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04.21.20
“Not Appealable” Means Just That Regarding Institution of IPR Timeliness Challenges: U.S. Supreme Court
By Procopio Partner Robert H. Sloss In a decision designed to adhere to Congressional intent of the America Invents Act (“AIA”) that post-grant patent reviews should be final, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 on April 2 that a patent owner cannot appeal a ruling by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“Board”) to institute inter partes review (“IPR”) of a patent on the basis that the IPR petition was not timely filed. In one of the few patent cases on its docket this term,...
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04.13.20
IRS Grants Much-Anticipated Section 1031 Extensions
By Procopio Partner Robert J. Brown The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on April 9, 2020, issued Notice 2020-23, providing the much-anticipated relief for taxpayers pursuing so-called “Section 1031” tax deferred exchanges. This extension allows exchanging taxpayers whose 45-day identification period or 180-day replacement property closing deadline falls after April 1, 2020, to extend that deadline until July 15, 2020. However, Notice 2020-23 extends the outside date for both identifica...
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04.08.20
USPTO Extends Certain Patent Filing Deadlines
By Procopio Partner Robert “Bob” Ramos The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently exercised its authority granted by the CARES Act stimulus package to extend several patent-related deadlines that would have been due on or after March 27, 2020, through April 30, 2020. The specific deadlines that can be extended include: Responses to Official Actions, Issue Fee Payments, Maintenance Fee Payments, Notice of Appeals, Appeal Briefs, Reply Briefs, and Requests for oral hearings b...
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04.07.20
California Relaxes Telehealth Services Rules in Light of COVID-19
By Procopio Partner Robert G. Marasco and Law Clerk Bella M. Olmedo Health care providers in California now have greater flexibility to provide telehealth services to patients pursuant to the executive order issued by Governor Gavin Newsom on April 3, 2020.The order allows more flexible use of telehealth services for routine and non-emergency medical services by waiving certain state and privacy and security requirements for health care providers. This action is similar to the waiver ...
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04.06.20
Interim Final Rule Issued for Paycheck Protection Program
By Procopio Partner Eli W. Mansour The Small Business Administration issued an Interim Final Rule April 3, 2020 (“Interim Final Rule”) to implement and clarify the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”). The full text of the Interim Final Rule can be found here. The Interim Final Rule, in addition to restating key elements of the PPP under the CARES Act, provides guidance to potential small busin...
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04.06.20
Protecting Your Online Business and Assets in the Age of COVID-19
By Procopio Partner Lisel M. Ferguson With COVID-19 prompting stay-at-home orders from state and local officials across the United States, both business owners and consumers are online more than ever. This new normal means businesses must make greater use of the internet to grow sales and provide services. What many companies don’t realize is how easy it is to protect their online brands, products, publications and service if intellectual property (IP) protection is in place before infr...
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04.02.20
New Extended Stay-at-Home Restrictions in Six San Francisco Bay Area Counties May Be Useful Predictor of Future Measures by Other Counties and the State of California
By Procopio Partner Tyler M. Paetkau and Senior Associate Olga Savage As communities across the United States experiment with ways to contain local spread of the COVID-19 virus, six California Bay Area counties – Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Santa Clara, San Francisco and San Mateo – and the City of Berkeley may not only serve as a litmus test of the effectiveness of such measures in curbing the spread of the virus, but also as a good predictor of new measures that other counties, an...
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04.01.20
Emergency Moratorium on Evictions Takes Effect in the City of San Diego
By Procopio Partner Justine Nielsen A temporary moratorium on commercial and residential evictions is now in effect in the City of San Diego. The San Diego City Council adopted Emergency Ordinance No. O-21177 (the “Emergency Ordinance”) on March 25, 2020, enacting a temporary moratorium on commercial and residential evictions due to financial hardships associated with COVID-19. The Emergency Ordinance expires May 31, 2020. Relevant provisions of the Ordinance are summarized below:...
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03.31.20
California Governor Authorizes Expansion of Health Care Workforce and Facilities
By Procopio Partner Robert G. Marasco and Rachael A. Harrington California health care facilities should now have additional flexibility to provide necessary and emergent care to patients during this ever-changing crisis in light of an executive order newly issued by Governor Gavin Newsom. The order seeks to “temporarily expand the health care workforce and allow health care facilities to staff at least an additional 50,000 hospital beds the state needs to treat COVID-19 patients....
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03.30.20
CARES Act Provides USPTO Discretion to Extend Certain Patent and Trademark Filing Deadlines
By Procopio Partner Robert (Bob) Ramos The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act signed into law by the President on March 27, 2020, contains language aimed at addressing concerns within the intellectual property community. In addition to both individual and corporate financial relief, Section 12004 of the CARES Act also gives the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Director the discretion, during the COVID-19 emergency, to “toll, waive, adjust, or modify, any ...
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