Ninth Circuit: Absent evidence of intent to the contrary, custom software purchaser retains license In a recent decision, the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court's decision that a software developer's delivery of customized software includes a grant of an unlimited, non-exclusive, implied license to use, modify, and retain the source code of the programs in the absence of written agreements to the contrary. The Ninth Circuit also affirmed the […] Continue Reading →
Patent exhaustion does not create a cuse of action; dismissal affirmed In a decision last week, the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court's decision dismissing a case for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The plaintiff brought suit when it believed the patent holder had fraudulently concealed a second licensee of the same patents. The plaintiff was a licensee of the defendant patent holder and therefore could […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit: Breach of open source license conditions can lead to copyright infringement In a recent decision, the Federal Circuit addressed some of the copyright issues involved with the open source movement. Often open source software is distributed under a so-called copyleft license, which permits others to use the work, subject to certain restrictions. The GNU general public license is the most well-known of these licenses. The license […] Continue Reading →
Ninth Circuit: Termination of rights allows Lassie to come home to author’s heir In a decision last week, the Ninth Circuit reversed a district court's denial of summary judgment in a copyright case. The district court held the heir of an author had, by agreement, "given away" the termination right granted by 17 U.S.C. § 304(c).The Ninth Circuit reversed, stating that the district court had gone against the […] Continue Reading →
Consent judgment with no explanation of how claim construction affected noninfringement vacated In a decision Tuesday, the Federal Circuit vacated a consent judgment entered by a district court and remanded the case for clarification. The district court entered a consent judgment, stipulated by the parties, stating the defendants' products did not infringe under the district court's claim construction of several terms, but that the plaintiff could still […] Continue Reading →
Ninth Circuit: Patent law terms in employment agreement should be given patent law definitions In a recent decision, the Ninth Circuit held a district court's jury instructions regarding construction of the patent ownership provisions of an employment agreement erred in applying contract law rather than patent law. The court determined that jury instructions defining the terms "conceive," "reduce to practice," and "Work of Dr. Yu" (a possible coinventor) required […] Continue Reading →
Roundup of media coverage of Quanta v. LG decision The media and legal blogs have begun to weigh in on yesterday's decision in Quanta Computer, Inc. v. LG Electronics, Inc. , holding method claims can be exhausted by the sale of a product substantially embodying the claim. Click below for a sampling of the coverage from various sources. Media New York Times Wall Street […] Continue Reading →
Quanta v. LG: Method claims can be exhausted; harder to assert infringement later in distribution The Supreme Court today decided Quanta Computer, Inc. v. LG Electronics, Inc., dealing with the doctrine of patent exhaustion (also called the first sale doctrine). In a nutshell, the Court made it more difficult for patent holders to maintain a claim for infringement down the distribution chain of a product. There were three main aspects […] Continue Reading →
Today’s opinion in Quanta v. LG now available The opinion of the Court in Quanta Computer, Inc. v. LG Electronics, Inc. is now available here. Thanks to SCOTUSBlog for making a copy of the decision available online. Update (10:45): The closing paragraph of the decision is a good, concise summary: The authorized sale of an article that substantially embodies a patent exhausts the […] Continue Reading →
Suprme Court provides unanimous decision in Quanta v. LG: Federal Circuit reversed This morning the Supreme Court decided Quanta v. LG, reversing the Federal Circuit's decision. We'll post a link to the decision (written by Justice Thomas) as soon as it's available. Continue Reading →