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December 29, 2006
Dispensing Claim Construction
Ventana
Medical Systems sued BioGenex Labs for infringing
6,352,861, which claimed automated staining of microscope slides. The
asserted stain didn't take well in claim construction: the district court found
non-infringement based on a narrow construction disclosed throughout the patent
and in prosecution history. By 2-1, the CAFC majority used a different microscope (CAFC
06-1074), though the
dissent concurred with the district court decision. Here, in a
turnabout from previous rulings, where claims would not be construed broader
than the disclosed embodiments, or broader than envisioned by the inventors, the
appeals court muddies the tenets of claim construction.
Continue reading "Dispensing Claim Construction"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:04 PM | Claim Construction
December 27, 2006
Sloppy Assertion
Engate
asserted its court reporting patents, and in doing so, showed that clown time is
not over at the courthouse. Atkinson-Baker & Esquire, defendants in the case,
got summary judgment of "what was the plaintiff thinking?!" Ditto on appeal
(CAFC 06-1140), and then
some.
Continue reading "Sloppy Assertion"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:56 PM | Litigation
December 26, 2006
Generic Anticipation
Generic
drug makers IVAX Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, and Teva
Pharmaceuticals filed an ANDA for the patented drug olznapine, used to treat
schizophrenia. So, naturally, patent owner Eli Lilly sued for infringing
5,229,382. In a 221-page analysis following a 2.5 week bench trial, '382 was
found valid and infringed. In a last hurrah, the generic defendants appealed,
arguing one last time invalidity and inequitable conduct (CAFC
05-1396).
Continue reading "Generic Anticipation"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 8:03 PM | Prior Art
December 21, 2006
E-Office Action
Lessening
the post office load, the USPTO has initiated a pilot program of office action
(OA) email notification, letting an applicant know that the action may be viewed
via Private PAIR.
Continue reading "E-Office Action"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:10 PM | Prosecution
December 20, 2006
Flagrant
In
2003, Visto sued
Seven Networks in the Eastern District of
Texas for infringing three secure email patents:
6,023,708;
6,085,192; and
6,708,221. Seven was found guilty in April, with the jury awarding a royalty
rate of 19.75% on infringing product revenue, a tab of $3.6 million. Tuesday,
found willful, the tab has been doubled, and then some.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 4:48 PM | Damages
December 19, 2006
Texas Smart
District
judges in Texas smell a new crude that looks profitable: patent litigation.
Judge Ward in the Eastern District penned rules that made that district seem the
patent litigation capital of the U.S. Now other Texas districts are making a
draw from the same deck.
Continue reading "Texas Smart"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:01 AM | Litigation
December 18, 2006
Patent Boxing
IBM
sued Amazon. Alcatel-Lucent sued Microsoft. Both defendants have lashed out in
retaliation. Patent business as usual.
Continue reading "Patent Boxing"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 9:30 PM | Litigation
On-Sale Bar Kiosk
Plumtree
Software sought, and got, a declaratory judgment against Datamize, convincing a
district court to summary judgment invalidity under the on-sale bar doctrine, 35
U.S.C. § 102(b), killing
6,460,040 and
6,658,418, continuations of
6,014,137. Two issues on appeal (CAFC
06-1017): whether
Plumtree had "reasonable aprehension" to file for declaratory judgment, and whether the on-sale
bar doctrine had been met.
Continue reading "On-Sale Bar Kiosk"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:59 AM | Prior Art
December 15, 2006
Shields Up
Things
are running hot between L&W and Shertech, manufacturers of heat shields for
autos. Starting the fracas, L&W sought declaratory judgment of
non-infringement against Shertech's
5,670,264, also arguing invalidity and inequitable conduct unenforceability.
Shertech naturally counterclaimed infringement, which the district court granted
in summary judgment. Then a jury trial on invalidity, where only claim 7
survived.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:04 AM | Case Law
December 14, 2006
Jabbed
DSU Medical sued Japanese medical supply company JMS and
SE Asian manufacturer ITL for
direct, inducement, and contributory infringement of
5,112,311 and
5,266,072,
which claim a guarded winged-needle device that reduces the risk of getting
stuck with the needle. The defendants avoided getting stuck with claims 46-47
and 50-52 of '311 by proving invalidity, but JMS got jabbed $5 million for
infringing '311 claims 49, 53-54. Though long-winded in doing so, the CAFC (04-1620)
wholly concurred with the trial court.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:09 AM | Claim Construction
Patent Search Engines
There
are a few free patent search engines available.
Google, having kept
the scanning gnomes up past bedtime, has all issued U.S. patents since Columbus
was found to be infringing. There are also
FreePatentsOnline and
PatentReader, as well as the
venerable USPTO search. Not
exactly fun entertainment for the whole family, nor particularly
industrial-strength.
Continue reading "Patent Search Engines"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:29 AM | Prior Art | Comments (1)
December 13, 2006
Asian Cooperation
People's
Daily Online (China)
reports
that the heads of patent agencies of China, Japan, and Korea met in Beijing on
December 4 and signed an agreement to share patent search databases and patent
examination results. This was the sixth such powwow.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 5:14 PM | International
December 12, 2006
ITC Relief
The
International Trade Commission (ITC) has
become the preferred backdoor to get an injunction, now that the Supreme Court
put glue on the hinges of the judicial front door in its
eBay
decision.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 4:35 PM | Litigation
Inoperable?
Classified
Cosmetics sued Del Labs for infringing
6,589,541. Del got a district court summary judgment that the patent was
invalid because it was inoperable. The appeals court [CAFC
06-1010] mused the
district court ruling as inoperable.
Continue reading "Inoperable?"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 4:18 PM | Claim Construction
December 11, 2006
Anonymous Dog Eats Homework
The
Medicines Company filed papers today with the SEC blaming its outside legal
counsel for being one day tardy in filing for a patent extension for its
blockbuster anti-blood clotting drug Angiomax. Medicines hoped the Republican
Congress would help them out, but they skipped town. Still, Medicines refuses to
shoot the dog.
Continue reading "Anonymous Dog Eats Homework"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 8:16 PM | Patents In Business
Injunction Kabuki
Sanofi
markets Plavix®, used for heart attacks and strokes, and covered by
4,847,365. Maneuvering by the Hatch-Waxman Act playbook, Apotex filed an
ANDA for a generic version, triggering an infringement suit by Sanofi. Apotex
counterclaimed with invalidity. In due time, the FDA approved the ANDA. Sanofi
and Apotex settled... well, except that government regulators, the FTC and state
attorney generals, nixed the settlement as not copasetic.
Continue reading "Injunction Kabuki"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:21 AM | Injunction
December 9, 2006
Wireless
In
April 2005, Golden Bridge sued Nokia & Lucent in the patent enforcement capital
of the United States, the Eastern District of Texas, for infringing
6,574,267, which claims spread-spectrum, multiple channel transmission to
wireless devices. Thursday, Golden Bridge got shot out the saddle.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:25 PM | Prior Art
December 7, 2006
Getting Carded
Patent-holding
company Card Activation Technologies is continuing its aggressive enforcement
campaign of
6,032,589. After putting the hard word on
McDonalds and
Walgreens in October, the latest to
receive notice from the courthouse is Sears, who also operates
Kmart.
Continue reading "Getting Carded"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 3:45 PM | Patents In Business
December 5, 2006
Merck Bangkocked
The
Thai government issued its first compulsory license of a patented HIV-AIDS drug,
for a generic version of Merck's Efavirenz. Merck responded with predictable
alarm at the precedent.
Continue reading "Merck Bangkocked"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 3:46 PM | International
December 4, 2006
Patent Fillip
Ottawa-based
Wi-LAN got a "way-to-go!" on the Toronto Stock Exchange after scoring a patent
coup from Nokia; Wi-LAN's share price jumping 64% on the news, to $4.40
Canadian. Nokia paid $15.2 million for fully paid-up licensing to Wi-LAN's patent
portfolio, while passing off its own portfolio of asymmetric digital subscriber
lines (ADSL) patents to Wi-LAN.
Continue reading "Patent Fillip"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 7:12 PM | Patents In Business
India's Patent Law
U.S.
Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Franklin L. Lavin went to
New Delhi as a stalking horse for a delegation of U.S. corporations, and thought
he'd get a little bitching in.
Continue reading "India's Patent Law"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 9:54 AM | International
December 2, 2006
The Coalition for Patent Fairness
My
email box on Thursday had two quite contrasting emails: one from The Coalition
for Patent Fairness, a corporate lobbyist group for self-interested "patent
reform;" and, in harsh rebuttal, Ron Riley of The Professional Inventors
Alliance.
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