Filewrapper

House passes pilot program for judges to volunteer for patent cases

Yesterday the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R.34, a bill that would establish a pilot program that would enable district court judges who want to hear patent cases to volunteer for such cases as well as receive additional training on patent law. The bill now moves to the Senate, where some expect it will also […]

Continue Reading →

Dippin’ Dots: brought to you by inequitable conduct, but not an antitrust violation

What do Dippin' Dots, the little beads of ice cream sold at fairs, stadiums, and malls, have to do with patent and antitrust law? For the Federal Circuit, they presented the "close case" where a patent holder can be found to have engaged in inequitable conduct during prosecution of the patent but is not liable […]

Continue Reading →

Federal Circuit again dismisses patent case for lack of standing

The Federal Circuit has once again found the plaintiff in a patent infringement lawsuit did not have standing to bring its infringement claim. In order for a single plaintiff to have standing to assert infringement of a patent, that plaintiff must be the owner of the entire interest in the patent. As succinctly stated by […]

Continue Reading →

Federal jury finds H.264 video compression standard does not infringe patent

A federal jury in San Diego recently found that Broadcom, a company that produces chips used in everything from mobile phones to next-generation DVD players, does not infringe two patents held by Qualcomm on video compression technology. Why is this finding important? Qualcomm asserted its patents covered the H.264 video compression standard, which is the […]

Continue Reading →

On this date: 1886

Karl Benz patents his "Motorwagen," the first automobile. Below are figures from the patent: The full patent (in German) is available here.

Continue Reading →

Walker Process antitrust claim reinstated: threats to sue competitor’s customers sufficient

In Hydril Co. v. Grant Prideco, Inc., the Federal Circuit reinstated a Walker Process antitrust claim the lower court had dismissed. A Walker Process claim can arise when a patent holder, knowing that its patent was obtained through fraud, still attempts to enforce the patent. This type of claim is named after the Supreme Court […]

Continue Reading →

“Critical” ratio in claim does not get the benefit of the doctrine of equivalents

Today’s lesson from the Federal Circuit: be careful not to make a claim limitation “critical,” or you may lose the benefit of the doctrine of equivalents for that element. The court found that the claimed weight ratio of two drugs was critical in part because other claims recited a range of ratios, but the claim […]

Continue Reading →

Roundup of media coverage of “MedImmune v. Genentech” decision

After last week's Supreme Court decision in MedImmune v. Genentech holding a patent licensee in good standing need not breach the license agreement in order to bring a claim that the patent is invalid, not infringed, or unenforceable, the media has begun to offer its perspective on the case. Below is a sampling of the […]

Continue Reading →

Limitations of a Claim Come from the Claim Language Itself

In E-Pass Technologies (“E-Pass”) v. 3Com Corp., Palm Inc., palmOne, Inc. and Handspring, Inc. and Visa International Service Association and Visa U.S.A., Inc. and Palmsource, Inc. (“3Com”), the district court’s holding of final summary judgment of non-infringement by 3Com was affirmed by the Federal Circuit. At issue was a patent (“the ‘311 patent”) entitled “Method […]

Continue Reading →

“Bare Licensee” Lacks Standing to Sue for Infringement

In Propat International Corp & David Find and Helene Glasser (“Propat”) v. RPsot International Limted, Zafar Khan, Kenneth Barton and Terrance Tomkow (“Rpost”), the Federal Circuit affirmed the district court’s decision that Propat lacked standing to sue for infringement and, on the cross-appeal, affirmed the district court’s order denying RPost’s request for an award of […]

Continue Reading →

Stay in Touch

Receive the latest news and updates from us and our attorneys.

Sign Up