Category Archives: patents

Daredevil #17

Posted on August 31, 2012 by | 8 comments

Today’s post covers the latest issue of Daredevil, “Divide by Hero.”  Mark Waid’s run continues to be terrific, and this issue was particularly good.  Most of it is a flashback, so it’s a good issue to check out even if you haven’t been following the series (which you really should be).  A couple of legal issues stood out in this issue, including one involving my personal area of practice, patent law, which doesn’t come up terribly often in comics.  Minor spoilers ahead.

I. Invention Promotion Companies and Other Scams

Part of the flashback story involves a scientist, Elliot Pasko, who had been taken in by a company called Fortknight, which Foggy Nelson describes as “a predator corporation posing as a no-strings endowment fund.  They stake promising young inventors…then bury them with bogus ownership claims, patent infringement allegations, and worse whenever their ‘beneficiaries’ strike gold.”  As it turns out, there are quite a few scams aimed at inventors, though they usually don’t take this form.  Nonetheless, what Foggy describes could work.

The most common form of scam is the ‘invention promotion company.’  The United States Patent and Trademark Office has a useful page that details the common elements of these scams.  Basically they lure inventors with unwarranted promises of success at the Patent Office and easy money, when in reality they either deliver nothing or, at most, an often useless design patent that protects only the non-functional design of a thing.  The kinds of companies are a real problem, particularly for individual inventors, but Fortknight seems to be operating a different kind of scam.

I suspect that the way Fortknight’s scam would work is that the company would promise research funding, but hidden in the agreement would be an assignment of patent rights from the inventor to Fortknight.  Then, as soon as the research was far enough along to apply for a patent, Fortknight would pull the rug out from under the inventor, obtain a patent, and sue the inventor if he or she tried to continue their research elsewhere.  If an inventor assigns their rights, then they can be prevented from making, using, or selling their own invention just like anyone else.

As a side note (and as discussed in our review of Daredevil: Yellow), there’s no reason that Nelson & Murdock couldn’t take this case, since it involves patent litigation rather than practice before the United States Patent & Trademark Office.

II. Profit Sharing and Legal Ethics

Foggy took Pasko’s case under curious terms: “all the pro bono he required in exchange for ten percent of future profits.”  Now, pro bono doesn’t necessarily mean free; it can also mean working at a substantially reduced rate, but this isn’t pro bono work.  This is for-profit work (literally) that is effectively a kind of contingent fee, since if Pasko loses then there definitely won’t be any profits.  But is this kind of thing ethical?  The answer is a highly qualified yes.

In New York, “A lawyer may accept an equity interest in a client if the lawyer complies with the Rule of Professional Conduct governing business transactions with clients and the acceptance does not otherwise create a conflict for the lawyer or result in an excessive fee.”  NYSBA Opinion 913.  Entering into a business transaction with a client in this way brings with it several requirements, including that the transaction be fair, reasonable, and communicated in writing.  The client must also be advised of and be given a reasonable opportunity to seek independent legal advice regarding the transaction.  And the client must communicate his or her informed consent in writing.  Contingent fee arrangements likewise have their own rules, mostly to do with carefully explaining the nature of the fee agreement in writing.  See NY Rule 1.5(c).

Other jurisdictions have taken a similar approach.  See, e.g., LA County Bar Assoc. Formal Opinion No. 507; DC Bar Opinion 300.

I’ll admit that I was a bit surprised by this result.  I knew that lawyers could, under some circumstances, enter into business transactions with clients, and that lawyers could take contingent fees.  But I did not expect that the two could be ethically combined.  I would have thought that combining the risks involved would simply be too much and that ethics committees would opt for a bright line rule prohibiting the practice.

III. Conclusion

Daredevil doesn’t always get the law right, but it’s better than most comics on that score.  And despite my initial skepticism, it looks like it was right this time around as well.  Kudos to Mark Waid for combining accuracy and excellent storytelling.

8 Comments

Posted in intellectual property, legal ethics, patents

Law and the Multiverse Retcon #1

Posted on September 16, 2011 by | 19 comments

This post is the first in an occasional series we’re calling Law and the Multiverse Retcons.  We’ll be using these posts to discuss changes in the law (or corrections to our analysis) that affect older posts.  Today we’re going to discuss the America Invents Act, which was recently passed by Congress and is expected to be signed into law tomorrow.  The AIA is a patent reform act, and among its many changes to US patent law are two that affect topics we’ve written about here on the blog.

I. Batman, Patents, and Absolute Novelty

Way back when the blog was first started we wrote about Batman and patents.  In that post we talked about two related issues.  First, how Batman could use gadgets based on Wayne Enterprises technologies without preventing Wayne Enterprises from filing, and second, how Wayne Enterprises could patent those technologies without revealing it to Batman’s enemies, who might replicate it or exploit its flaws.  In short, the answer was for Batman to use the technology no more than one year before Wayne Enterprises filed a patent application (thus avoiding the “on sale bar“) and for Bruce Wayne to use his Department of Defense connections to have the technology classified so that the Patent Office would not publish the application.

The America Invents Act changes the answer slightly.  With the AIA there is no longer a one year grace period during which an invention can be sold, offered for sale, used, or published before the inventor has to file for a patent. This means that the US joins Europe in requiring what is called “absolute novelty.”  The practical upshot for Batman is that he needs to make sure that Wayne Enterprises has filed for a patent before he uses a new gadget in public. Without the one year grace period even a single public use would be enough to destroy Wayne Enterprises’ patent rights.

(Edit: Technically the AIA preserves a grace period for disclosures made by the inventor or by someone who obtained the technology from the inventor.  The problem is that Batman is usually not the inventor of technologies ‘borrowed’ from Wayne Enterprises, and it would be difficult for Wayne Enterprises to prove that Batman got the technology from them.  With very few exceptions, nobody at Wayne Enterprises knows where Batman gets his gadgets, and those that do know (e.g. Lucius Fox in the movies) aren’t going to tell.)

II. Spider-Man and Gene Patents Redux

Another post that the AIA affects is this mailbag post on Spider-Man and gene patents.  In the 2002 movie Spider-Man, Peter Parker becomes Spider-Man after being bitten by a genetically engineered spider (as opposed to the traditional radioactive one).  In a post on the subject we discussed various reasons why Parker likely wouldn’t be liable for patent infringement if the genetically modified spider were covered by one or more gene patents.

The AIA makes this even simpler.  The Act flatly prohibits any patent that is “directed to or encompass[es] a human organism.”  In order for Parker to be liable the patent’s claims would have to encompass a human organism (namely Parker), and thus the patent would be invalid under the AIA.  We can pretty firmly shut the book on that one, then!

If there are any posts that you’d like us to revisit, let us know by emailing us at james@lawandthemultiverse.com and ryan@lawandthemultiverse.com.

19 Comments

Posted in intellectual property, patents, retcons

Mailbag for April 29, 2011

Posted on April 29, 2011 by | 24 comments

[Be sure to read the update to this post in Law and the Multiverse Retcon #1!]

We have another intellectual property question this week, this time about gene patents and Spider-Man.  As always, if you have questions or post suggestions, please send them to james@lawandthemultiverse.com and ryan@lawandthemultiverse.com or leave them in the comments.

@MrCrumley on Twitter asks: “Have you dealt w/ Spider-Man’s genetically modified dna & the similarities to Monsanto’s suits regarding GM corn?”  Here, MrCrumley is asking about Spider-Man’s origin in the 2002 film, in which he gains his powers from a genetically engineered spider’s bite rather than the traditional radioactive one.  There are a few different issues to consider here, including the patentability of genetically engineered organisms and the nature of gene patents.  First, a brief bit of factual background.

I. Monsanto and GM Crops

For those who don’t know, Monsanto is a large agricultural biotechnology company.  (As it happens the company’s headquarters is about two miles from James’s house).  In particular, it manufactures a wide variety of genetically engineered crops, herbicides, and especially crops that are resistant to those herbicides, thus allowing farmers to spray the herbicides on the crops, killing only the undesirable weeds.

Monsanto requires farmers who buy its seeds to sign an agreement that the farmers will not save and replant seeds from the patented crops, and Monsanto is not afraid to sue farmers who violate that agreement.  The company has sued 145 farmers in the United States, and 11 of those suits went to trial, each time ending in Monsanto’s favor.  This is somewhat unusual because patent infringement cases are generally filed against businesses rather than individual end users.

Perhaps the most controversial Monsanto case occurred in Canada: Monsanto Canada, Inc. v. Schmeiser, 1 S.C.R. 902 (2004).  In that case, the defendant farmer alleged that genetically engineered canola seeds had simply blown onto his fields, and so his subsequent saving and replanting of seeds should not be considered patent infringement.  Specifically, he argued that planting the seeds did not amount to an infringing use of the patented cells and genes.  The Supreme Court of Canada held otherwise.  However, we will focus on US law here.

The question, then, is this: assuming that the genetically engineered spiders were covered by one or more patents, could Spider-Man infringe those patents?

II. The Patentability of Genes and Genetically Modified Organisms

A threshold question is what, exactly, do we mean when we say that the spiders are covered by one or more patents.  People often talk about “gene patents,” but what exactly are they?  In the United States there are two main kinds of claims in gene patents: claims to genetically modified organisms and claims to DNA or proteins produced by DNA.

We should first note that the patentability of DNA sequences is currently the subject of a federal lawsuit, Ass’n for Molecular Pathology v. USPTO, 702 F.Supp.2d 181 (S.D.N.Y 2010) (presently on appeal to the Federal Circuit).  The suit could potentially invalidate all patents claiming an unaltered genetic sequence (i.e. a sequence as it appears in nature, even if the patent claims isolated, purified DNA).

The validity of claims to genetically modified organisms was first recognized in the landmark case Diamond v. Chakrabarty, 447 U.S. 303 (1980).  Although the Chakrabarty case involved a genetically modified bacterium, the Patent Office and the courts have subsequently recognized the validity of patents claiming multi-cellular organisms, including animals.  So presumably a genetically modified spider could be patented.  However, a human couldn’t infringe claims to a genetically modified spider, since, well, a human is not a spider.

So what about claims to the DNA itself?  Claims to DNA generally take the form of “Purified and isolated DNA, wherein the DNA molecule has a nucleotide sequence as set forth in Fig. 1” or “A purified and isolated protein, as an expression product of a transformed host cell containing a DNA molecule coding for the protein, the DNA molecule having a nucleotide sequence as set forth in Fig. 1.”  As you can see, these kinds of claims require a purified, isolated form of DNA, which is not the natural state for DNA in the body, and so Spider-Man wouldn’t infringe such a claim.

Even the second example, a purified and isolated protein (such as the proteins that make up spider silk), wouldn’t apply because spider silk is made up of several proteins.  But one could imagine a patent claiming spider silk produced by a genetically modified organism having a particular DNA sequence.  In fact, a patent application claiming a genetically modified silkworm that produces spider silk was filed in 2010.  So could a patent like that spell trouble for Spider-Man?

We think not.  The patent would likely have to claim a genetically modified spider or another specific organism (e.g. a silkworm or, believe it or not, a goat), which of course would not apply to a human.  A patent that tried to claim a broad class of organisms (e.g. mammals) modified to produce spider silk would be invalid for lack of enablement unless the patent “contain[ed] a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same.”  35 USC 112.  Since genetic engineering is a fairly complex and difficult process, it is unlikely that a patent could describe a general process for modifying organisms to produce spider silk.

The only way Spider-Man could infringe the patent, then, is if it specifically claimed and described a genetically modified human that produced spider silk.  There is no evidence, however, that the scientists in the movie had developed a way to modify a human in that way, and furthermore it is likely that the Fifth and Fourteenth amendments would forbid claims that covered genetically modified humans.  Just for starters, a patent could not grant someone the right to exclude another human from reproducing because the Constitution protects “personal decisions relating to … procreation.”  Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833, 851 (1992).  There would be other problems with, e.g, the unavoidability of infringement, since it would be difficult or impossible to cease infringing.

III. Conclusion

Spider-Man is almost certainly safe from a patent infringement suit.  Either the patents simply wouldn’t cover him or, if they did, they would be invalid for doing so.  This same analysis applies to pretty much any superpowered character whose abilities come from genetic mutations or modifications.  While gene patents may be controversial for many reasons, the threat of lawsuits against superheroes isn’t one of them.

That’s it for this week.  Keep your questions coming in!

24 Comments

Posted in intellectual property, mailbag, patents

Batman and Patents

Posted on November 16, 2010 by | 25 comments

[Be sure to read the update to this post in Law and the Multiverse Retcon #1!]

Batman’s use of gadgets developed by Wayne Enterprises poses an intellectual property strategy problem for the company.  Specifically, Batman’s public use of the inventions may actually prevent WE from obtaining patent protection.  Luckily, there’s a solution, albeit one that requires a little help from Bruce Wayne’s friends in the Department of Defense.

Batman is well known for his use of gadgets, many of which are based on advanced technology unavailable on the open market.  Some times these gadgets are explained as the product of Bruce Wayne’s own considerable intellect.  In other cases the gadgets have their origin with Wayne Enterprises R&D, perhaps with some modifications for Batman’s purposes.

Of course, Batman must always be ahead of the curve, so over time his gadgets have advanced to keep pace with technology.  The flip side is that over time gadgets and advanced technologies that were once exclusive to Batman fall into common use, perhaps sold by Wayne Enterprises.

And therein lies the problem, at least for gadgets that come out of Wayne Enterprises R&D.  Like many businesses, presumably Wayne Enterprises would seek to patent its inventions.  But Batman’s own use of the inventions in public may prevent Wayne Enterprises from obtaining a patent.  In the US, you generally cannot obtain a patent on something that was “in public use or on sale in this country, more than one year prior to the date of the application for patent in the United States.”  35 USC 102(b).  This is known as the “on sale bar,” and it is a strict statutory bar to patentability.  So if Batman starts using a new Wayne Enterprises technology in a gadget more than a year prior to the patent filing, then he may have ruined the company’s chance at a patent.

Of course, Wayne Enterprises could always file for a patent before the one year grace period is up, but that would mean disclosing the technology to the public 18 months later when the patent application is published by the Patent and Trademark Office. 35 USC 122(b)(1)(A).  At most Batman would have 30 months in which to use the technology before supervillains could look it up online and start copying it (presumably supervillains are not concerned with patent infringement suits).

As Bruce Wayne, Batman could also keep the Wayne Enterprises technology to himself: using it in public–and thus destroying patentability–but also ordering Wayne Enterprises R&D to keep the technology on the shelf.  In the end Wayne Enterprises still loses, whether because competitors can copy the unpatentable technology or because the company is prevented from selling the technology.

So Batman’s use of Wayne Enterprise technology puts Bruce Wayne between a rock and a hard place: either harm the company that indirectly finances his heroics by using the technology in public or concede a round of the technological arms race by allowing the technology to be disclosed in a patent.

You might be thinking that all this talk of “public use” is a bit silly.  After all, Batman isn’t exactly walking around giving public demonstrations of his latest gadgets, much less explaining how they work.  The patent laws, however, take a broad view of what constitutes public use.  It was long ago established that it is enough that a single instance of the invention was used by a single person in public, even if the device itself and its method of operation were not visible (e.g., a hidden piece of armor beneath Batman’s costume).  Egbert v. Lippman, 104 U.S. 333, 336 (1881).  The purpose of the on sale bar is to induce inventors to disclose their inventions early; if the invention works well enough to use it in public, then it works well enough to be patented.

There is an exception to the public use bar for experimentation, but it is a narrow one, and it may not be practical in this case.  In general the exception requires that the experimentation be done by or at the direction of the inventor as part of the development and testing of the invention.  City of Elizabeth v. Pavement Co., 97 U.S. 126, 134 (1877).  Although Batman often uses gadgets that are not yet fully developed, it is doubtful that Wayne Enterprises would call Batman to the stand to testify that he was using a new gadget at the behest of a Wayne Enterprises scientist in order to test its performance under real world conditions.

Furthermore, the experimental use exception also requires that the testing necessarily be in public, such as in the case of a new pavement material.  Id.  But most if not all of Batman’s gadgets could be tested in a lab or other testing facility.  It’s hard to argue that it’s necessary to test them on actual supervillains and criminals

But now you might be saying: if Batman keeps his use of the gadget secret, and the criminals he catches don’t understand or even notice the new technology, how will this ever be a problem in practice?  Who’s going to snitch?  I think there are two major possibilities.  First, Batman doesn’t always have the luxury of operating in the shadows.  Sometimes he works in public, and cameras and bystanders may observe new technology in use.  But the second and more serious problem is that Bruce Wayne himself and possibly other Wayne Enterprises employees (e.g., Lucius Fox) know of Batman’s use of the technology.  Would Bruce Wayne really be willing to break the law in order for Wayne Enterprises to make more money?  Or would he choose for the company to forgo a patent in order to keep crime-fighting technology secret a while longer?  I think he would probably choose the latter.

There is hope, however.  Patent applications that include classified information are not published until either a set time period has expired or the secrecy order has been lifted. 35 USC 181; MPEP 120.  But neither do such applications mature into patents; effectively they are held in limbo while they remain classified.  So if Bruce Wayne could convince, say, the Department of Defense to classify a given technology, then Wayne Enterprises could apply for a patent early on, Batman could use the technology, and once the time was right the classification could be lifted, the patent could issue, and Wayne Enterprises could make a lot of money.  Given that Wayne Enterprises does a lot of work for the US military, this is a plausible solution to the problem.

25 Comments

Posted in Batman, intellectual property, patents