12 Mar 2021
When most people want to file a patent, they do so with one major goal in mind: making money—or at least, protecting their idea from OTHERS making money off of it! Patents can range from obscure, niche applications that may never be used, to schematics and designs of products that can and will change the...
25 Aug 2014
Inter Partes Review The America Invent Act (AIA) brought new changes to the way the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) conducts review of patents challenged by third parties. Some of these changes include new rules to institute an inter partes review of a patent with a new standards for showing of sufficient grounds...
15 Aug 2014
On August 15, 2014, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, in I/P Engine, Inc. v. AOL, Inc. et al, reversed a lower court’s decision granting I/P Engine, Inc. an award for over $30 million in damages against Google, AOL, and Target for patent infringement. The Appeals Court’s reversal was based on...
11 Aug 2014
What Intellectual Property Protection Makes Sense for your Business or Venture? When businesses, entrepreneurs, or individual inventors approach us with their ideas, the first question we seek to answer is whether the idea is one that can be protected. Protection may best be served by procurement of one or more patents, trademarks, or copyrights. Additionally,...
8 Aug 2014
In Amdocs Ltd. v. Openet Telecom, Inc. (Fed. Cir. 2014) the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently reversed the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in a case between competitors in the so called data mediation software industry. The case involves Amdocs Israel Limited (Amdocs), which sued Openet Telecom,...
19 Dec 2013
Last week, on December 11, 2013, in Galderma Labs., L.P. v. Tolmar, Inc., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Newman, Bryson, Prost*) reversed the district court’s judgment that U.S. Patents No. 7,579,377, No. 7,737,181, No. 7,834,060, No. 7,838,558, and No. 7,868,044, (the Patents) were not invalid for obviousness under 35 U.S.C. §...
13 Dec 2013
Currently in patent infringement cases (including declaratory judgment cases), 35 U.S.C. section 285 reads, “the court in exceptional cases may award reasonable attorney fees to the prevailing party” (emphasis added). As of December 5, 2013, House Representative Bob Goodlatte’s “Innovation Act,” among other changes, seeks to amend this fee shifting statute to have the non-prevailing...
27 Nov 2013
Back in July of 2012, a jury returned a powerful verdict against Samsung, in a suit filed by Apple (AAPL), claiming Samsung infringed on several patents, and diluted Apple’s trade dress for the iPhone. That jury found that 26 Samsung smartphones and tablets infringed Apple patents and that six Samsung smartphones diluted Apple’s registered iPhone...
7 Nov 2013
Patent practitioners refer to communications regarding a successfully filed patent application from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Office that require the patent applicant to respond as an “Office Action.” A successfully filed patent application is one that has received a filing date from the USPTO. Further, patent practitioners actually only refer to...
5 Nov 2013
When most people talk of patents and protecting their inventions they are implicitly talking about “utility patents,” which protect the way an invention works. However, there is an entirely different class of patent, the “design patent,” that United States patent law recognizes and that those seeking a patent should also consider. The Differences… First, the...
4 Nov 2013
When done correctly, broadening the claims allows a patent owner to broaden the scope of the patent in order to capture design-arounds or perhaps new products, which are not covered by the previous claims. While it is proper to broaden the scope of a patent under certain circumstances and procedures, the broadened claims must be...
1 Nov 2013
Apple, Microsoft, and others, team up to battle Google, Samsung, and several Android smartphone makers. Headlines on various reports appearing all over the net today are referring to a recently filed action for patent infringement as an all out nuclear war among technology giants. The suit names “Rockstar Bidco” – a group consisting of none other...