The Northern District and the Seventh Circuit have altered their hours of operation for the holidays.  Both courts will be closed on:

  • December 24, 2015;
  • December 25, 2015; and
  • January 1, 2016

The courts will also close at 3:00 pm on December 31, 2015.

I am taking a day off from intellectual property to say “thank you” to the men and women who have given their lives in service to our country, and to those protecting us around the world today. Amidst the barbecues and time with family and friends, take a moment to remember our young soldiers. And here is a link to Patent Barista’s 2008 Memorial Day Blawg Review. The posts it reviews are no longer topical, but the picture of the young woman lying down in a military cemetery is still just as moving.

Continue Reading Happy Memorial Day

As I prepare to enjoy Chicago’s Thanksgiving Day parade and then an excellent meal with my family, I am pausing to say thank you to the many people that support the Blog. I am grateful that after more than three years of blogging, my readership continues to grow. But more than that, I am grateful for the many people that I have met and the friendships and client-relationships that I have developed from the Blog. I also need to thank LexBlog. In addition to being the best blog team I could imagine, they have become trusted friends and advisers. I am also appreciative of my firm for allowing me the freedom to blog. Finally, I am grateful for my family who allow me the time to pursue blogging.
Happy Thanksgiving.

Continue Reading Happy Thanksgiving

Today, I take a day off from intellectual property to say “thank you” to the men and women who have given their lives in service to our country, and to those protecting us around the world today. Amidst the barbecues and time with family and friends, take a moment to remember our young soldiers. And here is a link to Patent Barista’s 2008 Memorial Day Blawg Review. The posts it reviews are no longer topical, but the picture of the young woman lying down in a military cemetery is still just as moving.

Continue Reading Memorial Day

Happy New Year. As we all reflect on 2008 and what is to come in 2009, I wish you health, happiness and success. While everyone faces adversity in this difficult economy, I hope you are able to look beyond and rise above yours in 2009. And may you enjoy a great New Year’s Day filled with family, friends, football, and, in my case at least, a big Chicago Blackhawks win in the Winter Classic.

Continue Reading Happy New Year

Whether you are celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah or just a long weekend, I hope you are enjoying the holiday season. I plan to spend Christmas and the weekend building toys for the kids, watching bowl games and enjoying food and cheer with family and friends. I hope that the holidays find you happy, healthy and looking forward to an exciting 2009.

Continue Reading Happy Holidays

Hopefully this post finds you at home with your family sharing the day and giving thanks. That is where I am, but I wanted to say “thank you” on the blog. Thanks to the Blog’s readers. I am grateful that more than two years into it, my readership continues to grow. But most of all, I am grateful for the conversations and friendships that I have developed from the blog. I started to list them, but the list was too long and I would hate to miss anyone. I am also grateful for the great team at LexBlog who take excellent care of the blog and have become trusted friends and advisers. Finally, I am grateful for my family who allow me the time to pursue blogging.
Happy Thanksgiving.

Continue Reading Happy Thanksgiving & Thank You

No patent this Fourth of July. Just good wishes to all, a hearty thank you to our service men and women protecting us here and abroad, and a quote from the preamble of one of the most impressive legal documents ever written, the Declaration of Independence:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Continue Reading Happy Fourth of July

Memorial Day is over, but I was too busy at my community’s Memorial Day parade to read Patent Barista’s Blawg Review #161 Memorial Day tribute until late yesterday evening. The Baristas say they are not big “flag-waivers”, but from where I sit, they waived it well. Even if you do not have time to read the whole thing (which you should), you should click here just to see the picture of the young woman lying before a service person’s grave at what appears to be Arlington National Cemetery. It is sweet, sad, or maybe both.
And thanks for the link to the Blog’s Memorial Day post Baristas.

Continue Reading Memorial Day Blawg Review