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11 PTC Newsl. 1 (1992-1993)

handle is hein.journals/iprolane11 and id is 1 raw text is: Ne8wSLOTTOeR Published by the Section of Patent, Trademark and Copyright Law of the American Bar Association Volume 11, Number 1, Fall 1992 chair's letter The 1991-92 Association year was a year of tremen- dous activity for the intellec- tual property field and for this Section. Outgoing Section Chair Bill Pravel has ad- dressed these activities in past issues of the PTC Newsletter and a complete listing of the resolutions acted upon dur- ing the 1992 Annual Meeting appears elsewhere in this is- Jack C.Goldstein sue. However, before reporting on plans for 1992-93, I do want to mention one or two of the more signif- icant developments that occurred during the 1992 An- nual Meeting. After considerable debate at our Business Sessions on Saturday, August 8, 1992, the Section reaffirmed its support for 1991 Resolution 102-1, which reads: RESOLVED, that the Section of Patent, Trademark and Copyright Law favors in principle an amendment of the United States patent laws to provide that, except in cases of derivation, the first-to-file a patent appli- cation among rival applicants for the same invention is the applicant entitled to a patent if, but only if, the foregoing be part of a patent harmonization treaty wherein other countries agree to changes in their sys- tems sufficiently beneficial to United States applicants and their assignees. The Section further directed not only the submis- sion of the above resolution to the ABA House of Delegates to secure an Association position but also an effort to rescind prior Association positions, adopted in 1967, opposing (1) first-to-file and (2) changes in the United States patent statutes made to increase uniformity with foreign patent systems, un- less it be shown that such changes will favorably affect the domestic operation and effectiveness of the U.S. patent system. Although the first-to-file versus first-to-invent con- troversy within our Section seems to have reached a conclusion until the patent harmonization treaty has been signed, there are still significant issues that need to be addressed in connection with the proposed treaty. A recommendation was presented and adopted in San Francisco authorizing me to call a Special Meeting of the membership to consider additional resolutions as may be necessary in order to develop Section posi- tions prior to the Diplomatic Conference, which is expected to take place in July 1993. Another significant development that took place at the 1992 Annual Meeting was approval by our mem- bership of a bylaw amendment to implement a change in the name of the Section to the Section of Intellec- tual Property Law. Since this requires a change in the ABA Bylaws as well, it must be acted upon by the House of Delegates at the February 1993 Midyear Meeting and, if approved, will become effective for the 1993-94 Association year, commencing in August 1993 (on the eve of the Section's 100th birthday!). I am especially pleased to report that the Section has been successful in securing ABA approval of an ABA amicus curiae brief in support of the petition for writ of certiorari in Cardinal Chemical Co. v. Morton International, Inc. The question presented in that case is whether the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit errs when it vacates a declaratory judgment holding an asserted patent invalid merely because it deter- mines that the patent is not infringed. Our Section has had a great deal of difficulty in meeting the some- what stringent requirements for the filing of an ABA Copyright © 1992 American Bar Association Produced by the ABA Press Copyright @ 1 992 American a -a(r Association r oduced by the AB Press

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