Ninth Circuit: Trademark claim against tribal corporation does not confer tribal court jurisdiction In a recent decision, the Ninth Circuit reversed a district court's grant of a motion to stay federal trademark claims against Indian tribal defendants pending a determination of jurisdiction by a tribal court. The trademark claims were for alleged passing off of cigarettes on the Internet, on the reservation of another tribe, and elsewhere. The […] Continue Reading →
Failure to disclose patents to SSO results in unenforceabilty against products using standard In a recent decision, the Federal Circuit affirmed-in-part a district court decision that a patentee had breached a duty to disclose relevant video-compression technology patents while participating in a joint video team standards-setting organization (SSO). The Federal Circuit, however, reversed in part the district court decision finding the patents unenforceable against the world, instead holding […] Continue Reading →
Reliance on initial expert for rebuttal sufficient to defeat summary judgment In a decision Tuesday, the Federal Circuit reversed grants of summary judgment in favor of both parties. The defendant was granted summary judgment of noninfringement, and the plaintiff (and counterclaim defendant) was granted summary judgment on the grounds of no marking under 35 U.S.C. § 287. Both parties appealed. The Federal Circuit determined there was […] Continue Reading →
Continuation rules appeal decided; continuation limit invalid; RCE limit and ESD requirements valid This morning the Federal Circuit released its opinion in Tafas v. Doll (formerly Tafas v. Dudas), the case addressing the validity of the USPTO's claim and continuation rules. The court holds all of the rules at issue are procedural rather than substantive, reversing the district court on this issue. In spite of this conclusion, the […] Continue Reading →
Explanation of prior art element in dependent claim insufficient to confer inventor status In a decision Thursday, the Federal Circuit reversed a summary judgment of dismissal for lack of standing by the District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. The district court held that one of the defendant's employees was a coinventor of the patent-in-suit, and because he had not joined as a plaintiff, the plaintiffs did […] Continue Reading →
Claim that infringing product was defendant’s “innovation” cannot support section 43(a) claim In a decision last month, the Federal Circuit reversed a district court's denial of judgment as a matter of law from a jury award of $8,054,579 under § 43(a) of the Lanham Act. The plaintiff held a patent on a type of basketball, and the defendant (against whom summary judgment of infringement was granted) advertised […] Continue Reading →
Failure to raise KSR post-trial but pre-judgment results in waiver In a recent decision, the Federal Circuit affirmed a jury's verdict of infringement, no obviousness, and no inequitable conduct. On appeal, the defendant for the first time argued the jury's verdict should be reversed in light of KSR. The Federal Circuit held the argument had been waived. The jury reached its verdict on December 8, […] Continue Reading →
Tenth Circuit: Insufficient proof of access dooms copyright infringement claim In a recent decision, the Tenth Circuit affirmed a district court's finding of no copyright infringement after a bench trial and the findings for the defendants on related claims. The district court held there was insufficient evidence of copying, specifically that there was no evidence the defendants had access to the copyrighted work. The copyright […] Continue Reading →
Patent reform back again for 2009 Yesterday Senators Patrick Leahy and Orrin Hatch (chairman and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee) and Representatives John Conyers and Lamar Smith (chairman and ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee) introduced the Patent Reform Act of 2009. Click below for more detail of the newly-introduced legislation, as well as links to other coverage […] Continue Reading →
Covenant to sue that does not cover future infringement insufficient to defeat DJ jurisdiction In a recent decision, the Federal Circuit reversed a district court's dismissal for lack of declaratory judgment jurisdiction over a defendant's counterclaims for non-infringement, invalidity, and unenforceability of a patent. The plaintiff brought suit against the defendant for infringement in 2003, and on the eve of trial on the issues of invalidity and unenforceability, offered […] Continue Reading →