Monthly Archives: July 2009

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH v. HEDRICK – ON A (CLEAR) CONCEPTION DAY

From a prosecutor’s standpoint, the ‘231 patent (link at bottom of this post) has “dream claims” to a new class of stem cells. Claim 1 reads: An isolated adipose-derived stem cell that can differentiate into two or more of the … Continue reading

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BIOTECH INDUSTRY IN MINNESOTA – STAYIN’ ALIVE

In its July 3rd issue, the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal published a list of the “Top 25 Biotech Companies.” It tells a pretty sad story. The top 25 companies together employ fewer than 3000 workers in Minnesota. The top … Continue reading

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Board Decision in Ex Parte Roberts Doesn’t Make the Cut

This 2008 pre-Bilski decision is of interest since the Board purportedly applied the Diamond v Diehr “standard” – “[t}ransformation and reduction of an article ‘to a different state or thing’ is the clue to the patentability of a process claim … Continue reading

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Federal Circuit Mows Down Bean Patent – Reading Between the Rows

On July 10, 2009, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in In re Pod-Ners, Appeal No. 2008-1492, affirmed the Board’s rejection of all of the claims of U.S. Pat. No. 5,894,079. The Board had rejected as obvious claims … Continue reading

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