Patent tactics

Gibbs A, DeMatteis B. Essentials of Patents. Hoboken, NJ John Wiley Publishers, December 2002. E-book, March 2003. This book presents invention and the U.S. patent system in a real-world context. Practical content includes chapters on Patent Strategy, Patent Tactics, Managing Patents in the Engineering Department, and Managing Patents in Manufacturing and Operations. E-book option ensures greatest currency. Publisher states that all updates will he provided free with purchase of the main volume (in either format). 

Patent tactics in molecular diversity Things that get around, come around... 

Polystyrene produced by free-radical polymerisation techniques is part syndio-tactic and part atactic in structure and therefore amorphous. In 1955 Natta and his co-workers reported the preparation of substantially isotactic polystyrene using aluminium alkyl-titanium halide catalyst complexes. Similar systems were also patented by Ziegler at about the same time. The use of n-butyl-lithium as a catalyst has been described. Whereas at room temperature atactic polymers are produced, polymerisation at -30°C leads to isotactic polymer, with a narrow molecular weight distribution. 

The butadiene polymers represent another cornerstone of macromolecular stereochemistry. Butadiene gives rise to four different types of stereoregular polymers two with 1,2 linkage and two with 1,4. The first two, isotactic (62) and syndiotactic (25), conform to the definitions given for vinyl polymers, while the latter have, for eveiy monomer unit, a disubstituted double bond that can exist in the two different, cis and trans, configurations (these terms are defined with reference to the polymer chain). If the monomer units all have the same cis or trans configuration the polymers are called cis- or trans-tactic (30 and 31). The first examples of these stereoisomers were cited in the patent literature as early as 1955-1956 (63). Structural and mechanistic studies in the field have been made by Natta, Porri, Corradini, and associates (65-68). 

The development of an injectate is often one tactic used for obtaining a patent. Even though a composition of matter patent (i.e. the structure of the drug molecule itself) may be old, the development of a nonobvious injectate and its method of use for a new indication, may be sufficient to obtain a further patent and thus extend effective proprietary coverage. Such patents are usually stronger in North American than in European jurisdictions. 

Suits to enforce or defeat patents are invariably a component of larger business objectives, and the tactics employed must derive from the underlying business strategies. In most countries, patent litigation is a very expensive endeavor (226). Absent unique circumstances, litigants in the United States pay their own attorney fees and costs. In many other countries, the prevailing party may recover some or all of its fees and costs. Legal and expert witness fees, travel expenses, document expenses, and court fees can mount quickly. 

An interesting combination of incendiary actions is the subject of a German patent which claims thermitic high-temperature reactions between aluminum ( PyroschlifT ) or calcium silicide, with phosphates such as tertiary calcium phosphate as the oxidizer. Since phosphides are the products of reaction, the application of water during Are fighting will cause formation of self-flammable phosphine. It would appear that such secondary action might be more of a nuisance than tactically efficient. 

As shown in table 3, I.G. Farben expended a good deal of effort in trying to license its production processes and export its equipment to Japan, but in the end this effort was unsuccessful. Examination of the steps I.G. Farben undertook, and consideration of the firm s own analysis of the situation, makes it possible to ascertain some of the reasons for the lack of success. I.G. Farben faced several problems the lack of cooperation from International Hydrogenation Engineering and Chemical Co. (IHEC), an international joint venture that held patent rights to all hydrogenation processes the inflexible nature of the firm s own negotiating tactics and the opposition of the Japanese navy. 

Burge, D.A., 1984. Patent and Trademark Tactics and Practice. John Wiley. Son, New York. 

Polyolefins, PO. First impact modification of PO, by addition of elastomers, was patented independently by Bayer A.-G. and Standard Oil Co. in 1937. The isotactic polypropylene, PP, was commercialized in 1957, and its first blends (with polyisobutylene, PIB, and polyethylene, PE) were patented in 1958. In 1960, du Pont started manufacturing ethylene-propylene, EPR, and three years later ethylene-propylene-diene, EPDM, copolymers [Gresham and Hunt, I960]. The first patent on impact modification of PP by addition of EPR dates from 1960. Direct reactor blending of PE/PP/EPR resulting in a thermoplastic polyolefin, R-TPO, dates from 1979. The newest (introduced in 1992) single-site metallocene catalysts generate polymers with controlled tacticity, co-monomer sequences, molecular... 

The position became so critical that Otto Witt, from the end of 1885 an academic chemist and consultant to BASF, agreed early in 1886, in deference to the wishes of Caro, not to publish the results of his work on naphthol yellow. The aim was to prevent their having any influence on the negotiations, over both patents and business, in the United States and England, The BASF tactic enabled it to bring about an agreement with Ivan Levinstein for mutual sharing of the British and United States markets. 

---