Birch, Stewart, Kolasch & Birch, LLP

  • September 10, 2020

    It’s Apple vs. Startup in Faceoff Over Who Can Use Fruit Logos

    Michael Smith was quoted in a Bloomberg Law article regarding Apple's opposition to the “federal registration of food prep app Prepear’s logo as a trademark, arguing the green pear-with-leaf logo ‘readily calls to mind’ its iconic bite-out-of-an-apple logo.”

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  • August 31, 2020

    Eric H. Liou joins Birch, Stewart, Kolasch & Birch

    Falls Church, Va., August 31, 2020 — Eric H. Liou has joined Birch, Stewart, Kolasch & Birch, LLP (BSKB) as an associate in the firm’s Electronics and IT Practice Group.

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  • August 27, 2020

    USPTO Fees Update

    Effective October 2, 2020, many USPTO fees will increase including application filing, RCE, appeal and issue fees. Therefore, to save costs, with one exception, you may consider filing any items with fee increases prior to October 2, 2020. The exception relates to the payment of the Issue Fee. Any issue Fee having a mailing date prior to October 2, 2020, will have the lower Issue Fee printed on the Notice of Allowance (even if the Issue Fee is paid after October 2, 2020).

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  • July 24, 2020

    Michael Smith quoted in Law360 on the Washington's NFL Team temporary name

    "The fact that these other guys have filed applications for trademark registrations, I think it is a cautionary tale," Birch Stewart Kolasch & Birch LLP trademark attorney Michael Smith told Law360. "Teams want to go ahead file an intent to use applications early on so they can be first in line. That is not to say that the Washington team is not going to be able to resolve the issue, but it complicates things more."

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  • July 21, 2020

    Partner Michael Smith is quoted in today's Law360 article regarding a rare Listerine royalty auction

    Unlike patents and copyrights, which have a set lifespan, "trade secrets basically last forever as long as you can keep a secret," said Michael Smith of Birch Stewart Kolasch & Birch LLP. A modern trade secrets contract would likely take that into account and call for the agreement to terminate if the secret became known, "which would mean the obligation obviously to continue paying would likewise terminate at that time," he said.

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  • July 20, 2020

    Partner Michael Smith quoted in the Washington Business Journal

    Washington’s NFL team could still profit off its discarded name

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  • July 24, 2020

    Washington, D.C. NFL Team Loses Race to the Trademark Office: Does it Matter?

    by Michael. T Smith | IPWatchDog

    In surveys throughout the Washington, D.C. metro area, three possible replacement names have emerged as favorites among the fans: Warriors, Red Wolves, and Redtails. Armed with the knowledge of the name change and the relative popularity of the possible replacement names, two enterprising individuals have applied to obtain a federal trademark registration for the marks WARRIORS, WASHINGTON RED WOLVES, and WASHINGTON REDTAILS, respectively. Neither applicant appears to be connected to the owners of the Washington D.C. professional football team.

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  • July 10, 2020

    Could good intentions lead to future danger?

    by MaryAnne Armstrong, Ph.D. | LSIPR

    MaryAnne Armstrong, Ph.D. discusses the potential risks to IP rights with open-access to technology, medicines and devices in the fight against COVID-19 in the latest issue of LSIPR.

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  • July 1, 2020

    BSKB ASSISTS CLIENT IN SUCCESSFUL IPR CHALLENGES TO BIOPHARMACEUTICAL PATENTS FOR TREATING POMPE DISEASE

    by Gerald M. Murphy, Jr. | BSKB News

    BSKB assists client in successful IPR Challenges to Biopharmaceutical Patents for Treating Pompe Disease

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  • May 11, 2020

    The Importance of Correctly Identifying Goods and Services

    by Michael T. Smith | World IP Review

    Trademark rights are acquired through use of a mark in commerce. Applicants must correctly identify

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  • April 28, 2020

    Indefinite claims at the PTAB

    by Chad M. Rink and Hailey R. Bureau, Ph.D. | World Intellectual Property Review

    Chad Rink and Hailey Bureau, Ph.D. talk about indefinite claims at the PTAB and alternative routes in WIPR- Issue 1.

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  • February 12, 2020

    The relative stability of trpzip1 and its mutants determined by computation and experiment

    by Hailey R. Bureau, Stephen Quirk and Rigoberto Hernandez | RSC Advances

    Six mutants of the tryptophan zipper peptide trpzip1 have been computationally and experimentally characterized. We determine the varying roles in secondary structure stability of specific residues through a mutation assay. Four of the mutations directly effect the Trp–Trp interactions and two of the mutations target the salt bridge between Glu5 and Lys8. CD spectra and thermal unfolding are used to determine the secondary structure and stability of the mutants compared to the wildtype peptide. Adaptive steered molecular dynamics has been used to obtain the energetics of the unfolding pathways of the mutations. The hydrogen bonding patterns and side-chain interactions over the course of unfolding have also been calculated and compared to wildtype trpzip1. The key finding from this work is the importance of a stabilizing non-native salt bridge pair present in the K8L mutation.

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Birch, Stewart, Kolasch & Birch, LLP is an internationally-recognized and highly-respected intellectual  property law firm committed to obtaining and enforcing IP rights for our clients.

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USPTO's Patent Trial and Appeal BoardLearn about Post Grant Proceedings

Offering our extensive experience with Post Grant Proceedings and in-depth knowledge of both the USPTO and technology to file or defend our clients in patent office trials, such as Inter Partes Review (IPR), Post Grant Review (PGR), and Business Method Review (CBM).

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Summer Patent SeminarRegistration opens early 2021

BSKB has been providing participants of our Summer Patent Seminar (SPS) with a comprehensive overview of U.S. patent law for over 40 years. SPS focuses primarily on the practical problems encountered in obtaining valid and enforceable U.S. patents, as well as enforcement of patent rights after grant.

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