The celebrations will be at Epcot in the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, on June 24, 2000. The doctrine of claim differentiation can shed light on the proper scope to be afforded a claim limitation, for there is presumed to be a difference in meaning and scope when different words or phrases are used in separate claims. Obviousness-type double patenting is a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy, which prevents the extension of the term of the original patent via the patenting of an obvious variation. Based on the fundamental principle that no one deserves an exclusive right to technology already in the public domain, this court has consistently limited the doctrine of equivalents to prevent its application to ensnare prior art. StorageTek Pays 100 Million as Result of Patent Litigation .
Brazil adopts international classification system .
One major innovation will be the use of the International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks. At the time a new application is filed for a 'composite' or device or design mark, it will be necessary to indicate up to five possibilities of classification, and must contain a reference to a Category, Division and Section as well as the codes of figures as identified by the International Classification. 17th Trilateral Conference 1999 in Berlin The European Patent Office , the Japanese Patent Office and the United States Patent and Trademark Office agree on a standard for electronic filing of patent applications that will begin testing in 2000. At the occasion of their annual Trilateral Conference held in Berlin, the three patent offices defined a work programme to set up the necessary technical infrastructure in each office and to create a consistent legal framework. The agreement also deals with the mutual recognition of electronic signatures.