Cantor Colburn Partners Michelle Ciotola and David Kincaid evaluate the expectations for how the USPTO will handle IP due diligence for NFTs - an exciting, if not emerging, technology, in their article, "Don't forget the NFTs: IP due diligence for emerging technologies," published in The Trademark Lawyer Magazine, Issue 2, 2022. Read it here.

Cantor Colburn’s Women’s Initiative hosted the Hartford Area AIPLA Women in IP Global Networking Event on April 7, 2022 at Parkville Market in Hartford.

Cantor Colburn's Client Alert on important facts about U.S. sanctions on Russian patent and trademark matters.

Cantor Colburn Partner Dave Christensen has written a series of articles on patents and intellectual property, Guide to Patents and Intellectual Property.

Cantor Colburn is pleased to announce that Kimberly Vines, Ph.D., Esq., has been promoted to Counsel in the Firm’s Atlanta office. Dr. Vines’ expertise is in prosecuting U.S., foreign, and international applications with a focus in the areas of chemicals, small molecule pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology.  She practices all aspects of patent prosecution including non-infringement opinions.

Cantor Colburn LLP is happy to welcome Youngmin Lee, Ph.D. to the firm as a Patent Agent in our Atlanta office.

The Intellectual Property Organization (IPO) published the white paper, "Protecting Inventions Relating to Artificial Intelligence: Best Practices," written by members of its Software-Related Inventions Committee and the Artificial Intelligence & New Emerging Technologies Committee. Cantor Colburn partner David Kincaid serves on both committees; he co-chairs Cantor Colburn's Artificial Intelligence Practice Group. 

Michael Cantor, Co-Managing Partner of Cantor Colburn LLP and Chair of Connecticut Innovations, will accompany Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont and other public and private sector leaders on a trip to Israel.  The weeklong trip from February 17-25, 2022 will focus on strengthening Connecticut's connections to members of Israel’s innovation ecosystem, including venture capitalists, incubators, accelerators, and thought leaders.

Cantor Colburn is the 4th largest design patent law practice in the US, having obtained 327 design patents for our clients in 2021.

Cantor Colburn is proud to announce that it is ranked #6 for 490 U.S. Trademark Registrations obtained for clients in 2021 (Ant-like Persistence).

Cantor Colburn LLP announces that John Henri, Ph.D. has joined the firm as Patent Agent associated with our Houston office. John has a Ph.D. in organic chemistry and has been a patent agent and research scientist for almost 20 years.

After many years of starts and stalls, the Unitary Patent System in Europe is finally happening. The Unitary Patent System will provide the option to obtain a single European Patent which can be enforced against an infringer acting in any member state. This appears to be a game changer for owners of patents that issue under the protocol.

The USPTO has announced the Deferred Subject Matter Eligibility (SME) Response Pilot Program, which launches on February 1, 2022, and provides applicants with a limited waiver with respect to SME rejections applied against an application. The program provides a sequenced approach to handling substantive rejections, where SME rejections are handled after the resolution of all other patentability rejections.

Cantor Colburn LLP is pursuing Mansfield Rule Certification, which aims to increase the representation of diverse lawyers in law firm leadership. The Mansfield Rule certification process takes place over 18 months and was created by Diversity Lab. “We are pursuing Mansfield Certification because Diversity Lab has shown this is an effective way for law firms to increase diversity in leadership,” said Phil Colburn, Co-Managing Partner of Cantor Colburn. “We are interested in measurable, concrete successes.”

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is proposing to implement electronic patent issuance. Under this change, the USPTO would no longer issue patents on paper; instead, it would issue patents electronically through its patent document viewing system. This would mean patents would issue sooner in electronic form, possibly with only two or three days’ notice, and that physical copies would no longer be mailed to the correspondence address as part of the patent issuance process.

Cantor Colburn is proud to announce that Eugene Kwon and Samantha Page, Ph.D. have been promoted to Senior Patent Agent, effective January 1, 2022.

Cantor Colburn announced promotions for 2022. New partners are David Bomzer, Tanmay Dharmadhikari, David Kincaid and Usha Parker and new counsel Nicholas Herrel, Ph.D., Sung Wook Kooh, and Alex Tucker.

Law360 published the article, "Conn. IP Attys Cite Ethical Unease On Texting, Chinese Filings," written by Sameer Rao on December 7, 2021, which covered the Connecticut Bar Association webinar, "Hot Topics in Ethics for Intellectual Property Attorneys." Todd Garabedian, Partner and Vice Chair of Cantor Colburn's Life Sciences Practice Group, was a panelist.

On November 19, 2021, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a final rule that will delay an additional fee for nonprovisional utility patent applications, including any continuing applications, not filed in DOCX format. Through this ruling, the USPTO is delaying the effective date of this fee until January 1, 2023.  

On November 17, 2021, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) finalized a series of new rules implementing the provisions of the Trademark Modernization Act (TMA). Many of these new rules have significant impact to trademark stakeholders.  Five of the most important changes are discussed in this Cantor Colburn Client Alert.

Cantor Colburn welcomes Associates Maggie Russell and Audrey Trace to Cantor Colburn. Both attorneys graduated from law school in May 2021 and were admitted to the Connecticut Bar in November 2021. They work in the Firm's Hartford headquarters office. 

U.S. News - Best Lawyers® has ranked Cantor Colburn among the country’s "Best Law Firms" for 2022. Cantor Colburn’s patent, litigation, trademark, and copyright, practices were cited, and litigation was cited for both intellectual property and patent litigation.

Cantor Colburn LLP, one of the largest full-service intellectual property law firms in the country, is pleased to announce that Co-Managing Partner Michael Cantor is a Super Lawyer and Ali Caless and Ali Hayter are Super Lawyers Rising Stars. Only 5% of attorneys are selected to be Super Lawyers; only 2.5% of attorneys are selected to be Rising Stars. 

Cantor Colburn is proud to sponsor Connecticut Foodshare Walk Against Hunger on September 18, 2021. The Hartford Yard Goats will will again host the event at Dunkin’ Donuts Park. Last year’s Walk raised over $300,000 to benefit Foodshare's work serving the estimated 545,000 people in Connecticut who are food insecure.

Cantor Colburn LLP announces that Sana Pratt, Ph.D. has joined the firm as a Patent Agent in its Life Sciences and Pharmaceutical Practice Groups.

"Hartford area law firms seek more investment in technology, less on office space," by Stephen MacLeod, published by the Hartford Business Journal, September 6, 2021, discusses law firms' plans for office space in the future. Michael Cantor is interviewed. 

Cantor Colburn partner Ali Hayter was named one of the Hartford Business Journal’s 2021 40 Under Forty. 

In August 2021, the United States Federal Circuit Court of Appeals held in Omni Medsci vs. Apple Inc. that a university IP policy and employment agreement providing that patents developed by an employee “shall be the property of” the university does not present an automatic assignment of future patent rights, and therefore is not sufficient to effectuate the assignment of legal title to the university. This case is a reminder that proper assignment language in a contract must be utilized to effectuate the desired transfer of intellectual property, and without it, you may not own what you think you own.

Cantor Colburn is proud to announce that seven of our attorneys have been recognized as 2022 Best Lawyers and Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch. Best Lawyers are Michael Cantor, Phil Colburn, Curt Krechevsky, David Rodrigues, Ph.D. and Mike Rye and Best Lawyers One to Watch are Ali Caless and Tina Dorr, Ph.D.

Cantor Colburn's IP Stars in 2021 per Managing IP are Michael Cantor, Phil Colburn, Todd Garabedian, David Fox, Leah Reimer and Karl Vick. 

Cantor Colburn was recognized by The Trademark Lawyer Magazine as a Top 10 Trademark Law Firm for 2021, North America to East Coast region. Cantor Colburn’s Trademark & Copyright Practice is one of the busiest in the US, ranked among the top trademark firms for registrations issuances year after year. 

The recent U.S. Supreme Court opinion in Minerva Surgical, Inc. v. Hologic, Inc., et al. upholds the centuries-old doctrine of assignor estoppel while simultaneously clarifying the boundaries of the doctrine’s application. Minerva may impact how businesses develop and implement their strategies to perfect ownership of their intellectual property. Cantor Colburn's Client Alert discusses what this means to you.

Supreme Court Requires More Oversight Over PTAB In Arthrex Decision, a Cantor Colburn Client Alert written by Post-Grant Practice Chair Andrew Ryan."The Supreme Court finds that the USPTO Director has ultimate oversight over PTAB decisions .... IPR procedures are expected to remain intact largely as is." 

Cantor Colburn LLP announces that Nancy Kennedy has joined the firm as Counsel in its Trademark & Copyright Practice, ranked #8 in the U.S. Ms. Kennedy brings more than 15 years’ expertise in intellectual property, concentrating on all aspects of trademark and copyright law, trade dress, and cyberlaw matters. 

Cantor Colburn has been recommended as a Top Tier Firm by the Legal 500 United States 2021 in Intellectual Property for Patents: Prosecution (including re-examination and post-grant proceedings).