Our weekly SoCal IP Institute meeting on Monday, July 27, 2015 will be a discussion of the following cases:

Akebia v. Fibrogen., Case No.  15-15274 (9th Cir. July 16, 2015) (available here).  The Panel affirmed the district court’s order granting Akebia’s ex parte application pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1782, for discovery in a foreign proceeding. § 1782 permits any “interested person” to file an application in the district court requesting that the court order another person to produce testimony or documents for use “in a proceeding in a foreign or international tribunal.” Akebia had initiated opposition proceedings in the European Patent Office and the Japanese Patent Office against Fibrogen and, in its application, sought permission to serve FibroGen with document and deposition subpoenas relating to those foreign proceedings. The panel held that Akebia was an “interested person” set forth under § 1782,  that Akebia had Article III standing to invoke the power of a federal court, and that both the European and Japanese Patent Offices were “foreign or international tribunal[s]” within the meaning of § 1782.

In re Driven Innovations, Inc., Serial No. 77073701 (citable TTAB 6/13/15 ) (available here). Here, the TTAB held that an applicant may not separately challenge, either by petition to the Director or on appeal to the Board, the Office’s determination of “clear error.” The Board expressly overruled 2 earlier decisions that the applicant could petition the Director for review.  The Board also upheld the descriptiveness refusal of the proposed mark “DotBlog” for providing information as requested by customers via the Internet.

All are invited to join us in our discussion during the SoCal IP Institute meeting on Monday, July 27, 2015 at Noon in our Westlake Village office. This activity is approved for 1 hour of MCLE credit. If you will be joining us, please RSVP to Noelle Smith by 9 am Monday morning.