MARCH 2018

Innovation Review

Monthly information on a variety of economic, business, and technology related legal news as well as highlights and profiles of resources and events across New York state.

 

News from the Center

 
SoraLinks

NYSSTLC Helps Local Airspace Intelligence Company

Tim Monroe founded SoraLinks, a New York-based tech company aimed at providing a product for the drone industry, only a year ago. While attending a FuzeHub Solutions Forum in July, Monroe was introduced to the services provided by NYSSTLC. Monroe later met with Sean Assad, a third year law student at Syracuse University College of Law and NYSSTLC research associate, who completed a market and regulatory analysis for Monroe as well as researched the IP landscape. “NYSSTLC has access to incredible and extensive databases and can provide a great analysis of the status of existing, competitive IP for technologies like mine,” Monroe told FuzeHub. “This is key for entrepreneurs like me who are going through the IP and patent process.” This connection to NYSSTLC later helped Monroe and SoraLinks secure a $25,000 funding award from the Syracuse Technology Garden’s “Grants for Growth” program. For more on SoraLinks and NYSSTLC’s role, click here.

 

IP/Regulatory Law Watch

 

Iancu Begins First Months as New USPTO Director

Last month, Andrei Iancu was officially confirmed and sworn in as director of the USPTO. During his ceremonial swearing-in, Iancu stated that the goal of the USPTO “must endeavor to provide reliable, predictable, and high-quality IP rights that give owners and the public alike confidence in those rights.” Before joining the USPTO, Iancu was Managing Partner at Irell & Manella LLP where he focused on IP litigation. He also taught patent law at the UCLA School of Law. Nominated by President Trump in 2017, Iancu stated during his confirmation hearing in November that he will aim to bring more reliability to the US patent system. In addition, Iancu will look to assess and improve inter partes review (IPR) and post-grant review (PGR) proceedings at the PTAB now that the office has more experience since the America Invents Act (AIA) was passed in 2011.

tradesecret

Protecting Trade Secrets in Terms of Use

Last month, The Southern District of New York ruled that a purported holder of a trade secret cannot claim trade secret protections when it does not put a confidentiality provision in the Terms of Use of its software license. In the case, Broker Genius Inc. vs. Zalta, Plaintiff Broker Genius filed a complaint against NRZ Entertainment, alleging violations of trade secret misappropriation under New York law and the Defend Trade Secrets Act. Broker Genius, developer of the AutoPricer v.3 software, which assists is the automation of ticket pricing, entered a one-year Service Agreement with NRZ to use the AutoPricer software. During this time, NRZ began developing its own ticket pricing software called TickPricer. For more on the case, including legal analysis and conclusions, click here.

AUTM

AUTM 2018 Annual Meeting

Sean Assad, a senior research associate at NYSSTLC, attended the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) 2018 Annual Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona. On NYSSTLC’s website, Sean details his experience at the meeting, including various educational sessions related to IP, sovereign immunity and universities, as well as his role as representative for NYSSTLC.

PTAB

PTAB Rules Tribal Immunity Does Not Apply to IPRs

The Patent Trial & Appeal Board (PTAB) has decided that tribal immunity does not apply to inter partes reviews (IPRs). The news could put an end to the recent trend of companies transferring patents to sovereign entities, including Native American nations, to avoid the increase in patent challenges brought on by the inter partes review. In the particular decision, Mylan v. Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe, Allergan attempted to shield patents on its Restasis drug from IPR challenges from Mylan. The PTAB held that because Allergan is the effective patent owner, the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe’s sovereign status did not apply, and proceedings can continue.

 

Events

 

SBIR Road Tour Coming to Rochester

The SBIR Road Tour is coming to the NextCorps Accelerator (formerly HTR) in Rochester, NY on June 18. The SBIR Road Tour is a national outreach effort to convey the non-dilutive technology funding opportunity provided through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. Together, the two combine to provide $2.5 billion in funding to small advanced technology firms annually. Innovators, entrepreneurs, researchers, and small technology firms are all encouraged to attend the event, which will highlight local and state resources, SBIR funding priorities overview, and various panel sessions. To learn more, click here.

RIT

Li-Ion Cells Manufacturing Seminar

The Li-Ion Cells Manufacturing Seminar will be held April 24 and 25 in Rochester, NY. Hosted by the RIT Battery Prototyping Center and Shmuel De-Leon Energy, the event will include scientific lectures on lithium ion battery materials, technology, hands-on training related to cell fabrication practices, and more. Outside of theoretical and hands-on training, the seminar will include a lecture program that gives insights into the latest battery materials, electrode processing, and pouch cell technology trends. For more information about the two-day event and to register, click here.

CAMP

Center for Advanced Materials Processing at Clarkson University 31st CAMP Annual Meeting

The Center for Advanced Materials Processing (CAMP) at Clarkson University will hold its 31st annual meeting on Wednesday, May 16 through Friday, May 18, 2018 in Canandaigua, NY. The theme for the meeting will be “The Value of Industry/University Research Collaborations” and will aim to “provide an environment conducive to exchange of information – including research results, industry needs for research and innovation, perspectives on funding availability in CAMP’s areas of expertise – and for exploration of potential research collaborations.” The meeting will include technical presentations, panel discussions, a technology showcase, and more. For registration information, click here.

 

Webcast Available

 
NYS STLC

Blockchain and Genomics: The Law, Science, and Policy Behind Encrypgen, a New Start-up

Vasiliki Rahimzadeh of McGill and David Koepsell, co-founder and CEO of Encrypgen, talk in a recent webcast about blockchain and genomics with Shubha Ghosh, Crandall Melvin Professor of Law and Director, IP and Tech Commercialization Curricular Program and Syracuse Intellectual Property Law Institute (SIPLI). To watch the webcast, click here.

 

Of Interest

 
Shubha Ghosh

Shubha Ghosh’s Technology Commercialization Scholarship Continues

Crandall Melvin Professor of Law and Technology Commercialization Law Program Director Shubha Ghosh’s intellectual property, patent law, antitrust, technology commercialization, and biotechnology scholarship continues in spring 2018.  A look at Professor Gosh’s recent work includes published and placed articles and chapters; presentations in Israel, Singapore, and Washington, DC; a planned workshop on trademarks and patents for entrepreneurs; and a half-day symposium on “Climate Change: Law, Policy, and Technology” at the College of Law. For more information, click here.

 
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