Leveraging Free Online Tools for DIY Patent Searches: A Guide for Garage Inventors By Connor S. Williams You’ve got an invention—now what? Protecting your work may be the next step, but perhaps you’re unfamiliar with the patent system, don’t know any patent attorneys, or don’t really want to reach out for fear of incurring attorney’s fees. Below I provide two free resources for checking to see if it is worth your time […] Continue Reading →
Remittitur without new trial requires legal error, not error as a matter of law In a recent decision, the Federal Circuit reversed a district court's reduction of the jury's damages award, remanding the case for a new trial on damages, and affirmed the jury's verdict of willful infringement and the district court's award of attorney fees under § 285. The district court held there was insufficient evidence as a […] Continue Reading →
Efforts to terminate infringement after notice of patent doesn’t avoid damages In a decision Tuesday, the Federal Circuit vacated a district court's grant of summary judgment of non-infringement of a patent on the basis of claim construction. Specifically, the district court had improperly imported limitations from nonasserted claims into the asserted claims, resulting in an unduly narrow claim construction. The court also vacated the district court's […] Continue Reading →
Application of doctrine of equivalents to range limitation in claim does not vitiate the limitation In a decision Friday, the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court's claim construction, but reversed its rulings regarding the sufficiency of notice of infringement and the applicability of the doctrine of equivalents. Regarding sufficiency of notice under 35 U.S.C. 287(a), the court held that while the patentee did not mark its products, its notice of […] Continue Reading →