventor, and explains how improper inventorship could result in revoked patent rights.
Podcast: https://patentlystrategic.buzzsprout.com/1734511/9603758-inventorship-who-should-be-listed-as-an-inventor-for-a-patent
Blog post: https://www.aurorapatents.com/blog/new-podcast-inventorship
DevOps and Testing slides at DASA ConnectKari Kakkonen
My and Rik Marselis slides at 30.5.2024 DASA Connect conference. We discuss about what is testing, then what is agile testing and finally what is Testing in DevOps. Finally we had lovely workshop with the participants trying to find out different ways to think about quality and testing in different parts of the DevOps infinity loop.
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 4DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 4. In this session, we will cover Test Manager overview along with SAP heatmap.
The UiPath Test Manager overview with SAP heatmap webinar offers a concise yet comprehensive exploration of the role of a Test Manager within SAP environments, coupled with the utilization of heatmaps for effective testing strategies.
Participants will gain insights into the responsibilities, challenges, and best practices associated with test management in SAP projects. Additionally, the webinar delves into the significance of heatmaps as a visual aid for identifying testing priorities, areas of risk, and resource allocation within SAP landscapes. Through this session, attendees can expect to enhance their understanding of test management principles while learning practical approaches to optimize testing processes in SAP environments using heatmap visualization techniques
What will you get from this session?
1. Insights into SAP testing best practices
2. Heatmap utilization for testing
3. Optimization of testing processes
4. Demo
Topics covered:
Execution from the test manager
Orchestrator execution result
Defect reporting
SAP heatmap example with demo
Speaker:
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
The Art of the Pitch: WordPress Relationships and SalesLaura Byrne
Clients don’t know what they don’t know. What web solutions are right for them? How does WordPress come into the picture? How do you make sure you understand scope and timeline? What do you do if sometime changes?
All these questions and more will be explored as we talk about matching clients’ needs with what your agency offers without pulling teeth or pulling your hair out. Practical tips, and strategies for successful relationship building that leads to closing the deal.
JMeter webinar - integration with InfluxDB and GrafanaRTTS
Watch this recorded webinar about real-time monitoring of application performance. See how to integrate Apache JMeter, the open-source leader in performance testing, with InfluxDB, the open-source time-series database, and Grafana, the open-source analytics and visualization application.
In this webinar, we will review the benefits of leveraging InfluxDB and Grafana when executing load tests and demonstrate how these tools are used to visualize performance metrics.
Length: 30 minutes
Session Overview
-------------------------------------------
During this webinar, we will cover the following topics while demonstrating the integrations of JMeter, InfluxDB and Grafana:
- What out-of-the-box solutions are available for real-time monitoring JMeter tests?
- What are the benefits of integrating InfluxDB and Grafana into the load testing stack?
- Which features are provided by Grafana?
- Demonstration of InfluxDB and Grafana using a practice web application
To view the webinar recording, go to:
https://www.rttsweb.com/jmeter-integration-webinar
Epistemic Interaction - tuning interfaces to provide information for AI supportAlan Dix
Paper presented at SYNERGY workshop at AVI 2024, Genoa, Italy. 3rd June 2024
https://alandix.com/academic/papers/synergy2024-epistemic/
As machine learning integrates deeper into human-computer interactions, the concept of epistemic interaction emerges, aiming to refine these interactions to enhance system adaptability. This approach encourages minor, intentional adjustments in user behaviour to enrich the data available for system learning. This paper introduces epistemic interaction within the context of human-system communication, illustrating how deliberate interaction design can improve system understanding and adaptation. Through concrete examples, we demonstrate the potential of epistemic interaction to significantly advance human-computer interaction by leveraging intuitive human communication strategies to inform system design and functionality, offering a novel pathway for enriching user-system engagements.
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 3DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 3. In this session, we will cover desktop automation along with UI automation.
Topics covered:
UI automation Introduction,
UI automation Sample
Desktop automation flow
Pradeep Chinnala, Senior Consultant Automation Developer @WonderBotz and UiPath MVP
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
Kubernetes & AI - Beauty and the Beast !?! @KCD Istanbul 2024Tobias Schneck
As AI technology is pushing into IT I was wondering myself, as an “infrastructure container kubernetes guy”, how get this fancy AI technology get managed from an infrastructure operational view? Is it possible to apply our lovely cloud native principals as well? What benefit’s both technologies could bring to each other?
Let me take this questions and provide you a short journey through existing deployment models and use cases for AI software. On practical examples, we discuss what cloud/on-premise strategy we may need for applying it to our own infrastructure to get it to work from an enterprise perspective. I want to give an overview about infrastructure requirements and technologies, what could be beneficial or limiting your AI use cases in an enterprise environment. An interactive Demo will give you some insides, what approaches I got already working for real.
LF Energy Webinar: Electrical Grid Modelling and Simulation Through PowSyBl -...DanBrown980551
Do you want to learn how to model and simulate an electrical network from scratch in under an hour?
Then welcome to this PowSyBl workshop, hosted by Rte, the French Transmission System Operator (TSO)!
During the webinar, you will discover the PowSyBl ecosystem as well as handle and study an electrical network through an interactive Python notebook.
PowSyBl is an open source project hosted by LF Energy, which offers a comprehensive set of features for electrical grid modelling and simulation. Among other advanced features, PowSyBl provides:
- A fully editable and extendable library for grid component modelling;
- Visualization tools to display your network;
- Grid simulation tools, such as power flows, security analyses (with or without remedial actions) and sensitivity analyses;
The framework is mostly written in Java, with a Python binding so that Python developers can access PowSyBl functionalities as well.
What you will learn during the webinar:
- For beginners: discover PowSyBl's functionalities through a quick general presentation and the notebook, without needing any expert coding skills;
- For advanced developers: master the skills to efficiently apply PowSyBl functionalities to your real-world scenarios.
FIDO Alliance Osaka Seminar: The WebAuthn API and Discoverable Credentials.pdf
Open Source and Patent Rights: Collaboration with Consequences
1. Patently Strategic
Musings
KRISTEN HANSEN| February 28, 2023
Patents, Copyrights, and Open Source
This presentation is for information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
2. WELCOME! – Format
•10 Minutes Ice: Breaker
•15-20 Minutes: Problem Solving
•30-35 Minutes: New Material
4. Shared Problem Solving
• Fun Strategy Tidbits?
• Any problems you are encountering
with the USPTO?
• Any practice issues arising?
• Any technical issues you are facing?
5. Overview
•Patents, Copyrights & Open Source
Differentiation
•How to protect Open Source Software (OSS)
•When you might want to patent something
you will open source
6. Software Protection Strategies
• Utility patents. – protect the functioning of software
• Design patents. – protect ornamental aspects/look of a
component, animations, and GUIs
• Trademarks. – protect slogans, brand names, logos, sounds
• Trade secret. – protect innovations that are not patent eligible,
not ready for patenting, or more valuable as a secret
• Copyright. – protect original works of authorship such as
software code and unique software code expressions
7. Software Protection Strategies (cont.)
• Open Source Software Licenses. Royalty-free, copyright
licenses granting 3rd parties the rights to copy, modify and
distribute software code
• Copyleft. OSS license requiring derivative works to distribute
using the same license terms as the open source code
• Can be highly insidious -- makes your software open source and
eliminates proprietary rights
8. Software Patents vs. Copyrights vs. Open Source
• Copyrights protect the expression (source code) of an
idea and guard against exact replication
• Patents protect the idea and functionality
implemented by the source code
• Open Source Software (OSS) licenses protect the
expression of an idea, but function as royalty free
copyright licenses.
9. Open Source Beginnings
• Circa 1980s - Open Source Concept: whatever you do
or make, give it away for free so others can build with
it and make it better
• PRO Argument Collaboration drives innovation
• CON Argument Competition drives innovation
10. Open Source Licenses
• OSLs comply with the Open Source Definition
• OSLs allow software to be freely used, modified, and shared
• OSLs must be approved by the Open Source Initiative (OSI) (i.e., a
license must go through the OSI’s license review process)
11. Open Source Licenses (cont.)
Many different flavors, but all follow this principal:
• OSLs do not bar a software author from obtaining patent protection nor do
most OSL’s bar a programmer from including their patented features when
they modify someone else’s software previously distributed under such
licenses
However: most of these licenses have clauses that state some version of:
“any patent obtained using this OSS content must be licensed for everyone’s free
use or not licensed at all”
Therefore: an author or modifier who distributes software under the OSS license
typically cannot assert his patent rights against subsequent users and
redistributors of the OSS licensed software
BUT REMEMBER: People who independently create non-OSS software are not
subject to this implied license when they do not use the OSS content
12. Open Source and Patents
• OSS can be and is patented for offensive, defensive,
altruistic, and commercial reasons
• a patent provides additional control over the software
and the underlying innovation - Using patents, it is
possible to construct a strategy whereby open-source
innovation is encouraged without irreversibly forgoing
all future possibility of earning a fair reward or
allowing others to unfairly benefit from your
innovation
13. Why patent software that
uses OSS code/content?
https://medium.com/novalto/why-patent-open-source-software-
b17ca6eb89d9
• the author can use
patent rights against a
competitor who sells a
competing product that
incorporates the
invention that is not a
derivative work of the
author’s original code
• typically, the OSL only
precludes the patent
holder from asserting his
rights against people who
are practicing the
invention by using the
OSL software
14. Why patent software that uses OSS code/content?
From the perspective of a user of the OSS content:
1) Patents are needed to defend open source software
2) Copyright/open source licenses are an ineffective way of
protecting software code
3) You may have code that is not based on OSS code base and
that code may have functionality that is patentable and not
subject to the OSL
15. Why patent software that uses OSS code?
From the perspective of an author of OSS content:
1) Author may plan to license the patent to others to generate
revenue
2) Author may plan to assert his patent rights against
redistributors who do not conform to the OSL terms
3) Author may plan to obtain patent rights to use as an offensive
or defensive weapon against infringers who are not using the
OSS software
4) Author may plan to also distribute a non-OSL version of the
software
16. Example
• You use OSS to build a search engine.
• You design and you code up (1) an algorithm that performs searches in the
search engine in a new way and (2) an algorithm for a new way to display
search results.
Search
Engine
coded
with OSS
New
Innovation (1)
New
Innovation (2)
Browser
Are either of your algorithms
patentable (if found new and
non-obvious) and to what
extent?
17. How can I protect myself when using OSS content?
Use software tools to find content and understand the open
source licensing of any OSS content you use:
• OSS monitoring and screening programs exist – use these tools to detect the
presence of OSS upstream components in your code, your employees’ code, your
contractor’s code, or any merged code that might include OSS content
• When considering software purchases and signing onto software licensing
agreements, it may also be important to have discussions with the licensor about
back-end OSS licensing and the availability of indemnification warranties for
potential open source breach claims
18. Key Takeaways
• When using OSS, understand the license implications
• Understand your rights by reading the fine print of
any OSL that applies to code that you plan to use in
your software
• Keep code for patentable inventions out of public
repositories
• Remember the OSS license implications apply to code
adopted by a contractor as well