Our weekly SoCal IP Institute meeting on Monday, August 24, 2015 will be a discussion of the USPTO’s Guidelines on Patentability and a Federal Circuit case:

On July 30, 2015, the PTO released new guidelines for subject matter eligibility (available here), and three Appendices. The first Appendix (available here) provides examples. The second Appendix (available here) provides an index of eligibility examples. The third Appendix (available here) provides a summary of court decisions. In addition, the PTO has provided a quick reference sheet (located here). We will be discussing these new guidelines.

Jack Wolfskin Ausrustung Fur Draussen GmBH v. New Millennium Sports, S.L.U., (Fed. Cir. Aug. 19, 2015) (available here). Appellant Jack Wolfskin attempted to register its design trademark with the Trademark Office (available here). Defendant New Millennium filed an opposition asserting that Jack Wolfskin’s mark is likely to be confused with New Millennium’s registered mark (available here). The TTAB found in favor of New Millennium finding that New Millennium had not abandoned its mark. On appeal, the Federal Circuit reversed the TTAB’s likelihood of confusion finding that when comparing the marks as a whole, there likely would be no confusion.