Patent Law

Hooking

Posted on February 28, 2009

Biological?

Posted on February 28, 2009

Delay

Posted on February 27, 2009

Unthreatened

Posted on February 26, 2009

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Stay

Posted on February 25, 2009
Generic drug maker Teva has been working to cut into Eli Lilly's profits on its patented drug, Evista®, which treats postmenopausal osteoporosis, a disease exacerbated by poor lifestyle choices. Lilly sued. As is statutory, the judge slapped a stay, delaying Teva's FDA approval, pending trial...

Drumming

Posted on February 25, 2009
Microsoft today filed patent infringement suits against TomTom, Amsterdam-based maker of vehicle navigation GPS systems, both in Washington district court, and the ITC. Eight patents are asserted, five on navigation, three on file management. Microsoft deputy general counsel Horacio Gutierrez claimed that Microsoft has been trying to engage TomTom in licensing talks for over a year...

Fire Away

Posted on February 25, 2009
Yesterday, the Supreme Court declined a petition to review the Singleton v. Volkswagen case, regarding transfer of venue under 28 U.S.C.§1404(a). That leaves the CAFC "transfer away" precedent of TS Tech standing. Also declined was review of declaratory judgment motions, in Forest Labs v...

Rambus Relieved

Posted on February 23, 2009
The anti-patent FTC lost its bid to kick Rambus around some more with its antitrust boots. The Supreme Court demurred from taking the case. Without comment....

Damages Derision

Posted on February 22, 2009
While Alactel-Lucent and Microsoft have settled much of their patent spat, one outstanding battle, rushing headlong towards a CAFC cliffhanger, worries over damages method. The case involves a $511.6 million award to Alactel-Lucent over a calendar function...

Not Circling the Wagons

Posted on February 22, 2009
Another year, another turn of the wheel, and the same patent political issues rear their ugly little heads. Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Arizona) has his shtick of pocketing lobbyist money by promising to rape DataTreasury of patent protection for its digital bank check processing, known as "Check 21...

Cartoon Comprehension

Posted on February 20, 2009
Management consulting firms are inherently oxymoronic, because any manager that needs consulting from an outside firm is a moron. As in, you run a business, but don't know how to run your business, so you hire consultants? What does this have to do with patents? Well, I agreed to participate in a survey about the patent business, being conducted by a...

First to Fail

Posted on February 19, 2009
The great anachronism of the U.S. patent system arises with interferences, a natural outgrowth of making priority a mystery by having a first-to-invent regime, rather than the tidier first-to-file, adopted worldwide, everywhere but this backwater too proudly called "the good ole US of A...

No Noise Reduction

Posted on February 18, 2009
Headphone makers Bose and Lightspeed haven't come up to speed for a complete cross-licensing of their noise-reduction technologies, so they keep at each other. In 2002, Lightspeed settled with Bose over an Oregon court battle, Lightspeed's home turf. Bose agreed to lay off Lightspeed for improvements to Lightspeed's headsets...

Fighting to the Finish

Posted on February 16, 2009
No aspect of patent law better illustrates the trend in recent years for the Supreme Court to introduce uncertainty into patent litigation than declaratory judgment - when can a potential infringer sue a patent holder, so as to get the advantage of being plaintiff? Before the SCOTUS MedImmune decision, the line was clearer than "under all the circumstances...

Calmed Waters

Posted on February 14, 2009
Contech Stormwater Solutions sued Baysaver Technologies and Accubid Excavation for infringing 5,707,527, which claims "a method of storm water filtration that utilizes replaceable water-permeable baskets and a 'siphon effect.'" Claim construction was followed with defendants' successfully motioning for noninfringement, which was affirmed on appeal...

Inscrutable Inconsistency

Posted on February 13, 2009
Amphire Solutions tried to get a patent (2003/0188264) on normalizing XML into a relational database, reducing redundancy using linked lists. On appeal before the patent board (BPAI), the application was Bilskied, then stomped by Obzilla. While the Board found computerized methods abstract, and hence unpatentable, a computer performing a function is not abstract, and hence patentable...

Wardrobe Malfunction

Posted on February 13, 2009
Ms. Rothman bore her first child in March 2000, then "sought out a nursing garment that would conceal her stomach while providing easy nursing access and full breast support. Unable to locate anything more elaborate than "just basically nursing bras," Ms...

Fools Errand

Posted on February 10, 2009
It is painful watching the new administration stupidly struggle with rebooting existing banks by buying their worst assets, the "bad bank" concept. The approach is fundamentally wrong. The government needs to buy/nationalize at least one nationwide bank, such as CitiGroup, which employees call "too big to fail, too shit to buy...

2009 Patent Reform

Posted on February 10, 2009
The Manufacturing Alliance on Patent Policy (MAPP), a coalition of over 130 non-pharmaceutical manufacturers, took a backhand slap at Sen. Patrick Leahy in a letter to President Obama Tuesday, warning that the proposed patent reforms in recent years would hurt manufacturers by weakening patent protection...

Pimped Out

Posted on February 09, 2009
Article One Partners announced today its first "winning" patent study for prior art deemed worthy of invalidating patent 6,784,873, to the benefit of accused infringer Garmin. The prize: $50,000 split two between two "advisors". The art: a 1991 WIPO Publication, and a 1998 out-of-print Windows CE textbook...

Blown Candle

Posted on February 09, 2009
Ball Aerosol sued Limited Brands and Bath & Body Works for infringing 6,457,969, which claims "a candle tin with a removable cover that also acts as a base for the candle holder." Ball won a summary judgment verdict of infringement, which included a sua sponte finding of validity...

Court Reform

Posted on February 08, 2009
The Coalition for 21st Century Patent Reform is working "to secure enactment of recommendations in the 2004 report of the National Academies of Science (NAS)." Disappointed with Congressional efforts the past few years, and the USPTO, the lobbyist is declaring victory in light of recent court cases...

Prosecution for Enforcement

Posted on February 08, 2009
It's relatively easy to get a novel invention examined and granted. That statement is enough to make many a seasoned prosecutor choke. That's because most seasoned prosecutors don't litigate. The high art form of prosecution is prosecuting for litigation...

The Invisible Edge

Posted on February 06, 2009
It's refreshing to read a patent study that stands up and shouts sense. Mark Blaxill and Ralph Eckardt, in "The Innovation Imperative: Building America's Invisible Edge for the 21st Century" look to the past as a candle to light the way forward...

Pumped for Action

Posted on February 05, 2009
The Nanny State of America, 21st century style, buys dross loans as a bailout for greedy but now bankrupt bankers, ostensibly to stimulate the economy, rather than cutting taxes, which really stimulates the economy. Now it wants to force companies to make drugs, when they'd rather be paid off not to...

Publicity for Stupid

Posted on February 05, 2009
Trumpeting expressed ignorance is not usually a publicity-seeking modus operandi. But for two patent Paris Hiltons, it seemed just the ticket. Professional patent wrestlers Nathan Myhrvold of Intellectual Ventures and Stanford University Law Professor Mark Lemley are tag-teaming to battle the unknown: who is behind the "flood" of patent litigation in the past decade? Let me save you guys a lot of work...

Wounded

Posted on February 03, 2009
Kinetic Concepts (KCI) sued Blue Sky Medical Group and others for infringing 5,636,643 and 5,645,081, which claim a way to treat wounds. The West Texas trial judge had trouble construing "wound." As in, changed his mind a few times along the way, up to and including giving jury instructions, when he gave up entirely on construing the term...

Xboxed

Posted on February 03, 2009
Two years ago, Paltalk sued Microsoft for infringing 5,822,523, which claims group messaging. Xbox Live, Microsoft's online gaming service, is accused. Following claim construction, Microsoft sought summary judgment of invalidity based on prior art. Paltalk retorted that Microsoft was pitching piss-poor art...

Pyrrhic Victory

Posted on February 02, 2009
In arguing the right to enforce slavery, Microsoft achieved a pyrrhic victory by transfer from Texas to Oregon in Odom v. Microsoft. With transfer, Microsoft has shot itself, delaying further court ruling that Odom has a valid and enforceable patent infringed by a central feature of Microsoft's Fluent User Interface...

Foliation

Posted on February 02, 2009
Former patent office Commissioner Jon W. Dudas has found a home with Foley & Lardner. In apparently unrelated matters, former clients of Foley have filed suit against the firm. The complaint is that the firm failed to adequate represent their interests in a patent litigation, and overcharged them for the privilege...

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