On June 5th, 2025, Acting Director Coke Stewart modified a previous Vidal order by announcing that sanctions cancelling claims considered not unpatentable on the merits were too harsh when no “extraordinary circumstances” existed in an Inter-Partes Review (IPR) proceeding. This is a reversal of former Director Kathi Vidal’s position that these sanctions were appropriate in […] We are pleased to announce that Maier & Maier has been awarded the USA 100 M&A Today Legal Excellence Award. The USA 100 – 2025 Awards are presented by Global Publishing Media Group (GPMG), a globally recognized publishing house based in Birmingham, UK, which honors leading firms and professionals across various industries worldwide. The […] We are pleased to announce that Maier & Maier has been recognized by Chambers USA, the premier legal guide known for ranking top law firms and attorneys nationwide. In the 2025 edition, Maier & Maier was recognized for our work in the Intellectual Property field. Our inclusion in Chambers USA is an honor to Maier & Maier and […] Initially announced in a news brief, beginning next week on May 13, 2025, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will be accelerating the Issue Dates for patents. Previously, the time between Issue Notification and Issue Date averaged around three weeks. The USPTO is reducing that time to approximately two weeks, allowing patent holders to […] We are thrilled to announce that Stephen Kunin, one of the partners at Maier & Maier, has been recognized as one of the IAM Strategy 300 Global Leaders 2025. This prestigious award highlights Stephen’s exceptional expertise and leadership in the intellectual property (IP) field. A slot in the 300 is the mark of a professional […] On April 17, 2025, the USPTO formally announced the termination of the Climate Change Mitigation Pilot Program. The Climate Change Mitigation Pilot Program was launched in June 2022 as a replacement to the Green Technology program and allowed for applications involving technologies that reduce, remove, prevent, and/or monitor greenhouse gas emissions to be made special […] The Federal Circuit clarified that a published U.S. application (published application) is available for IPR as long as its filing date (its “effectively filed” date in AIA vernacular) is before the priority date of the challenged patent, even if the publication date of the published application is after the priority date of the challenged patent. […] On December 18, 2024, the Subcommittee on Intellectual Property of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary held a hearing concerning the Realizing Engineering, Science, and Technology Opportunities by Restoring Exclusive (RESTORE) Patent Rights Act of 2024.[1] Senator Coons (one of the senators co-sponsoring the Act) led the hearing. Senator Coons emphasized during the hearing […] April 22, 2024 – Maier & Maier PLLC is pleased to report that our clients Hikam America, Inc., Hikam Electrónica de México, S.A. de C.V., Hikam Tecnologia de Sinaloa, Hewtech Philippines Corp., Hewtech Philippines Electronics Corp., and Hewtech (Shenzhen) Electronics Co., Ltd. have been terminated from ITC Investigation No. 337-TA-1365. The Firm represented six of […] April 5, 2024 – Maier & Maier PLLC is pleased to report that we secured a victory for our client Firstbeat Technologies OY in a case involving a heart rate measuring apparatus incorporated into wearable technology. The case was originally filed by Polar Electro OY in the District of Delaware on November 7, 2011, but […]