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September 30, 2006
Monsanto Sprayed
Monsanto
makes Roundup, a broad-spectrum herbicide.
Monsanto's patent on Roundup expired in September 2000, but it still exercises
monopolistic control of the market through tying arrangements with its
still-patented Roundup-resistant seeds: buy the seeds, and you must buy Roundup.
Spray the cropland growing the resistant seeds, killing the weeds, but the crop
is unscathed. The whole scheme is now under attack on two fronts: anti-trust and
patent validity.
Continue reading "Monsanto Sprayed"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:43 PM | Antitrust
September 29, 2006
To Be Continued?
Rumors
are swirling that the patent office may be rethinking its continuation
curtailment campaign. Also rife is speculation of shuffling the deck chairs on
the Patent Titanic. Some scuttlebutt at the agency water cooler....
Continue reading "To Be Continued?"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 8:05 PM | The Patent Office
Offshore Patents
Financial
firms advise fiduciary fun, playing house for companies to transfer patent
ownership to offshore shells as a tax dodge. According to the Wall Street
Journal, Merck saved itself $1.5 billion doing that. And other companies have
had their fling with "tax arbitrage." The IRS, never known as the life of the
party, is not amused.
Continue reading "Offshore Patents"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:27 AM | Patents In Business
September 28, 2006
Malocclusion Mended
It's
unusual that a plaintiff in a patent infringement suit settles by paying the
defendant. But that's the teeth of the agreement for
Align Technology
settling against OrthoClear for infringing Align's patents for
non-metal dental braces, as well as a mouthful of other business malpractices
which Align accused OrthoClear of.
Continue reading "Malocclusion Mended"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 5:00 PM | Litigation
September 27, 2006
Licensing Muscle
Royal
Philips Electronics, with patents that roped in licensing agreements for
CD-R manufacture from optical storage makers CMC Magnetics, Ritek, Prodisc
Technology, and Lead Data, has been pushing a new per-unit licensing scheme,
called Veeza. The optical disc makers have resisted, fearing a hike in fees. So Phillips
pulled the rug out from under them.
Continue reading "Licensing Muscle"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 5:13 PM | Patents In Business
September 26, 2006
IBM Patent Exposure
The
New York Times reports that IBM, America's patent gorilla, is going naked
about its patent filings. Does showing that its patent applications are well
hung really do anything? Maybe.
Continue reading "IBM Patent Exposure"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:07 AM | Patents In Business | Comments (2)
September 25, 2006
Page Count FTC
Last
week the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released a
report
towards punishing Rambus for its memory patents, which were "unlawfully acquired
monopoly power by deceiving JEDEC;" JEDEC being the committee that embedded
Rambus' patented technology into memory standards, thus granting Rambus its
windfall. The most astonishing facet is the ignorance of the FTC regarding
patent valuation.
Continue reading "Page Count FTC"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:02 PM | Patents In Business
September 24, 2006
IEEE 802.20
Given
the landscape, you might think that standards committees "accidentally" adopting
patented technology is, well, somewhat standard. The image compression JPEG
standard has been a cash cow for Forgent Networks, owner of the patent
smothering JPEG. While the DRAM market itself is a cesspool of corporate
corruption, DRAM standards have been a boon to patent-holder Rambus. Now IEEE
belatedly tries to put its wireless communication protocol standard IEEE 802.20
back on the rails after potential surreptitious patent-peddling concerns.
Continue reading "IEEE 802.20"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 8:46 PM | Patents In Business
The Eastern District of Texas
The
New York Times reviews Marshall, Texas and the patent litigation scene there in
So Small a Town, So Many Patent Suits.
Continue reading "The Eastern District of Texas"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:24 AM | Litigation
September 23, 2006
Taking the Fifth
It can be
disgustingly impossible to hold the government accountable. Here we have a tale
of evasion by the U.S. government, that the Fifth Amendment's takings clause no
longer applies to patents, sanctioned by the federal courts (CAFC
04-5100), with a
vigorous dissent by renowned gadfly Judge Newman.
Continue reading "Taking the Fifth"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 7:42 PM | Damages | Comments (2)
September 21, 2006
Publish, Then Discover
Nichols Institute Diagnostics sued Scantibodies Laboratory for infringing 6,030,790. The problem was that the inventors had published an early abstract of work later patented. The delay in patenting was caused by not realizing the significance of what they had discovered and published. Oops.
Continue reading "Publish, Then Discover"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:10 AM | Prior Art
September 20, 2006
On the Rise
Ms.
Yoon Ja Kim was in the know about the dough, and so we go blow to blow to show
ConAgra, accused, but not rising like baking bread to infringement.
Continue reading "On the Rise"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:16 PM | Claim Construction
September 19, 2006
Anti-Patent Troll
Open Source Development Labs (OSDL)
has a project called Open Source as Prior Art (OSPA),
intended to document its source code to improve its potential usage as patent
prior art. Maybe a lot of buck for the bang, but nice idea, at least in concept.
Not according to Richard Stallman, founder of the
Free Software Foundation.
Continue reading "Anti-Patent Troll"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:13 PM | Prior Art
September 17, 2006
Memory Resolution
Japan's
Toshiba settled Friday with Micron Technology over a flash NAND memory chip
battle that had raged for four years. While the settlement figure went
undisclosed, Toshiba walked away from a lot of trouble with a smile.
Continue reading "Memory Resolution"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 3:21 PM | Litigation
MPEP 8r5
The
USPTO has released the 8th edition, Revision 5 of its Manual of Patent Examining
Procedure (MPEP),
the patent bible. But 8r5 is released in pdf format only; no hyperlinked web
(html) version.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:05 AM | Prosecution | Comments (1)
Dependent Claim Koan
What is the value of a dependent claim whose limitations are anticipated by the prior art? Considering the current obviousness standard, most recently enunciated in Alza v. Mylan, is there good reason to assert, or even draft, such dependent claims? After all, if the independent claim is done in by prior art during litigation, the dependent claim practically falls as well. Comments welcome.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:02 AM | Prosecution | Comments (3)
September 14, 2006
Heated Pads
Keith
Whittle & Theo Cummings were Cincinnati chums. Theo, a patent attorney, helped
Keith, gratis, get his patent for body protective pads, with optional heating, used for
sports & construction work. As a result, Keith got
6,588,019. But the patent Keith got wasn't all that he expected, and he
got sore about it.
Continue reading "Heated Pads"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 6:28 PM | Patents In Business | Comments (4)
September 13, 2006
Rocket Docket Stuck on the Launch Pad
After
revisions following a July markup, Rep. Issa's
rocket docket patent bill passed the House Judiciary Committee unanimously
Wednesday. But it's unlikely to become law this year, because the Senate
companion bill, shepherded by Sen. Orrin Hatch, is a sleeping sheep.
Continue reading "Rocket Docket Stuck on the Launch Pad"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:46 PM | The Patent System
Microsoft's Patent Web
Microsoft
has a set of web services specifications that it wants widely adopted as a
standard. To smooth that path,
Microsoft has
promised not to assert any of its patents against developers who adopt the
specification. Of course there's a catch.
Continue reading "Microsoft's Patent Web"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 4:57 PM | Patents In Business
Aesthetic Correction
MIT
sued Abacus Software, Corel, Microsoft, and Roxio for infringing
4,500,919, claiming a color processing system for making copies,
specifically, using the right color combination from a limited palette of inks.
The district court found non-infringement based on a contested claim
construction. The CAFC differed on the construction (05-1142).
Continue reading "Aesthetic Correction"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:50 PM | Claim Construction | Comments (1)
Patent Happy
Dennis
Crouch &
Peter Zura in the past few days have been kicking around the question: why
so much patenting when so few patents are worth anything? Sophisticated studies
cited by these esteemed bloggers raise paradoxes and postulate justifications,
when, in fact, corporate patenting is both systemic and systematic, as in,
automatic like a dog.
Continue reading "Patent Happy"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:08 AM | Patents In Business | Comments (1)
September 12, 2006
Expert Disclosure
Last
week's
CAFC obviousness ruling in Alza v. Mylan highlighted the importance of
expert witness testimony in informing the court as to what constituted one "skilled
in the art," a standard for permissible prior art combination, standing on the ridge
above the slippery slope to impermissible hindsight. Another Appeals Court
ruling cautions in the priming of expert witness testimony as discoverable.
Continue reading "Expert Disclosure"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 4:38 PM | Prior Art
September 10, 2006
Drugged
The
Alza v. Mylan Labs
decision last week, where the patent for
anti-incontinence Ditropan® was knocked off for obviousness, using the
same patent overcame during prosecution, no less, may be a harbinger for other
drug patents skating on thin ice. The Economist this week raises an eyebrow on
drug patents under attack.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 8:01 PM | Patents In Business
September 7, 2006
Katz Claws
Ronald
A. Katz Technology Licensing LP is a patent tiger. Time Warner Cable and a
slew of other companies are feeling the bite of 17 communications patents; suit
filed in Delaware. Also snarled on are AOL, Cablevision, and Qwest, for
patents related to automated customer service, conference calling, voicemail,
and pay-per-view, with a flock of claims like a murder of crows.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 8:40 PM | Litigation
Supreme Court On Open Source Software
Information
Week's Charles Babcock writes in the September 4 issue, "Supreme
Court To Hear Arguments On Software Patents And Open Source." Did you know
that KSR v. Teleflex is about open source software?
Continue reading "Supreme Court On Open Source Software"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:01 AM | Prior Art
September 6, 2006
Implicitly & Expertly Obvious
Mylan
Labs & Impax filed drug applications (ANDAs) for generic versions of the orally
taken anti-incontinence drug oxybutynin. That triggered a patent infringement
suit by Alza, which holds the relevant patent:
6,124,355.
The district court found non-infringement, and invalidity by anticipation and obviousness in light of the prior art. Getting another bite at the apple to assure the Supreme Court for its upcoming KSR v. Teleflex case that the status quo is copasetic, the CAFC honed its obviousness chops (Alza v. Mylan 06-1019).
Continue reading "Implicitly & Expertly Obvious"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:48 PM | Prior Art | Comments (3)
Anti-Patent Crusader
Young
Dan Ravicher, the force behind the Public
Patent Foundation, is
interviewed in MIT's Technology Review. In the interview, Dan reveals his
utopian ignorance of economics.
Continue reading "Anti-Patent Crusader"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:21 AM | Patents In Business | Comments (3)
September 5, 2006
Windmill Tilt
Cindy
Michel got a patent for ergonomically engineered underwear:
5,157,793. But the patent maintenance fees didn't fit her, so she bitched
before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, silly girl. Regardless of whether the
emperor has clothes, ergonomic or not, Cindy lost her patent for not paying for
its maintenance.
Continue reading "Windmill Tilt"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:23 PM | The Patent Office
September 2, 2006
Wiki Patents
Gee
kids, aren't patents fun! Save 'em, trade 'em, collect 'em. Amass a portfolio
and assert against major corporations until they cry for patent reform. Rock the
cradle, but don't try for an injunction, the courts won't bite on that anymore;
just politely demand millions in compensation.
But, gosh dad, what if I'm not smart enough to invent? I want to play! Well, son, you can; just get a stick and poke at the little patent varmints. Now, Wiki Patents Community Patent Review hands you the stick. Piss away your time playing amateur prior art searcher. You'll feel good that you're improving patent quality, helping the great and powerful Patent Wizard of Oz. Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain; maintain the illusion that all is well while you serve the motherland.
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