Another patent invalid after KSR, with help from an innovative online litigation strategy Peter Zura has an interesting post about a case in the Eastern District of Texas (one of the most popular districts for patent cases to be filed) where a patent was held to be both anticipated and, failing that, obvious in light of KSR. The court also addressed the concept of joint infringement, which the […] Continue Reading →
Attorney cannot directly appeal finding of inequitable conduct absent formal sanctions The Federal Circuit today addressed whether a prosecuting attorney who was found to have committed inequitable conduct during an infringement suit of the patent prosecuted may intervene to contest the finding. The court held that when an attorney is merely criticized by the court, not formally reprimanded, they have no standing to appeal. As a […] Continue Reading →
More new USPTO rules on the way, this time for information disclosure statements and Markush claims The USPTO rulemaking machine just keeps chugging along. In today's Federal Register, there are new USPTO proposed rules regarding claims using "alternative language," such as Markush claims. Also, on July 27, the USPTO submitted new rules regarding information disclosure statements (IDSs) to the OMB for review. These rules look as though they adhere to the […] Continue Reading →
Second Circuit: Advertisement can be literally false even if no explicitly false assertion made Yesterday the Second Circuit handed down a decision concerning a preliminary injunction that clarifies false advertising under the Lanham Act, especially regarding the use of images in advertisements. In an opinion containing the unlikely combination of pop icons William Shatner and Jessica Simpson, the court adopted the "false by necessary implication" doctrine and concluded that […] Continue Reading →
Judge sanctions Qualcomm for concealing over 200,000 pages of documents, providing false testimony It's been a rough week for Qualcomm. On Monday, the Bush administration let stand the ITC ruling barring import of mobile phones using certain Qualcomm chips unless a license fee is paid to Broadcom, a competing company who holds patents covering the power management technology used in the chips. Also Monday, a federal judge in […] Continue Reading →
Priority claim under section 119 denied; foreign application not filed “on behalf of” U.S. applicant Today the Federal Circuit addressed whether priority to an earlier-filed foreign application may be claimed under § 119(a) if there was no legal relationship between the foreign applicant and the U.S. applicant at the time the foreign application was filed. The court held that the right of priority under § 119(a) is personal and determined […] Continue Reading →
$1.5 billion infringement verdict against Microsoft vacated A judge in the Southern District of California yesterday set aside a $1.5 billion infringement verdict against Microsoft in favor of Alcatel-Lucent (more detail on the facts of the case can be found in this post). The judgment was the largest ever in a patent infringement lawsuit, and has been used as an example (see […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit reverses dismissal of DJ action; sufficient case or controversy exists The Federal Circuit recently vacated the District Court for the Southern District of California's judgment granting a motion to dismiss five plaintiffs' (four joined on the appeal) declaratory judgment complaints for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, and remanded the case back to the district court to determine in its discretion whether to entertain the declaratory […] Continue Reading →
Statements in specification lead to narrower claim construction and noninfringement In a decision on Friday, the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court decision granting summary judgment of noninfringement. The only claim at issue required motors to apply a "pushing" force. The defendant's motors applied a "pulling" force that was, through intermediate apparatus, translated to a "pushing" force, but the court held that the patentee had […] Continue Reading →
Summary of proposed final KSR examining guidelines surfaces The Patent Prospector is reporting that the summary of the USPTO's post-KSR obviousness examination guidelines recently sent to OMB has apparently surfaced. Note that this summary is not confirmed, but it comes from a typically reliable source. Either click below or head over to the Patent Prospector to read the summary. Update (11:15): another source […] Continue Reading →