Art MacCord is a patent attorney with 38 years of experience. He keeps an eye on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the U.S. Copyright Office for new rules and practice tips of interest to intellectual property attorneys. Please find his most recent links below.
https://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.png00NCBARBLOGhttps://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.pngNCBARBLOG2017-02-15 14:36:162017-02-15 14:36:16MacCord’s List: IP Notices & News From Art MacCord
On behalf of the Legislative Committee of the Health Law Section Council, we are providing the following information to alert Health Law Section members regarding several recently filed bills at the North Carolina General Assembly that may affect your clients or your practice. Find the text and status of the bills at the links provided:
House Bill 88 and Senate Bill 73, each filed on Feb. 14, make substantial changes to the Nursing Practice Act.
House Bill 62, filed Feb. 8 and currently in the Committee on Health, creates certain communication requirements by health care professionals to their patients during drug-induced abortions.
House Bill 36, currently in the Committee on Health, affects the practice of optometry.
House Bill 57, currently in the Committee on Health, affects the interstate practice of physical therapy.
Senate Bill 42, currently in the Committee on Health Care, directs the Medical Care Commission to repeal certain hospital facility construction rules, and adopt the American Society for Healthcare Engineering’s Guidelines for the Design and Construction of Hospital and Outpatient Facilities.
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As attorneys, we are tasked with the great and noble responsibility of defending the rule of law – case by case, client by client. While our system is not perfect, the law’s ability to right wrongs, to reconcile conflicts, and to resolve disputes peacefully is a measure of who we are as a people, and the rest of the world looks to our courts as the exemplar of fair and impartial administration of justice.
Nevertheless, this fairness and impartiality only truly exist when they are available to all members of our state, regardless of ability to pay. A failure to provide adequate legal services to those of modest means affects both the economic and social fabric of our society, and does not adequately represent the principles of the profession to which we have been called. It is our duty to fill the gap that exists between this challenging reality and the highest ideal of our profession – equal justice under law for all people.
https://www.ncbarblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/3adobestock_67374951-handshake.jpg5001140NCBARBLOGhttps://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.pngNCBARBLOG2017-02-14 16:13:092017-02-14 16:13:09Why Report? The Importance Of Sharing Your Pro Bono Engagement
Perhaps the most difficult challenge, legal or otherwise, faced by the NCAA and its member institutions today is how to manage the risks associated with concussions in sports. Particularly within the last decade, these organizations have focused on risk management—“the process of evaluating the chance of loss or harm and then taking steps to combat the potential risk”1—as a way to minimize harm to individual athletes and decrease the likelihood that they will be subject to massive lawsuits. However, as the NCAA and member institutions have now discovered, risk management as a strategy is much more effective in other aspects of their business than with the risks associated with concussions. For example, many universities have begun to hire outside law firms or other specialists to conduct internal investigations and risk assessments in an effort to minimize the chance that they would bring in a coach or player with a risky past (and perhaps to minimize liability if a situation were to occur in the future).2Risks associated with concussions, on the other hand, are much more difficult to manage because their occurrence is inherent in almost every existing sport. In other words, how can schools and the NCAA effectively manage a risk that is absolutely certain to occur no matter how much money or effort is diverted to it?
Art MacCord is a patent attorney with 38 years of experience. He keeps an eye on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the U.S. Copyright Office for new rules and practice tips of interest to intellectual property attorneys. Please find his most recent links below.
Request for Comments Regarding the Continuation of the Accelerated Patent Examination Program
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The Intellectual Property Law Section of the North Carolina Bar Association is seeking nominations for its 2016 Outstanding Achievement Pro Bono Award. This award is intended to foster and recognize the outstanding pro bono efforts undertaken by IP Section members during the year of 2016. Please take a few moments to nominate yourself or another IP Section member (including law firms and other organizations such as in-house legal departments) and summarize the qualifying pro bono activities performed by the candidate during the past year. Thank you in advance for your nominations and for your encouragement of the pro bono efforts of the IP Section’s members.
https://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.png00NCBARBLOGhttps://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.pngNCBARBLOG2017-02-10 13:38:412017-02-10 13:38:41Nominate a Fellow Attorney For the IP Section's Pro Bono Award
Suppose you are a small company in California asserting a patent against a North Carolina-based company. You gathered finances, hired a lawyer, and filed a complaint. Now you are ready to start litigating your patent infringement case, but you receive a summons for violating NC 75 Article 8. This may seem utterly fantastical, but under North Carolina’s anti “patent troll” legislation it is not.
Next to issues surrounding 35 USC section 101, the supposed abusive litigation by “patent trolls” is one of the most discussed issues in patent law. North Carolina, along with several other states, has enacted laws aimed at curbing this practice. The law, however, suffers from several potential pitfalls. It gives North Carolina courts personal jurisdiction over anyone who sues a North Carolina based entity for patent infringement, even if the patent infringement suit takes place in another state. Lack of contacts, other than serving a North Carolina based entity, are irrelevant. Accordingly, a discussion on the likelihood of federal preemption follows.
https://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.png00NCBARBLOGhttps://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.pngNCBARBLOG2017-02-10 13:38:102017-02-10 13:38:10Beware Pitfalls In North Carolina's Patent 'Troll' Law
On Dec. 1, 2016, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) began enforcement of the anti-retaliation provisions of its controversial final rule on Recording and Reporting Occupational Injuries and Illnesses.1OSHA has offered extensive guidance on its interpretation and enforcement of the new anti-retaliation provisions.2This guidance, along with the rule itself, addresses important issues relating to injury and illness reporting procedures, drug testing policies, safety incentive programs, and disciplinary programs.
The anti-retaliation provisions originally took effect on Aug. 10, but enforcement of these provisions was delayed twice by OSHA as a result of substantial industry pushback on the rule and a legal challenge from business groups.3 On Nov. 28, a federal district judge denied an injunction to block the rule on Nov. 28, allowing OSHA’s enforcement of the challenged provisions to begin on Dec. 1.4
Happy 2017! While it is the new year for everyone else, this time of year marks the half-way point of our bar year, which provides a great opportunity to see what we have accomplished so far, what is new and what is upcoming. Let’s start with what’s new. I am excited to introduce you to the section’s new blog format.
Rather than receiving our newsletter approximately every four months, you will receive more frequent posts on items of interest and affecting our section members – typically on a monthly basis. The motivation behind this change is to provide the members more timely access to important information instead of waiting until we have enough articles for the Change Order or until the next deadline. Expect to still receive the same great articles from section authors that you always have, but also look forward to blogs on other areas of law that may affect your practice, as well as legislative and case law updates. Changing the format has been in the works for some time. I want to thank the Newsletter Committee: Jonathan Massell, Lindsey Powell, Gib Laite and Todd Jones for their hard work that led to the successful launch of our new blog format. If you have ideas for a blog, an article (perhaps broken into a series of blog posts), or see another blog that should be re-blogged, please email our co-chairs (listed above) so they can make plans to include in future posts. Also, we welcome your feedback on this new format – good, bad (aka kindly constructive), or in-between, so we can continue to improve and better serve the section.
https://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.png00NCBARBLOGhttps://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.pngNCBARBLOG2017-02-09 09:48:132017-02-09 09:48:13The Chair’s Column: Construction Law Section, This Blog’s For You
In the week after his inauguration, President Donald Trump signed three executive orders that will significantly affect non-U.S. citizens both immediately and in the coming months. Most recently, he signed an executive order titled Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States. This order contains two important provisions that affect non-U.S. citizen students and academic professionals, which are discussed in detail below.
First, the order suspends the issuance of visas and other immigration benefits to nationals of seven countries. These countries include Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Second, the order prohibits the entry of nonimmigrant visa holders from these seven countries to the United States for 90 days and cancels their visas. Ninety days from the date of the order is April 27, 2017. There is no guarantee that either of these provisions will not be extended past the 90 day period.
https://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.png00NCBARBLOGhttps://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.pngNCBARBLOG2017-02-07 11:10:032017-02-07 11:10:03Trump’s Executive Order on Immigration: What You Need to Know
MacCord’s List: IP Notices & News From Art MacCord
Intellectual Property Law SectionBy Art MacCord
Art MacCord is a patent attorney with 38 years of experience. He keeps an eye on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the U.S. Copyright Office for new rules and practice tips of interest to intellectual property attorneys. Please find his most recent links below.
Copyright Office Technical Amendments To Regulations: Final Rule
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2017-02-06/pdf/2016-29625.pdf
Copyright Office Interim Rule To Implement the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2017-02-07/pdf/2017-01770.pdf
New Bills With Health Law Impact
Health Law SectionOn behalf of the Legislative Committee of the Health Law Section Council, we are providing the following information to alert Health Law Section members regarding several recently filed bills at the North Carolina General Assembly that may affect your clients or your practice. Find the text and status of the bills at the links provided:
Why Report? The Importance Of Sharing Your Pro Bono Engagement
Featured PostsAs attorneys, we are tasked with the great and noble responsibility of defending the rule of law – case by case, client by client. While our system is not perfect, the law’s ability to right wrongs, to reconcile conflicts, and to resolve disputes peacefully is a measure of who we are as a people, and the rest of the world looks to our courts as the exemplar of fair and impartial administration of justice.
Nevertheless, this fairness and impartiality only truly exist when they are available to all members of our state, regardless of ability to pay. A failure to provide adequate legal services to those of modest means affects both the economic and social fabric of our society, and does not adequately represent the principles of the profession to which we have been called. It is our duty to fill the gap that exists between this challenging reality and the highest ideal of our profession – equal justice under law for all people.
Read more
Risk Management and Concussions
Sports & Entertainment Law SectionPerhaps the most difficult challenge, legal or otherwise, faced by the NCAA and its member institutions today is how to manage the risks associated with concussions in sports. Particularly within the last decade, these organizations have focused on risk management—“the process of evaluating the chance of loss or harm and then taking steps to combat the potential risk”1—as a way to minimize harm to individual athletes and decrease the likelihood that they will be subject to massive lawsuits. However, as the NCAA and member institutions have now discovered, risk management as a strategy is much more effective in other aspects of their business than with the risks associated with concussions. For example, many universities have begun to hire outside law firms or other specialists to conduct internal investigations and risk assessments in an effort to minimize the chance that they would bring in a coach or player with a risky past (and perhaps to minimize liability if a situation were to occur in the future).2 Risks associated with concussions, on the other hand, are much more difficult to manage because their occurrence is inherent in almost every existing sport. In other words, how can schools and the NCAA effectively manage a risk that is absolutely certain to occur no matter how much money or effort is diverted to it?
Read more
MacCord’s List: IP Notices & News From Art MacCord
Intellectual Property Law SectionBy Art MacCord
Art MacCord is a patent attorney with 38 years of experience. He keeps an eye on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the U.S. Copyright Office for new rules and practice tips of interest to intellectual property attorneys. Please find his most recent links below.
Request for Comments Regarding the Continuation of the Accelerated Patent Examination Program
https://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/sol/og/2017/
week06/TOC.htm#ref11
Informational Matter Incapable of Trademark Registration
https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/
Incapable_Informational_Matter_Exam_Guide.doc
Final Rule Adopted to Remove Personally Identifiable Information from Copyright Registration Records
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2017-02-02/pdf/2017-02238.pdf
Copyright Office Initiates Study on the Moral Rights of Attribution and Integrity
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2017-01-23/pdf/2017-01294.pdf
https://www.copyright.gov/policy/moralrights/
Read more
Nominate a Fellow Attorney For the IP Section’s Pro Bono Award
Intellectual Property Law SectionIntellectual Property Law Section members:
The Intellectual Property Law Section of the North Carolina Bar Association is seeking nominations for its 2016 Outstanding Achievement Pro Bono Award. This award is intended to foster and recognize the outstanding pro bono efforts undertaken by IP Section members during the year of 2016. Please take a few moments to nominate yourself or another IP Section member (including law firms and other organizations such as in-house legal departments) and summarize the qualifying pro bono activities performed by the candidate during the past year. Thank you in advance for your nominations and for your encouragement of the pro bono efforts of the IP Section’s members.
Read more
Beware Pitfalls In North Carolina’s Patent ‘Troll’ Law
Intellectual Property Law SectionSuppose you are a small company in California asserting a patent against a North Carolina-based company. You gathered finances, hired a lawyer, and filed a complaint. Now you are ready to start litigating your patent infringement case, but you receive a summons for violating NC 75 Article 8. This may seem utterly fantastical, but under North Carolina’s anti “patent troll” legislation it is not.
Next to issues surrounding 35 USC section 101, the supposed abusive litigation by “patent trolls” is one of the most discussed issues in patent law. North Carolina, along with several other states, has enacted laws aimed at curbing this practice. The law, however, suffers from several potential pitfalls. It gives North Carolina courts personal jurisdiction over anyone who sues a North Carolina based entity for patent infringement, even if the patent infringement suit takes place in another state. Lack of contacts, other than serving a North Carolina based entity, are irrelevant. Accordingly, a discussion on the likelihood of federal preemption follows.
Read more
The New OSHA Anti-Retaliation Provisions
Labor & Employment LawOn Dec. 1, 2016, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) began enforcement of the anti-retaliation provisions of its controversial final rule on Recording and Reporting Occupational Injuries and Illnesses.1 OSHA has offered extensive guidance on its interpretation and enforcement of the new anti-retaliation provisions.2 This guidance, along with the rule itself, addresses important issues relating to injury and illness reporting procedures, drug testing policies, safety incentive programs, and disciplinary programs.
The anti-retaliation provisions originally took effect on Aug. 10, but enforcement of these provisions was delayed twice by OSHA as a result of substantial industry pushback on the rule and a legal challenge from business groups.3 On Nov. 28, a federal district judge denied an injunction to block the rule on Nov. 28, allowing OSHA’s enforcement of the challenged provisions to begin on Dec. 1.4
Read more
The Chair’s Column: Construction Law Section, This Blog’s For You
Construction Law SectionHappy 2017! While it is the new year for everyone else, this time of year marks the half-way point of our bar year, which provides a great opportunity to see what we have accomplished so far, what is new and what is upcoming. Let’s start with what’s new. I am excited to introduce you to the section’s new blog format.
Rather than receiving our newsletter approximately every four months, you will receive more frequent posts on items of interest and affecting our section members – typically on a monthly basis. The motivation behind this change is to provide the members more timely access to important information instead of waiting until we have enough articles for the Change Order or until the next deadline. Expect to still receive the same great articles from section authors that you always have, but also look forward to blogs on other areas of law that may affect your practice, as well as legislative and case law updates. Changing the format has been in the works for some time. I want to thank the Newsletter Committee: Jonathan Massell, Lindsey Powell, Gib Laite and Todd Jones for their hard work that led to the successful launch of our new blog format. If you have ideas for a blog, an article (perhaps broken into a series of blog posts), or see another blog that should be re-blogged, please email our co-chairs (listed above) so they can make plans to include in future posts. Also, we welcome your feedback on this new format – good, bad (aka kindly constructive), or in-between, so we can continue to improve and better serve the section.
Read more
Trump’s Executive Order on Immigration: What You Need to Know
Education Law SectionIn the week after his inauguration, President Donald Trump signed three executive orders that will significantly affect non-U.S. citizens both immediately and in the coming months. Most recently, he signed an executive order titled Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States. This order contains two important provisions that affect non-U.S. citizen students and academic professionals, which are discussed in detail below.
First, the order suspends the issuance of visas and other immigration benefits to nationals of seven countries. These countries include Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Second, the order prohibits the entry of nonimmigrant visa holders from these seven countries to the United States for 90 days and cancels their visas. Ninety days from the date of the order is April 27, 2017. There is no guarantee that either of these provisions will not be extended past the 90 day period.
Read more