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July 31, 2008
Not Mousing Around
Microsoft
asserting patents is as rare as hens teeth. But Wednesday Microsoft filed a
complaint at the ITC against Primax Electronics of Taiwan, over seven mouse
patents. One portfolio, dubbed "U2," is for connecting a mouse to either a USB
or PS/2 port.
6,460,094 is exemplary. Microsoft claims that over 20 companies have
licensed this portfolio. Belkin had to be slapped over U2, but settled. Another
asserted patent,
7,199,785, is for Microsoft's mouse four-way tilt wheel.
Continue reading "Not Mousing Around"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 9:58 PM | Patents In Business
July 29, 2008
Nincompooped
USPTO Deputy Director Margaret J.A. Peterlin is throwing in the towel, not a day too soon. From the PTO announcement:
In addition to enhancing operational efficiencies, Deputy Under Secretary Peterlin strategically positioned the USPTO as a leader in such important policy debates as patent modernization legislation, in which the USPTO played a lead role in forming and communicating the Administration's position.
Continue reading "Nincompooped"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 6:52 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (9)
July 25, 2008
Not Untoward
Rambus
got patents covering computer memory standards, set by JEDEC, an industry group.
Defendant chip makers Hynix, Samsung, Nanya and Micron went after Rambus for bad
juju, in the Northern District of California. Defendants lost.
Following a seven-and-a-half week consolidated trial on the jury issues set forth in the parties' Joint Pretrial Statement filed January 14, 2008, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Rambus and against the Manufacturers... Specifically, the jury found that Rambus did not commit monopolization or attempted monopolization because it did not engage in anticompetitive conduct... The jury also found that Rambus did not commit fraud because it made no false misrepresentations and uttered no half-truths... Finally, the jury found that Rambus did not commit fraud because JEDEC members did not share a clearly defined expectation that members would disclose relevant information they had about patent applications or the intent to file patent applications on technology being considered for adoption as a JEDEC standard.
Continue reading "Not Untoward"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:19 PM | Patents In Business | Comments (3)
July 24, 2008
Silly Syllables
The
University of Texas (UT) sued a slew of companies for infringing
4,674,112. It lost on claim construction, and so appealed, but with only
silliness to back it up.
Continue reading "Silly Syllables"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 9:10 PM | Claim Construction | Comments (1)
Inventorship Eruption
In
2004, Magma Design Automation, an
automated chip design company, sent a threatening letter to rival
Synopsys about patent infringement.
Synopsys responded with a declaratory judgment motion that two Magma patents
were conceived while its inventor, now Magma chief scientist Lukas van Ginneken, was employed at Synopsys, hence the patents
were rightfully Synopsys property. In 2005, Van Ginneken signed a declaration that Magma
management knew. Magma stock nosedived 40% in a single day. In the aftermath,
the companies settled, costing Magma $12.5 million. But that didn't end the
story.
Continue reading "Inventorship Eruption"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:32 PM | Patents In Business
July 23, 2008
Sweetness & Light
Courtroom
View Network has stopped licking its chops. The very day its $400 per day
pay-per-view webcast of the Qualcomm-Nokia courtroom prizefight was to commence,
they settle. Worldwide, no complaints now between these two. A 15-year
agreement. Essentially, a comprehensive cross-license. Nokia pitches a few
patents Qualcomm's way, including ones crucial to cell phone standards, so
Qualcomm can muscle others. Nokia pays up-front and on-going royalties, the
figures not disclosed. Both parties were gushingly pleased. Patents have a way
of bringing companies together.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 6:12 PM | Patents In Business
Illegal
The
USPTO posted
a
warning in the Federal Register about using foreign patent prosecution
companies. Under
15 CFR 730-744, technology exports are subject to government approval by the
Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) at
the Department of Commerce. If caught sending your software patent application
to a cut-rate prosecution shop in Bangalore, you will be spanked and your patent
yanked.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:40 PM | Prosecution
July 22, 2008
Prove It
In
its battle to pry open Microsoft's wallet, Alcatel-Lucent has two parallel
patent cases. Yesterday it filed an identical motion in both cases, seeking full
production of all Microsoft's patent license agreements with third parties. Such
agreements are almost always confidential, as a condition of settlement. Alcatel
doubts whether Microsoft has been truthful with regard to its settlements.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:28 PM | Damages
July 21, 2008
Pay Per View
The
Qualcomm - Nokia patent battle is like a heavyweight prize fight. So much so,
the trial, which begins Wednesday, is being televised on pay-per-view for $400 a
day by
Courtroom View Network via webcast.
Qualcomm sells cell phone chips, manufactured under license, but half its profits are from patent licensing fees. Nokia, provider of 40% of the world's cell phones, took a license from Qualcomm in 1992, a pact revised in 2001 that expired in 2007. Nokia, feeling aggrieved at having forked over $1 billion, and wanting to stanch the bleeding by paying a lower royalty, decided to let itself be dragged to court rather than pay up.
Continue reading "Pay Per View"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:51 PM | Patents In Business | Comments (1)
Tummy Ache
Eisai
sued Dr. Reddy's Labs and Teva for infringing
5,045,552 after the two filed ANDAs to make a generic version prior to
patent expiration. '552 claims a digestive antacid. Eisai overcame obviousness
and inequitable conduct arguments to prevail. In its affirmation, the CAFC
elucidated the current standard for chemical obviousness.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:07 PM | Prior Art | Comments (1)
July 20, 2008
Inventor Scam
After
an 11-year court battle, the FTC has squeezed, in settlement, a $10 million
penalty from Davison for running a con on
patent holders. The FTC claimed the company "enticed consumers with false claims about their
selectivity in choosing products to promote, their track record in turning
inventions into profitable products, and their relationships with manufacturers.
They also deceptively claimed that their income came from sharing royalties with
inventors, rather than from the fees consumers paid."
Continue reading "Inventor Scam"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:47 AM | Patents In Business | Comments (15)
July 18, 2008
Hiding Peas
A
recently published UPSTO Federal Register Notice regarding paperwork burdens for the proposed
appeals rule change is oddly missing from all PTO lists of Federal Register Notices.
The wafting scent is that this is something more than oversight, instead, a
continuation of a two-year trend of failing to give sufficient notice of opportunity for public comment.
Continue reading "Hiding Peas"
Posted by Mr. Platinum at 2:45 PM | The Patent Office
Wrap Up
Monster
Cable likes its packaging. Monster wrestled licenses from Systemax and its
subsidiary Ultra Products for
D471,442. Monster has other packaging infringement actions against
Timex,
and Bizlink and its subsidiary Accell. Monster favors the Eastern District of
Texas for its enforcement actions.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:08 AM | Design Patents
July 16, 2008
Try Triway
The USPTO, EPO, and JPO are joining forces once again to combat pendency and quality issues. With all their powers combined, they are Triway, planetary patent force. The one-year Triway pilot will launch July 28th, and will accept up to 100 participating applications. Triway will complement the existing Patent Prosecution Highway Program, and attempt to further promote worksharing between patent offices.
Posted by Mr. Platinum at 9:15 PM | Prosecution
Slow
Dr.
Olivia N. Serdarevic claims she was an inventor in six patents for laser eye
surgery, owned by VISX, a subsidiary of Advanced Medical Optics. Serdarevic
contacted VISX in 1998, and got an appropriate response, but failed to follow
through until 2006, when she sued. Serdarevic pussyfooted long enough for laches
to kick in.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 3:14 PM | Litigation
Fattening Peer
The
USPTO is extending and expanding its Peer Review pilot program. While the
original pilot was limited to "computer-related arts," the program is porking to
eat business method applications too. 400 possible published applications will
sweat it out under public grilling, up from the original 250. The pilot is
extended for another year; now scheduled to end June 15, 2009.
Continue reading "Fattening Peer"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:02 PM | The Patent Office
July 15, 2008
Tipsy Stipulation
Dr. G.
David Jang assigned
5,922,021 and
5,954,743 to Boston Scientific and SciMed Life Systems. The companies were
supposed to pay royalties on products "covered by" (i.e., infringing) the
patents. Jang sued because he thought he wasn't getting his share. Central
California district court issued a claim construction. Before appeal, they all
stipulated that Jang was out of luck if the claim construction held. But the
agreed stipulation was ambiguous on crucial points. The appeals court threw up
its hands, vacated the judgment, and remanded "for clarification." (CAFC
2007-1385)
Posted by Patent Hawk at 8:45 PM | Litigation
July 14, 2008
America First
"I
have to tell you that the innovation and the technology and the entrepreneurship
of the world still lies in the United States of America. Every technological
advance we've made in the 21st century and throughout the 20th has come from the
United States of America." - John McCain, Republican presidential candidate
Continue reading "America First"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:03 PM | The Patent System | Comments (6)
Unsold
With
case law changing like a fashion model working the runway, Thomson had time on
its side in slipping the surly bonds of patent infringement. Muniauction
asserted
6,161,099, claiming auctions using a web browser. Thomson lost a jury trial,
found willfully infringed, faced $77 million in damages and an injunction. On
appeal, the auction patent action was retold, and the damage unsold.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 5:32 PM | Prior Art
Sieg Heil!
"The
bigger the lie, the more the people will believe it." Joseph
Goebbels, Hitler's propagandist, must be smiling up from Hell at academics
Bessen and Meurer, who concocted rubbish figures about the value of U.S.
patents. Mainstream media hack Gordon Crovtiz has taken the numbers as gospel.
"Empirical research" he calls them. "Shocking findings." Crovitz preaches his
new-found gospel in "Patent
Gridlock Suppresses Innovation." Of course, it's in the Wall Street Journal,
Rupert Murdoch's latest conquest.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:26 AM | The Patent System | Comments (5)
July 13, 2008
Not Invented Here
35 U.S.C. §102 -
"A person shall be entitled to a patent unless - ... (f) he did
not himself invent the subject matter sought to be patented..." §102(f)
dates to the 1836 Patent Act, and U.S. case law predates statute. Does
§102(f) mean what it says? - That a patent is invalid if not invented by a patent
applicant. If so, why is it not applied as such? If not, why not?
Continue reading "Not Invented Here"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:25 PM | Prior Art | Comments (6)
Watchdog
The
FTC, this nation's competition watchdog, is anti-patent. Commissioner
J. Thomas Rosch
considers patents
inherently anti-competitive. But mergers to create an illegal
market-dominant company, well, that's a different topic, a matter of discretion.
So the FTC okayed a merger between Flow and Omax, both Washington state
companies, despite acknowledging that they "are each other's closest competitor
in the highly concentrated U.S. market for water-jet-cutting systems."
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:05 AM | Patents In Business
July 11, 2008
Chipper
Rambling
Rambus is putting
Nvidia on the litigation
griddle for infringing 17 patents. Nvidia specializes in graphics processing
chips. Rambus specializes in raking it in for patented semiconductor
technologies. Founded in 1990 by two geeks, Rambus has been an nonstop patent
litigator paradise, suing for licenses rather than the pesky process of making
anything. But patient. Rambus jawed with Nvidia over six years before heading to
the courthouse. The two will continue to talk while the lawyers rack up billable
hours.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 6:34 PM | Patents In Business | Comments (7)
Home Grown
Vonage,
the erstwhile VoIP patent piñata, now has one of its own:
7,386,111 "Method and apparatus for placing a long distance call based on a
virtual phone number." Also this week, Vonage and Comcast announced a
collaborative agreement to work on network congestion management related to
VoIP.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:52 AM | Patents In Business
July 9, 2008
No Reverse Spin
Apotex
filed two ANDAs with the FDA to market generic formulations of eye inflammation
treatment patented by Roche. Naturally, Roche sued, in two separate actions. The
first case was decided in 2007, with Apotex infringing a valid patent. In the
second case, more of the same bad news. The CAFC ruled "that the reverse
doctrine of equivalents is inapplicable and that claim preclusion prohibits
Apotex from raising other validity challenges." That KSR changed
obviousness in the interim between the two cases made no difference.
Continue reading "No Reverse Spin"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 3:08 PM | Case Law
July 8, 2008
Disappointed
InterDigital
is trying to hammer Samsung into licensing submission for five of its cell phone
patents though the ITC. An ITC staff recommendation, just issued, recommended
against granting injunctive relief. On that news, InterDigital shares shed 22.6%
of their value, dropping $5.72 to $19.54. Investors are a squeamish bunch.
Continue reading "Disappointed"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 4:38 PM | ITC
Dogging An Application
While
there is no formal channel for an external party to submit potentially
invalidating prior art to the USPTO to derail a patent application, there are
ways. But a bark that doesn't bite can bite back later.
Continue reading "Dogging An Application"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:59 AM | Prosecution | Comments (4)
July 7, 2008
Peer-to-Petering Out
Peer-to-Patent declared itself a success in its First Anniversary Report. Self flattery had patent blogger praise piled on. The hoopla is not entirely unmerited. What a great concept: the patent community contributing back to the patent system, examination quality improving with an influx of peer-cited art, and pendency decreasing without the PTO lifting a finger. Sounds like a win-win-win. Too bad we don't all live in Tuvalu, where scalability would not be an issue.
Continue reading "Peer-to-Petering Out"
Posted by Mr. Platinum at 10:47 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (1)
Replay
The
CAFC heard oral arguments today in the jury-trial fantasy $1.5 billion award to
Alcatel-Lucent from Microsoft for infringing two MP3 audio patents. The district
court judge pitched the jury verdict, finding non-infringement on one, and lack
of standing on the other. Microsoft claims it licensed the patents from a German
research institute for $16 million, which Alcatel terms impossible. The high
award figure was based on worldwide Windows sales, an engorgement of revenue
base that the Supreme Court disallowed in
AT&T v. Microsoft.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 6:51 PM | Litigation
July 5, 2008
Gulp
Up-and-comer
Platform Solutions, a computer mainframe startup backed by venture capital,
including contributions from Intel and Microsoft, is folding its pup tent.
Platform is owner of freshly minted
7,386,670: "Processing of self-modifying code in multi-address-space and
multi-processor systems." After whining to European Union antitrust regulators
about IBM's heavy handedness in the mainframe market, IBM decided upon a
response: swallow the bug.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:37 PM | Patents In Business
July 4, 2008
Silver Bullet
Playing
catch-up to Apple's QuickTime and
Adobe Flash,
Microsoft has been pushing Silverlight,
its multimedia offering to let users watch video through their web browsers.
Massachusetts-based Gotuit Media, a multimedia vendor, is
having a go at Microsoft for infringing three patents, in the Northern District
of California, which is usually considered defendant-friendly.
Continue reading "Silver Bullet"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:28 AM | Litigation
July 3, 2008
Pacing
Paice
successfully
sued Toyota for infringing hybrid vehicle drive train patents. Toyota
couldn't get the verdict overturned on appeal, and SCOTUS blew them off. Not
having the sense to settle, Toyota now faces a new suit.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:55 PM | Litigation | Comments (4)
July 2, 2008
101 Clarification
An
interoffice memo on examining claims for § 101 compliance issued to the
USPTO examiner corps in mid-May.
Based on Supreme Court precedent and recent Federal Circuit decisions, the Office's guidance to examiners is that a § 101 process must (1) be tied to another statutory class (such as a particular apparatus) or (2) transform underlying subject matter (such as an article or materials) to a different state or thing. If neither of these requirements is met by the claim, the method is not a patent eligible process under § 101 and should be rejected as being directed to nonstatutory subject matter.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:18 AM | § 101
July 1, 2008
Fishing Expedition
France-based
Gillet Outillage sued Taiwan competitor Fisher Tool in central California over
6,189,190, claiming automobile pliers. Gillet suffered a narrow claim
construction, so dropped the suit. Fisher lashed out for malicious prosecution
under California law, and antitrust. The district court granted summary judgment
for Gillet. Fisher appealed.
Continue reading "Fishing Expedition"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:21 AM | Litigation | Comments (2)
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