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February 29, 2008
Crippling
Using
the San Jose Mercury
News for a soapbox, Daniel Leckrone, head of the patent prospecting
TPL Group, ripped into proposed
legislation currently withering on the vine in the Senate.
If passed in its existing form, the bill masquerading under the euphemism "Patent Reform Act" will stifle growth and prosperity for the average U.S. citizen. It will slow down investment, reduce jobs and threaten economic recovery at a time we need it most. This misguided special-interest legislation still pending in the portals of the Senate must be stopped.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:35 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
Money Changes Everything
MercExchange's
patent assertion against eBay's "Buy It Now" feature resulted in a
Supreme
Court ruling that, using a four-factor test, essentially denied injunctive
relief unless the patent holder was a direct competitor to an infringer.
Thursday, eBay announced that it bought three patents from Merchange for an
undisclosed amount, including
5,845,265, the centerpiece of the matter.
Continue reading "Money Changes Everything"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:08 PM | Patents In Business | Comments (0)
U Turn
Micron sought declaratory judgment in Northern California against memory-chip
competitor MOSAID,
the day before MOSAID filed in East Texas. Northern California district court pitched
the DJ matter. Micron appealed.
The appeal ruling is a textbook of current case law for declaratory judgment
jurisdiction and district court discretion.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:41 PM | Declaratory Judgment | Comments (0)
February 28, 2008
Screening
The
University of California and Abbott went after Dako for infringing DNA screening
patents
5,447,841 and
6,596,479. After a district court priority blunder, and turning aside a
preliminary injunction motion, claim construction gave Dako a noninfringement
out; until appeal.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:28 PM | Claim Construction | Comments (0)
Checking Out
The "upgrade" to Movable Type (MT)
4 was a bilious bumble. Basically, it blew chunks, and it was no self-revelation
that I make a cantankerous janitor. MT seemingly gave no consideration to
backward compatibility. Among other tedious wankings, subscription notification
went to hell in a bucket without leaving a "thank you" note. So now it's a Kenny Rogers moment: know when to
hold 'em, and know when to fold 'em.
Continue reading "Checking Out"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:05 AM | | Comments (3)
February 27, 2008
Shorted Out
Tessera,
semiconductor miniaturization maven, took a half-dozen companies to task before
the International Trade Commission (ITC), including Motorola, Qualcomm,
Freescale Semiconductor, and ATI, a unit of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). Monday
morning, just before the ITC trial was scheduled to begin, Administrative Law
Judge Theodore Essex brought the tent poles down, pending reexamination outcome
of the asserted Tessera patents.
Continue reading "Shorted Out"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:56 PM | ITC | Comments (0)
Fish Tank
Myth
tells us that fish grow to the size of their tank. Reason suggests, related to a USPTO examiner, this myth may prove out.
Posted by Mr. Platinum at 12:44 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (3)
February 26, 2008
Down Boy
Medtronic's
lawyers were hammered for
malpractice in patent suit against BrainLAB last week. Now a different legal
crew barking for Medtronic has been slapped a $10 million fine for similar
malfeasance.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 4:38 PM | Litigation | Comments (1)
Relief
Carlos Amado owns
5,293,615, which claims an interface method between
spreadsheet and database programs. Amado sued
Microsoft for its
Office product
infringing, and won 4¢ per copy royalty, and an
injunction. The injunction was stayed pending post-trial motions, during which
Amado got 12¢ per copy royalty. In wake of the SCOTUS
eBay
decision, the injunction was dissolved by the district court. On second appeal,
the CAFC affirmed the district court handling of injunction, while a spat about
spare-change royalty rate was remanded.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:19 AM | Damages | Comments (1)
On-Line Chat for Independent Inventors
Every couple of months the USPTO hosts an on-line chat, allowing independent inventors to ask questions regarding the patent process. The next chat: Thursday, February 28th, from 2 to 3 PM (EST).
Continue reading "On-Line Chat for Independent Inventors"
Posted by Mr. Platinum at 10:02 AM | Prosecution | Comments (3)
Willful
Monday,
the Supreme Court snubbed certiorari for the CAFC en banc
Seagate decision that practically eviscerated willful patent infringement.
Nor reason was given. To seek enhanced damages, the Seagate standard requires
that a patent holder prove that an infringer was "objectively reckless" in
knowingly infringing a patent. Damages deflation ahead.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:20 AM | Damages | Comments (0)
February 25, 2008
Exuberance Rewarded
Last February,
the
appeals court found Medtronic's
four-patent assertion against
BrainLAB
worthless, upholding Colorado district court Judge
Richard Matsch overturning a duped jury verdict of infringement. Back before the
district court, entertaining a post-trail motion by BrainLAB to recover all
attorneys fees and costs, Judge Matsch raked Medtronic's attorneys over the coals,
particularly
Terrence McMahon and
Vera Elson of McDermott Will & Emery.
Continue reading "Exuberance Rewarded"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 3:06 PM | Litigation | Comments (2)
February 24, 2008
Worldwide Patent Survey
Joff
Wild of Intellectual Asset Magazine
surveyed the 2007 international patent scene, and found some patent puppies with
growing pains, while old dogs are up to tricks both old and new.
Continue reading "Worldwide Patent Survey"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:09 PM | International | Comments (0)
No Surprise
Rick Frenkel's setup for blogging always
seemed a bit queer - anonymously
blogging voyeuristically, by supposedly peeking behind the curtain of
non-practicing patent holders quietly enforcing their patents, as if anyone
should care about that ipso facto. That the blog name was
Patent Troll Tracker was a dead
giveaway to the author being a serious case of IP arrested development. That he
did so anonymously was the silly irony: wanting to unmask others while staying masked himself.
Continue reading "No Surprise"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:51 PM | Patents In Business | Comments (19)
Exam Plan
USPTO
registration exam questions have remained very similar throughout the years,
some word-for-word identical, but the overall focus of the 100-question exam has
shifted drastically. Is this merely the necessary result of a shift in exam
format, or is it an indication of a change in focus at the PTO? Regardless, for
those currently preparing for the Patent Bar, modify your study plan
accordingly.
Posted by Mr. Platinum at 1:27 PM | Prosecution | Comments (3)
February 23, 2008
Blackboarded
Blackboard
suing competitor Desire2Learn for
infringing
6,988,138 spurred
academic outrage, but a hillbilly east Texas jury paid the pointy-heads no
heed, awarding $3 million in damages.
Continue reading "Blackboarded"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 7:04 PM | Damages | Comments (1)
Follow the Money
If
you wonder why, for the Patent Reform Act,
Senator Leahy is so hot to trot, it's that he got
paid and bought. Of the $2.4 million packed into Leahy's political piggy
bank in the past five years, $3/4 million came from "lawyers and
lobbyists;" not surprising, given that Leahy is Senate Judiciary Committee
chairman. Second place in pork placement was the computer-related sector,
approaching $1/2 million. Third place is under $200,000. Heavyweights in digital
technologies, including communications companies, which are totally digital
too, are the pushers for so-called "patent reform."
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:02 AM | The Patent System | Comments (4)
February 22, 2008
SPEcial Powers
With USPTO allowance rates at an all time low, there has been frequent analysis and speculation regarding cause and implication.
There is a player in the shadows: the supervisory examiner.
Continue reading "SPEcial Powers"
Posted by Mr. Platinum at 3:19 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (2)
Factual Fiction
For
now, the CAFC retains a polite fiction: "We review claim construction de novo on
appeal. Cybor Corp. v. FAS Tech., Inc., 138 F.3d 1448, 1456 (Fed. Cir.
1998) (en banc);" de novo because claim construction is considered a matter of
law, not a factual inquiry. In today's Aristocrat nonprecedential reversal and
remand, summary judgment of indefiniteness in claim construction was ruled in
error because "genuine issues of material fact remained pertinent."
Continue reading "Factual Fiction"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:38 PM | § 112 | Comments (0)
Retractable
6,733,328
has been treated like a commodity. It was originally assigned to Ultra Products,
then transferred to Taiwan-based Transpower Technology. Transpower made
Retractable Technologies LLC exclusive licensee, capable of enforcing the
patent; although Dallas-based Data Drive claims to be exclusive licensee, but
that Retractable could license the patent with permission. Retractable cracked
the whip in Wyoming Tuesday, against Belkin, RadioShack, Fry's Electronics,
Targus, and others.
Continue reading "Retractable"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:08 AM | Litigation | Comments (0)
February 21, 2008
On-Sale Bar Ruffle
In
reply to potential customer Sealy, a bed
mattress maker, Atlanta Attachment
developed a sewing machine for automatically creating gusset rufflers. There was
a verbal understanding of confidentiality. Over time, Atlanta Attachment sent
prototypes to Sealy, in September 2000 invoicing Sealy for the third of four prototypes ultimately
delivered. The last prototype was but a minor jigger
difference from the third.
Continue reading "On-Sale Bar Ruffle"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:05 PM | Prior Art | Comments (0)
A View from Tel Aviv
Bernard
Frieder is a consultant to technology companies in Israel, miffed at the U.S.
Congress for threatening to wreck the U.S. patent system with its Patent Reform
Act of 2007.
Because inventors, research organizations and startup ventures around the world rely on US patents to protect the output of their labor, changing the US patent system has global repercussions.
Continue reading "A View from Tel Aviv"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:37 AM | The Patent System | Comments (2)
Loaded Gun
George
Margolin of the Professional Inventors Alliance
had a graphic response to last week's
editorial
in the Washington Times by Senators Leahy, touting S. 1145, the Senate bill
to deform the U.S. patent system. "All inventors strongly disagree with [Leahy],
but he wouldn't know that because he has allowed few, if any, real inventors
speak before his committee," Margolin conjectured.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:09 AM | The Patent System | Comments (2)
Infringement Kimchee
Korea
Aerospace University Professor Lee Keung-hae invented software for automatic
linguistic switching between Korean and English. Lee lost his initial patent
assertion against Microsoft for its Korean version of Word, in 2000. At the
time, Lee claimed $42,000 in damages. Following trial, Microsoft countersued Lee
in 2001 to invalidate the patent, but the Korean Supreme Court ruled that Lee
was holder of a valid patent. As a result, a lower court recently ruled in Lee's
favor. Lee is now totting up damages, expected to be at least an order of
magnitude greater than those originally sought.
Continue reading "Infringement Kimchee"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:42 AM | International | Comments (0)
Rocket Dockets
The
Eastern District of Texas has become the most popular court for patent
litigation. As a result, with stuffed docket, time to trial has stretched to
about two years. Other districts are taking up the slack, notably the Western
District of Wisconsin and the Eastern District of Virginia, but there is a
potential drawback to the also-rans.
Continue reading "Rocket Dockets"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:57 AM | Litigation | Comments (2)
February 20, 2008
Wireless & Witless
BlackBerry
maker Research in Motion (RIM) and Moto Q
maker Motorola sued each other Saturday
for patent infringement. Illinois-based Motorola chose Delaware and the Eastern
District of Texas, while Ontario-based RIM chose the Northern District of Texas.
No venue shopping there.
Continue reading "Wireless & Witless"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:46 PM | Litigation | Comments (0)
February 19, 2008
All Good
The
U.S. Patent Reform Act of 2007 is a gift, a most welcome change, if you are an
Indian generic drug maker. The view from Mumbai:
The immediate impact of the law change will be to ease challenges on drug patents and also lower legal costs in such challenges.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 9:29 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
Preliminary Injunction
A
pair of preliminary injunctions vacated on appeal, putting claim
construction and KSR as the cruxes of justification. In Erico v. Vutec &
Doc's Marketing, though hotly contested, KSR Obzilla stomped in to quash a
preliminary injunction. In Chamberlain Group v. Lear, a rather obvious
inconsistency in claim construction resulted in preliminary
injunction reversal.
Continue reading "Preliminary Injunction"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 8:04 PM | Injunction | Comments (3)
CAFC on Patent Reform
Chief
Judge Michel of the U.S. Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit (CAFC), addressing
the Association of Corporate Patent Counsel on January 28, 2008, backhandedly
took Congress to task for being duped by asinine academics, essentially rumor
mongers, jumping to conclusions, ignorant of facts. Noting selective
Congressional committee reportage, Michel hints that the fix was in.
Continue reading "CAFC on Patent Reform"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:22 PM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
February 18, 2008
Frank Piasecki
Igor
Sikorsky flew the first helicopter in 1941. In 1943,
Frank Piasecki flew the
second helicopter, the PV-2, built from junk auto parts in a Philadelphia
garage. The PV-1 never made it past the drawing board.
The first PV-2 flight was rambunctious: Piasecki had only 14 hours flight experience in a small Piper Cub airplane. The PV-2 was tethered to a clothes line. The first flight was only supposed to be a couple of feet off the ground. The helicopter went up, the clothes line snapped, and Frank was winging it.
Continue reading "Frank Piasecki"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 9:34 PM | Patents In Business | Comments (1)
Patents as Intangible Asset Partitions
Everybody knows that corporations shield shareholders from liability for debts of the corporations. But corporations perform another function, which may be even more important for startups: corporations shield the corporate assets contributed by one shareholder from being raided by the creditors of other shareholders. To see how much this matters, imagine how difficult it would be to form a pool of capital for funding a startup if funding had to be renegotiated everytime one of the startup's investors died or declared bankruptcy. Were corporations not to perform this vital function for shareholders, the costs of negotiating with every potential future creditor of other shareholders would quickly outstrip the benefit of pooling capital in the first place.
In a pathbreaking article, Prof. Paul Heald explains how patents perform a similar transactions-cost-reducing function for intangible asset owners.
Continue reading "Patents as Intangible Asset Partitions"
Posted by Michael Martin at 9:42 AM | Patents In Business | Comments (0)
February 17, 2008
Interest
As
reported
last week, Dr. Bruce Saffron nabbed
Boston Scientific for
patent infringement to the tune of $432 million. Friday, the presiding judge
tacked on $69 million in pretrial interest. Saffron's lead attorney pipped: "$69 million is a nice amount." Prejudgment interest is common, but not
a given.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 3:29 PM | Damages | Comments (0)
Bad Brew
Economist
Robert Shapiro and health care policy maven Aparna Mathur rip into provisions of
the Patent Reform Act currently swirling the bowl in the Senate. In a study
published by the Biotechnology Industry
Organization, the authors project the repercussions of damages
apportionment, post-grant opposition, and lowering the bar for inequitable
conduct.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:51 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
Technical Difficulties
Yes,
The Patent Prospector has been off the air for a couple of days; but is once again pleased to
broadcast a seamy stream of random
competence in the patent world. As chronicled herein, senators, Supreme Court
Justices, inventors, and run-of-the-mill patent attorneys parade as nincompoops on a tear.
In other reportage, occasionally events make sense.
Continue reading "Technical Difficulties"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:34 PM | | Comments (0)
February 15, 2008
Good Old Bozos
Senators
Leahy and Hatch, in a
Washington Times
editorial, cry wolf about the need for patent reform, dishing out fallacious logic and
rummy rumor posing as fact. "Meaningful patent reform is crucial to America's
ability to maintain its competitive edge in the world," they toot, without
evidentiary basis or rational reasoning matching perceived problem to proposed
solution.
Continue reading "Good Old Bozos"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:02 AM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
February 14, 2008
Becalmed
Keith
Perine in the Congressional Quarterly spied the
stall in the Senate version of the Patent Reform Act.
The Senate is not expected to take up a measure to overhaul patent laws until April at the earliest, as agreement on the complex legislation remains elusive. Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick J. Leahy, a Vermont Democrat who sponsored the legislation (S 1145), acknowledged Wednesday that it likely won't be on the floor until after a two-week March recess. So far .... there have not been substantive negotiations over complex provisions - particularly a section dealing with damages awards in patent infringement lawsuits - since the Judiciary panel approved the bill last July... Lobbyists have predicted that the committee-approved bill does not have a filibuster-proof majority of 60 votes.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 9:05 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
Shifting Liability
Money
is a lubricant and a salve. Banks apply the salve to others to ease their own
pain: potent wads in political lobbying and campaign contributions. With the
housing market in deep kimchee, the banking industry is pushing proposals to
shift the risk of mangled mortgages to the Federal Housing Administration;
considered far-fetched a few months ago, now more a matter of when than whether.
Then there's this pesky patent holder,
DataTreasury, that practically patented "Check 21," the federal law for
digitally archiving checks.
Continue reading "Shifting Liability"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:24 PM | Patents In Business | Comments (1)
February 13, 2008
Apportion This
The
Innovation Alliance sports
a study by Prof. Paul Janicke that concludes: "There is no pattern of
runaway jury verdicts in patent cases." What's more: "Despite what some argue,
under our system of justice, judges do not simply "rubber stamp" a jury's damage
award."
Continue reading "Apportion This"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 5:14 PM | Damages | Comments (0)
Wage Slave to Own
Back
in 1991, the Barstow brothers, David and Daniel, patented a way to include
computer events within a live broadcast. Being sports fans, the Barstow boys
dreamt up the idea from wanting to watch baseball games simulated on a computer.
They went after MLB Advanced Media, who got the matter tossed in district court
over subject matter jurisdiction. Problem was that David worked, under
employee contract, for Schlumberger
when the patent was filed, leaving title under a cloud. The district court wouldn't
hear the Barstows out, so the Barstows appealed.
Continue reading "Wage Slave to Own"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 4:20 PM | Litigation | Comments (4)
February 12, 2008
Money Matters
The
Coalition for 21st Century Patent Reform, whose motto is "patents matter,"
made no small matter of making money matter in lobbying for patent legislation:
paying law firm Akin Gump $1.2 million in
2007 to grease the skids.
Continue reading "Money Matters"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 7:39 PM | The Patent System | Comments (2)
Stent for Rent
Over
a decade ago, radiologist Dr. Bruce Saffran invented a drug-eluting porous
sheet, and was granted
5,653,760. Boston
Scientific liked the idea. Imitation resulted in flattery costing $431.9
million, an 8% royalty on U.S. sales, and 6% on foreign sales, from 2004 through
last September. The award was reputedly the sixth largest in history. Hard-nosed
BS will try to get presiding Eastern District of Texas Judge T. John Ward to
overturn the jury verdict; barring that, appeal.
Continue reading "Stent for Rent"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 6:31 PM | Damages | Comments (10)
February 11, 2008
It's a Dud, Dude
Patent
monger Alcatel-Lucent
sued Dell in 2003 over 15 patents; Dell
counterclaimed with
6,038,597 and
6,182,275, related to Internet computer product ordering. Jury trial found
Dell's patents valid and non-infringed. Dell was ordered to pay costs.
Continue reading "It's a Dud, Dude"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:43 PM | Litigation | Comments (0)
No Signal
Petition
for CAFC en banc rehearing In re Nuijten shorted out 9-3. Nuijten had appealed
encoded signal claims, disallowed by the BPAI as unpatentable subject
matter under
35 U.S.C. § 101; a
ruling
upheld in CAFC panel. A cogent dissent signals the wire still live: the
Nuijten ruling conflicted controlling precedent, and left unanswered questions
about the relationship between § 101 & § 103. Resolution awaits a willing en
banc, or certiorari before SCOTUS.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 5:47 PM | § 101 | Comments (1)
February 10, 2008
Black Hole of Enablement
Enablement
was spun into a black hole of uncertainty by the CAFC in
Sitrick v.
Dreamworks, which expanded the enablement requirement at least to
the degree that an accused product must be a disclosed embodiment for a claim to
be enabled. Hal Wegner: "In essence, Sitrick voids any generic claim that
is fully enabled as to a preferred embodiment, but includes other
embodiments not yet enabled." Can a patent now be invalidated by showing any
undisclosed embodiment within the scope of a claim?
Continue reading "Black Hole of Enablement"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:15 PM | § 112 | Comments (3)
February 9, 2008
Vision Correction
CIBA
Vision, maker of extended-wear contact lenses, was short-sighted: its
ophthalmologist, Rembrandt Vision Technologies, corrected CIBA's vision. The tab
was $41 million. That's a 6+% royalty for past sales of contact lenses
infringing
5,712,327, which claims contact lenses with superior water absorption.
Rembrandt now has superior lucre absorption.
Continue reading "Vision Correction"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:17 PM | Damages | Comments (0)
Drilled in Norway
Transocean,
the world's largest offshore drilling company, has a patent portfolio for
multiple-activity offshore drilling that has been
a gusher,
scoring licensing agreements from major competitors, including
Nobel and
Pride
International. Now a Transocean drill has been bit: two Norwegian
patents have been invalidated by a Norwegian court in Transocean's suit against Smedvig, acquired by Seadrill in 2006. Transocean was ordered to pay all
litigation expenses. An appeal is being mulled.
Continue reading "Drilled in Norway"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:39 AM | International | Comments (0)
February 8, 2008
Thwarting
In
the Eastern District of Virginia today, savvy Judge James Cacheris heard oral
arguments on whether the USPTO may implement its proposed examination rules
changes. The crucial issue is whether the changes are substantive, which they
are. Textbook interpretation is that the patent office is proscribed by law from
promulgating substantive changes, and from applying them retroactively, as in
this instance. The sanctimonious PTO argued that the changes were not
substantive, but if even they were, the agency had authority. Judge Cacheris
swore to render decision ASAP, but "there is a lot of paper to consider."
Posted by Patent Hawk at 7:27 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (4)
Klingon Attack
WARF,
the Klingon who once served on the Starship Enterprise, has resurfaced on earth
as a patent troll, albeit oversized, as patent trolls are normally dwarfish.
Whatever. WARF is bashing Intel for CPU patent infringement after negotiations
understandably failed: Intel does not speak Klingon.
Continue reading "Klingon Attack"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:03 AM | Litigation | Comments (3)
February 7, 2008
Carnac The Magnificent
As
prescient as he is scrupulous, Grand Patent Poobah
Jon Dudas predicted
patent reform passage: "I'm optimistic that we'll have patent reform because what we
see is that there are very real answers. We're an innovation economy. We think
that the model works, but can be improved [to arrive at] a positive bill that
can benefit everyone."
Continue reading "Carnac The Magnificent"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 7:32 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
Cover-Up
The
organized crime syndicate known as the USPTO tried to thwart
input in its fight to implement its illegal rule changes to examination
practice. The attack is answered.
Despite representing to this Court several times that the administrative record was complete, the PTO itself demonstrated otherwise when it recently and belatedly supplemented the administrative record, not once but twice. These submissions establish a pattern of "deliberately or negligently" omitting adverse documents from the record.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:02 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (4)
Zen Valor
The
Financial Times posted
an opinion piece by Patti Waldmeir that surmised Congress just contemplating
patents is just about right.
At such a time of uncertainty, inertia may be the better part of valour: Congress has wasted years not solving the patent problem; it is hard to see why lawmakers should rush things now, when the only problems left to resolve are the really hard ones.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:24 AM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
The Patent Union
An
brotherhood of unions forge opposition to patent tomfoolery in the Senate -
[P]rovisions contained in S. 1145, the Patent Reform Act of 2007, that we believe could undermine the competitiveness of U.S. industry and put our members' jobs at risk.
Continue reading "The Patent Union"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:03 AM | The Patent System | Comments (2)
February 6, 2008
Batter Out
Wilson
Sporting Goods owns baseball bat patent
5,415,398, but it can't get a hit to first base. In the patent's third
appearance before the CAFC, Wilson strikes out as Miken Composites keeps its
walk of non-infringement.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 7:05 PM | Claim Construction | Comments (0)
Why Litigate?
Patent
litigation is tremendously expensive. And noisy. The ruckus has stirred quite a
crowd: fat geezers with political heft to match are jostling to shuffle the
seating arrangements in the patent spat ballroom. The stakes for infringers can
stray to six to nine figures or more. Microsoft keeps a small army of patent
litigators marching on the defense of 30 to 40 contemporaneous assertions.
Though not as bad a barrage as Microsoft, quite a few large firms face regular
patent battles. Why not take a more civilized path?
Continue reading "Why Litigate?"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:55 AM | Patents In Business | Comments (4)
February 5, 2008
Bad Seed
Dakota
farmer Loren David tried to cheat Monsanto
by saving and replanting patented soybean seeds, a breach of contract as well as
patent infringement. Monsanto caught him, and it's going to cost David in the
neighborhood of $700,000.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:03 PM | Litigation | Comments (7)
Patent Office on Patent Reform
USPTO management posted on its internal agency website a position statement concerning changes in
pending patent law. The patent office strongly opposes damages apportionment,
while supporting the new post-grant opposition regime.
Continue reading "Patent Office on Patent Reform"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 8:14 PM | The Patent System | Comments (2)
Lack of Consensus
Senate
Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy recently released a
Senate status summation on S. 1145, the Patent
Reform Act of 2007. It shows a diversity of comprehension, misunderstanding, and uncertainty by
various senators. Meanwhile, the White House chips in.
Continue reading "Lack of Consensus"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:19 AM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
February 4, 2008
Cold War
Linux
godfather Linus Torvalds took potshots at patents in general and software
patents in particular in a
Linux Foundation podcast. Torvolds damns with faint praise Microsoft's
restraint in patent assertion. From the remarks, one may conclude that casting
from a pod makes one grumpy.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 9:12 PM | Patents In Business | Comments (0)
800 Pound Gorilla
In
a
letter from U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur
to the U.S. Attorney General, regarding Micrsoft's "market dominance," in
context of its acquisition of Yahoo! -
As part of its effort to dominate the high technology sector, Microsoft is seeking to fundamentally transform the treatment for those entities that infringe on the intellectual property of other innovators by minimizing the damages the victim could receive and to ensure that the potential for harassment would extended dramatically by allowing for virtually endless attacks on patent validity.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:46 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
February 3, 2008
Busted
The
Electronic Frontier Foundation is a
self-appointed busybody for relieving owners of their intellectual property
whenever possible. Their Patent
Busting Project aims at "illegitimate" computer-related patents. EFF modus
operandus is filing reexamination requests on "particularly egregious patents;"
namely, those where the owner raises an enforcement stink, and EFF thinks it has
dug some decent prior art.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 3:21 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
Obviousness Training
USPTO
examiner training in obviousness rejections has been ongoing. In review, what shines as sunlit crystal is the legacy of KSR: how
disparate technologies may be combined as basis for rejection, beyond what prior
art disclosed.
Continue reading "Obviousness Training"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:59 PM | Prosecution | Comments (3)
February 2, 2008
Pass the Glue
In
F&G Research v. Dynapoint (Taiwan), the CAFC ruled
Allen D. Brufsky a scumbag: having
"significantly misrepresented the facts," relying on "vague allegations without
basis in the record," and showing "a willingness to mislead the court." It's a
shame, because Brufsky has one gorgeous web site. You'd think a guy with taste
would have class, but there you go.
Continue reading "Pass the Glue"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:26 PM | Inequitable Conduct | Comments (0)
In A Hurry
Two former patent office commissioners show themselves as shoddy analysts in
their capacity as toads for the corporate special interest group
Coalition for
21st Century Patent Reform. But in doing so, they prove the hoary adage that
every once in a while, even a blind pig finds an acorn.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:54 AM | The Patent System | Comments (7)
February 1, 2008
Voiceover
David
Sitrick sued movie makers DreamWorks and Warner Brothers for infringing
5,553,864 and
6,425,825, which claim integrating a user's voice or imagery into a
pre-existing video game or movie. The district court process was fitful, but the
judge granted summary judgment: invalidity for lack of enablement for movies,
though having no problem with enablement for video games. The CAFC affirmed.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:34 PM | § 112 | Comments (0)
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