The IP Watchdog Gene Quinn is explaining the current state of software patents and Brian Dorn of Barnes & Thornburg is summarizing a very interesting discussion with United States Representative Erik Paulsen he moderated on the topic of life science and patents.

 

 

IP FRIDAYS

 

Co-Presenters:

Rolf Claessen and Kenneth Suzan

 

Episode 21 – February 6, 2015

 

RC =   Rolf Claessen

KS =    Kenneth Suzan

BD =   Brian Dorn

GQ =   Gene Quinn

 

Hi.  This is Gene Quinn.  I am a patent attorney and the founder of ipwatchdog.com and you are listening to IP Fridays.

 

KS:      Hello and welcome to this episode of IP Fridays.  Our names are Ken Suzan and Rolf Claessen and this is THE podcast dedicated to Intellectual Property.  It does not matter where you are from, in-house or private practice, novice or expert, we will help you stay up-to-date with current topics in the fields of trademarks, patents, design and copyright, discover useful tools and much more.

 

RC:      Welcome to the 21st episode of IP Fridays.  Today we have an interview with Gene Quinn who is a patent attorney in the U.S. and he is also hosting a famous blog called IP Watchdog.  He is a specialist in software patents so we are talking about that topic.  Also, Ken had the chance to interview Brian Dorn of Barnes & Thornburg.  He moderated a discussion with U.S. Government Representative Erik Paulsen about life science and patents.  But before we jump into the interviews, I want to say thank you to the Stanford Lawyer Website who mentioned us and our podcast on their Website.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  So without further ado, here is the interview with Ken and Brian Dorn.

 

KEN SUZAN’S INTERVIEW WITH BRIAN DORN:

 

KS:      Rolf, I am joined by Brian Dorn who is Of Counsel at Barnes & Thornburg (http://www.btlaw.com/brian-r-dorn/) in the Minneapolis office.  Brian, you recently moderated an hour long discussion with United States Representative Erik Paulsen, who is also co-chair of the Congressional Medtech Caucus on the topic of the Federal Government and the Life Science Industries.  Can you summarize your discussion for our listeners?

 

BD:     Yes.  Thank you.  We had kind of a wide-ranging discussion regarding various topics looking to the recently started Congressional Session, the 114th Congress.  We discussed tax law looking at the medical device tax repeal.  That was rather front and center because Representative Paulsen is the chief author on that and it is one of the higher priorities for the Republican Party in that it has already been introduced, it has 254 co-sponsors, so it will pass the House, it has support in the Senate, all across the political divide, Senator Hatch’s bill ranging from Ted Cruz in Texas to Elizabeth Lauren in Massachusetts so that’s something that should be happening quickly.  We talked about the effects of corporate inversions, if anything would be done with Congress.  We discussed intellectual property.  We discussed regulatory law in terms of the 510(k) Program in terms of medical devices, meningitis B vaccine regulation and trying to get that approved or the status of that, Representative Paulsen is a big proponent of trying to speed that up because that vaccine is approved in Canada and Europe and we still have college students here in the United States dying from meningitis B one of the reasons the vaccine is not available.  Lastly we also discussed the Federal Government’s response to the Ebola situation, I wouldn’t call it a health crisis in the United States, it was in Africa, that the Federal Government’s response to Ebola this past summer.

 

KS:      Since this is an intellectual property podcast, can you speak more specifically to the IP subjects you discussed like patent reform?  What exactly was discussed?

 

BD:     Sure.  In regards to the intellectual property, at least according to Represen