« January 2006 | Main | March 2006 »
February 27, 2006
Cash Cow
Posilac
is a cow growth hormone sold by Monsanto, one of those nasty things naturalists
who are smart enough not to drink milk complain about being in milk. But I
digress.
6,692,941 covers that bovine somatotropin. Too bad for Monsanto, having the
product, but not the patent.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 4:31 PM | Patents In Business | Comments (0)
Inequitable Conduct - Intent
S&G
Tool Aid sued Astro Pneumatic Tool for threatening its customers with patent
infringement (5,259,914),
over a portable car sticker remover. S&G went whole hog, seeking declaratory
judgment of non-infringement, inequitable conduct, unfair competition, tortious
interference, false marking, and violations of the Lanham Act & New Jersey Fair
Trade Act to boot. S&G got an inequitable conduct summary judgment ruling out of
district court, "determining that there was clear and convincing evidence of
materiality and intent to deceive" the patent office. The appeals court said (CAFC
05-1224), not so
fast.
Continue reading "Inequitable Conduct - Intent"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:40 AM | Inequitable Conduct | Comments (0)
February 25, 2006
Patent Trolls Feed on Technology
It
must be true. I saw it on TV. CBS News
got the skinny on how the patent system is broken, resulting in patent
trolls pillaging companies with their patents on "technology ideas." Say it
ain't so.
Continue reading "Patent Trolls Feed on Technology"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:07 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
February 24, 2006
RIM's Horns of Dilemma
In
the long-awaited NTP v. RIM hearing before Virginia district judge James
Spencer, Spencer lamented RIM's bullheaded refusal to settle, and admonished RIM
for providing an "inconsistent" argument against ordering an injunctive shutdown
of wireless email for Blackberry devices. Fueled by the combative ego of leader
Jim Balsillie, RIM just doesn't get it.
Continue reading "RIM's Horns of Dilemma"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:53 PM | Litigation | Comments (0)
Depressing Claims
SmithKline
Beecham, maker of Paxil®, an anti-depression
drug, is now self-medicating over the CAFC (04-1522)
invalidating one of its patents,
6,113,944, claiming a process for making the drug. '944 was a follow-on, but
not a continuation, of the original patent for the drug,
4,721,723. The appeals court ruled that "once a product is fully disclosed
in the art, future claims to that same product are precluded, even if that
product is claimed as made by a new process."
Continue reading "Depressing Claims"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:51 AM | Claim Construction | Comments (0)
February 23, 2006
China Patent Bootstraps
People's Daily Online reports that over 90% of Chinese companies have no patent application experience, and only .03% have any intellectual property rights.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:34 PM | International | Comments (0)
February 22, 2006
Patent Office Blows Patent Reform Raspberry
Patent
Commissioner John Doll's viewpoint on the need for Congress to pass patent
reform legislation: no thanks, we've got it under control. To patent applicants,
Doll says: "do some work for us."
Continue reading "Patent Office Blows Patent Reform Raspberry"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 8:28 PM | The Patent System | Comments (2)
Spilled Ink
Seiko
Epson has a well-established corporate policy of proactive patent licensing.
That proactivity is again evidenced by suing 24 companies before the U.S.
International Trade Commission (ITC), and in Portland, Oregon district court for
design and utility patent infringement over printer ink cartridges. Up to 30
patents are involved in these actions.
Continue reading "Spilled Ink"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 5:00 PM | Patents In Business | Comments (0)
Novelty Lock
Lawman
Armor sued Winner for infringing design patent
357,621, which claimed an ornamental design for the sliding hook portion of
a vehicle wheel lock. After claim construction, the aptly-named Winner
successfully moved for summary judgment of non-infringement based upon
invalidity. The appeals court (CAFC
05-1253) locked it
up.
Continue reading "Novelty Lock"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 9:57 AM | Claim Construction | Comments (0)
February 19, 2006
Settling
While the number of patent litigations has doubled between 1991 and 2004 before dropping 11% last year, the percentages of outcomes remain steady: most cases settle.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:08 AM | Litigation | Comments (0)
February 17, 2006
Coin Toss
In 2001, Mag-Nif sued Royal Sovereign for
5,902,178 &
6,165,063, claiming devices which sorts coins by denomination into different
tubes through chutes. They settled. But Mag-Nif became unsettled with Royal
Soverign's new "FS-3D" coin sorter. Ultimately, the CAFC had to sort it out (05-1346).
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:56 PM | Patents In Business | Comments (0)
On The Good Foot
Why
pay $160 for a pair of Nike AirMax 360 running shoes? So cushy. What cushions
the shoe so well is covered in at least 19 patents that comprise Nike's "Shox"
cushioning technology, launched in 2000. Now Adidas is about to take a lesson in
patent infringement. Class opens (where else) in patent plaintiff paradise: the
Eastern District of Texas.
Continue reading "On The Good Foot"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:20 AM | Litigation | Comments (0)
February 15, 2006
Adjustable
Curtiss-Wright Flow Control, accusing Velan of infringing
6,565,714, caught a break with a preliminary injunction. On appeal (05-1373), the CAFC had a
qualm with the claim term "adjustable," finding the trial court's
construction way outside the context of the specification, and so broad as to be
meaningless; thus vacating the injunction and
remanding. What's more, we learn the secret formula for Coke.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 7:57 PM | Claim Construction | Comments (0)
Indisputable Inequitable Conduct
Ferring B.V. sued Barr Labs for
infringing
5,047,398, claiming an oral antidiuretic. Barr was granted summary judgment for
inequitable conduct, as both materiality and intent were indisputable. The
appeals court concurred (05-1284).
Continue reading "Indisputable Inequitable Conduct"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:40 AM | Inequitable Conduct | Comments (0)
February 14, 2006
The Fountain of Junk Patents
Got a call from a U.K. solicitor (attorney) for a prior art search. Any art up to the day before the patent filing date would invalid the patent. By comparison, what we quaintly regard as prior art is a statutory sham designed to create junk patents, particularly in rapid-development industries such as software. The U.S. patent emperor is scantily clad, and Congress is the tailor.
Continue reading "The Fountain of Junk Patents"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:05 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
February 13, 2006
Incentives
Jackson Lenford of Right to Create bemoans that the USPTO is the only U.S. government agency to make a profit, and will be allowed in FY2007 to keep what it earns. "If... the USPTO relies only on funding from patent applicants, it is beholden to no one but patent holders, and becomes the poster-child example of regulatory capture." The only capture in this is a mind like a steel trap.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:47 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
February 12, 2006
Never Reset, Never Surrender
China
Daily reports a woe-is-me story of Zhejiang Dongzheng Electrical, a
self-proclaimed innovator being pummeled by U.S. running dog Leviton over
6,246,558, covering fault protection of resettable circuit devices. Like a
raccoon on the highway at night, taking a page from the playbook of patent
litigation-savvy Research In Motion (RIM), Dongzheng vows to fight on.
Continue reading "Never Reset, Never Surrender"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 7:19 PM | Litigation | Comments (0)
February 10, 2006
MPEG Piggy
AT&T
claims a patent lock on MPEG-4, the current standard for squishing high-quality
video into grainy images, and is putting the squeeze on MPEG purveyors while Ma
Bell spins in her grave.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 7:41 PM | Patents In Business | Comments (0)
Disconnected RIM
Crackberries thumb away emails on their
Blackberries
while awaiting proceedings beginning February 24 in Virginia district court before a fed-up Judge
Spencer towards an injunction against RIM for infringing
NTP patents; an injunction which would shut down RIM's Blackberry wireless email service
in the U.S. for all but government workers, unless RIM pulls a workaround rabbit out of its hat, which RIM says it has.
Continue reading "Disconnected RIM"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:02 AM | Patents In Business | Comments (0)
February 8, 2006
Pornography?
Dr. John Mercer was the
supposed inventor of
5,767,678 &
6,232,780, claiming
technology for horizontal drilling by which utility lines can be laid, patents
assigned to Digital Control. These patents were asserted against The Charles Machine
Works (CMW), aka DitchWitch, which tried burying Mercer's patents by inequitable
conduct, and may yet succeed.
Continue reading "Pornography?"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 8:07 PM | Inequitable Conduct | Comments (0)
Issa's Rocket Docket
Some details are emerging of Rep. Congressman Darrell Issa's
nascent bill to
accelerate and improve patent litigation quality in U.S. district courts. In
essence, beginning with a pilot program, the plan is to create voluntary patent
rocket dockets in districts, an extension of what has already
occurred through supply and demand.
Continue reading "Issa's Rocket Docket"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:32 AM | Litigation | Comments (0)
February 7, 2006
Litigation Big Fish
IP
Law 360 reported the patent firms with the most new litigation cases in 2005.
The purely quantitative statistical survey looked at the number of times a firm
was hired as patent counsel in new cases.
Continue reading "Litigation Big Fish"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 6:22 PM | Litigation | Comments (0)
February 6, 2006
International Patent Filings Update
The
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) issued
press
release 436 from Geneva on February 3. Yep, it's the one we've all been
waiting for. No weapons of mass destruction, but worthwhile reading if you're
inclined to know the annual summary status of international patent filings.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 9:22 PM | Patents In Business | Comments (0)
U.S. Patent Court
Rep.
Darrell Issa (R-Ca) is mulling a patent trial court for the United States.
Britain established its Patent County Court in 1988, and Japan set up its
Intellectual Property High Court in April 2005. The European Commission is
contemplating a continent-wide patent court system. Should the U.S. follow suit?
Continue reading "U.S. Patent Court"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:04 AM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
February 3, 2006
Spanish Inquisition
As Monty Python once quipped, no one expects the Spanish Inquisition, but
here it is. In a second round of protracted litigation to establish priority of
invention, i.e., legal first-to-invent status, Medichem v. Rolabo square off
before the CAFC (05-1179, -1248) over the credibility of lab notebooks related
to discovering the patented process for making loratadine, the active ingredient in
the blockbuster allergy medication Claritin®. This is the second ruling in as
many days from the Appeals Court relating to the anachronistic alchemy of having
patent priority determination subject to tortuous legal complications at ungodly cost. More
simply put, here's another compelling argument for a first-to-file patent
priority regime.
Continue reading "Spanish Inquisition"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:19 PM | Prior Art | Comments (0)
February 2, 2006
PubPat Clogs the Patent Office
In what promises to be another public flogging, the patent office is going to reexamine Forgent Network's JPEG patent (4,698,672), which has less than a year of life left in it, and has yielded over a $105 million in licenses from over 40 companies, with another 44 currently on the docket for infringement, all of whom have had a chance to douse the patent with invalidity assertion before the courts. Officious PubPat, which specializes in rubbing patents' noses in reexam, instigated, and the patent office, feeling the need nowadays to be ever so politically correct, bit.
Continue reading "PubPat Clogs the Patent Office"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 6:09 PM | Prosecution | Comments (0)
First to Invent
The
bizarre patent interference case of Brown v. Barbacid, going on now for over 10
years, with miles to go, vividly illustrates the difficulty with this country's
first-to-invent rule. The brouhaha is over who invented an enzyme assay first,
arguing over the adequacy of lab notebooks. Is this any way to decide date of
invention? Only the U.S. thinks so. What's wrong with a simple patent filing
date? Nothing, says the rest of the world.
Continue reading "First to Invent"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:36 PM | Prosecution | Comments (0)
February 1, 2006
Still Drilling
Pason
Systems faced down Varco over a preliminary injunction for infringing
5,474,142, owing to an unfavorable claim construction in district court that
dimmed the prospect of Varco eventually succeeding. Varco got the Appeals Court
(CAFC 05-1136) to drill
deeper.
Continue reading "Still Drilling"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:33 PM | Claim Construction | Comments (0)
Newsfeed (RSS)
Recommended:
Recommended:
Recommended:
Recommended: