The BakerHostetler Intellectual Property Group has released the second annual edition of its IP Perspectives (BHIPP), an in-depth analysis of the trends and developments in intellectual property, as well as some predictions for the year ahead. Highly anticipated after the success of the 2024 Perspectives, the new edition covered a variety of topics.
The pervasive nature of AI will cause significant shifts in indemnification provisions and enforcement as organizations adapt. With so many changes in the world of IP, including greater exposure to cybersecurity breaches, the ban on employee noncompete agreements and data threats, business need proactive IP strategies to protect their trade secrets. An expert’s testimony can make all the difference in a patent case, but the standards for admissibility are in flux. After reaching the lowest number in 10 years, patent litigation is on a modest upward trend, with the top three districts being the Eastern District of Texas, the Western District of Texas and the District of Delaware. Some of the increase was most likely influenced by changes to district court rules and procedures, making filing in one jurisdiction seem more advantageous than filing in another.
In an unusual ramp-up in activity, the USPTO released new guidance on how patent examiners should evaluate related claims for patent subject matter eligibility and also requested public feedback on a proposed new rule for filing terminal disclaimers to overcome obviousness-type double patenting rejections, which was later withdrawn. Another shake-up in the IP landscape occurred when more than 40 years of precedent was upended as a federal circuit court struck down the Rosen-Durling test for assessing obviousness of design patents. And, in an unusual moment of clarity in 2024, a federal circuit court decision in August 2024 settled certain facts related to obviousness-type double patenting.