Deal structure matters, particularly in bankruptcy. The Third Circuit recently ruled that a creditor’s right to future royalty payments in a non-executory contract could be discharged in the counterparty-debtor’s bankruptcy....more
6/27/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
Appeals ,
Asset Purchase Agreements ,
Bankruptcy Code ,
Bankruptcy Court ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Contract Terms ,
Creditors ,
Data Breach ,
Debtors ,
Earn-Outs ,
Mergers ,
Royalties
Amid the continuing threat to U.S. intellectual property rights posed by foreign actors, the International Trade Commission (ITC) is poised to become the latest federal agency to bolster protections for U.S. IP owners. The...more
In a reversal that came as no surprise to many observers, on Tuesday, August 11, 2020, a unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed the decision by the U.S. District Court for the Northern...more
8/18/2020
/ Anticompetitive Behavior ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Appeals ,
Cell Phones ,
Competition ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FRAND ,
FTC Act ,
IP License ,
Monopolization ,
OEM ,
Patent Royalties ,
Qualcomm ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
Sherman Act ,
Standard Essential Patents
In a recent decision in In Re Humira (Adalimumab) Antitrust Litigation, No. 19-cv-1873, Judge Shah of the Northern District of Illinois dismissed a consolidated class action complaint filed by U.S. purchasers of AbbVie Inc.’s...more
6/22/2020
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Injuries ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
Biopharmaceutical ,
Biosimilars ,
BPCIA ,
Class Action ,
Monopolization ,
Noerr-Pennington Doctrine ,
Patent Dance ,
Pay-For-Delay ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Sherman Act ,
USPTO
Just when observers thought Qualcomm could celebrate its successful litigation with Apple another decision has come down which could have major implications for Qualcomm’s business going forward.
In much-anticipated 233-page...more
5/28/2019
/ Antitrust Litigation ,
FRAND ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
IP License ,
Monopolization ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Popular ,
Qualcomm ,
Sherman Act ,
Standard Essential Patents ,
Telecommunications
The Supreme Court has made it easier for patent owners to prove willful infringement and entitlement to enhanced damages. In a unanimous opinion issued yesterday in a pair of cases decided together, Halo Electronics, Inc. v....more
6/15/2016
/ 35 U.S.C. § 284 ,
Abuse of Discretion ,
Enhanced Damages ,
Halo v Pulse ,
Judicial Discretion ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patents ,
Preponderance of the Evidence ,
SCOTUS ,
Seagate ,
Standard of Proof ,
Standard of Review ,
Stryker v Zimmer ,
Willful Infringement
On Wednesday, President Obama signed into law the groundbreaking Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA), which for the first time creates a federal civil remedy for trade secret misappropriation and provides uniformity (and...more
On December 17, 2015, the Federal Circuit issued a precedential decision affirming a determination by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) that patent claims related to methods of treating elevated homocysteine levels...more
Late last month, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued its much-anticipated decision in Microsoft v. Motorola, a breach of contract action brought by Microsoft alleging that Motorola violated its commitment to license its...more
8/17/2015
/ Anti-Suit Injunctions ,
Breach of Contract ,
Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing ,
Damages ,
International Trade Commission (ITC) ,
Licenses ,
Microsoft ,
Motorola ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patents ,
RAND ,
Standard Essential Patents
Last week, in response to a request for a preliminary ruling by a German court hearing a patent infringement action brought by Huawei against ZTE, the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) took up the question of...more
7/24/2015
/ Abuse of Dominance ,
EU ,
European Court of Justice (ECJ) ,
FRAND ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Popular ,
Remedies ,
Standard Essential Patents ,
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU)
On June 22, 2015, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Kimble v. Marvel Entertainment, LLC, upholding the rule, first announced in Brulotte v. Thys Co., 379 U. S. 29 (1964), that an agreement allowing a patent owner to...more
The Supreme Court issued its long-anticipated decision in Commil USA, LLC v. Cisco Systems, Inc. on Tuesday holding that a patent infringement defendant’s good faith belief that the patent in suit is invalid is not a defense...more
5/31/2015
/ Cisco ,
Cisco v CommilUSA ,
Good Faith ,
Honest Belief Defense ,
Induced Infringement ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Invalidity ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Popular ,
SCOTUS
Today, as we previewed here, the US Supreme Court analyzed the question of whether patent holders should be allowed to contract for royalty payments that continue to accrue after the expiration of the subject patent. While...more
Fifty years ago, the Supreme Court held in Brulotte v. Thys Co., 379 U.S. 29 (1964) that a license agreement requiring royalty payments for use of a patented invention after expiration of the patent term is unlawful per se. ...more
On November 20, 2014, the Federal Circuit issued its decision in Versata Software, Inc. v. Callidus Software, Inc. reversing the district court’s denial of a motion to stay pending a Covered Business Method (“CBM”) review of...more
The Supreme Court yesterday issued its long-awaited decision in Alice Corporation v. CLS Bank International addressing the patent eligibility of computer-implemented inventions under 35 USC §101. The Court’s unanimous...more
For over a decade, the antitrust enforcers at the Federal Trade Commission have challenged the type of patent settlement where a brand-name drug manufacturer pays a prospective generic manufacturer to settle patent...more
Summary -
On June 13, 2013 in a much-anticipated decision, the U.S. Supreme Court in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, 569 U.S. __ (2013) unanimously held that claims for isolated DNA sequences...more
The en banc Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently could not agree on the proper approach for determining whether software-based inventions constitute patent eligible subject matter under § 101 of the patent...more