Over the course of the past year, there have been two notable decisions issued by the Federal Circuit and the International Trade Commission that impact the scope and nature of the remedies available for the infringement of...more
The Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) civil seizure mechanism provides victims of trade secret theft with a tool to immediately freeze dissemination of stolen proprietary information. Using civil seizure, a court may direct...more
On December 28, 2016, the Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) issued a steep fine (“KFTC Ruling”) against Qualcomm for antitrust violations in patent licensing and modem chip sales – a record penalty that the U.S. company...more
When the Patent Trial and Appeal Board issues a final written decision finding against an IPR Petitioner, can that Petitioner necessarily appeal that adverse decision? In a case of first impression, the Federal Circuit...more
On November 28, 2016, Baroness Neville Rolfe, the United Kingdom Minister of State for Intellectual Property, announced that the U.K. would ratify the Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPCA), paving the way for the European...more
Earlier this week, Intellectual Ventures (IV) petitioned the full Federal Circuit to review the panel opinion in Intellectual Ventures v. Symantec, which invalidated two of its patents under section 101. Both patents—the...more
An important question for any plaintiff alleging trade secret misappropriation is: “How much detail should I provide about the stolen trade secrets in the complaint?” Answering this question often requires the balancing of...more
Trade secret theft is a growing threat to American businesses. One obstacle to addressing misappropriation through a lawsuit can be a lack of direct evidence of theft. For example, if an employee leaves his company to work...more
On October 19, 2016, the ITC instituted Investigation No. 1025, based on a complaint filed on May 26, 2016, by Silicon Genesis Corporation (SiGen), against Soitec, S.A. (Soitec). As part of the institution, the ITC ordered...more
Trade secrets provide significant value for American companies. Take, for example, the formula for Coca-Cola. The exact formula for the popular softdrink is a closely guarded secret, and Coca-Cola’s exclusive ability to make...more
10/28/2016
/ Cause of Action Accrual ,
Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Misappropriation ,
Notice Requirements ,
Remedies ,
Theft ,
Theft of Trade Secrets Clarification Act ,
Trade Secrets ,
UTSA ,
Whistleblowers
For the first time in 26 years, the FTC and DOJ (the “Agencies”) have issued proposed updates to the Antitrust Guidelines for the Licensing of Intellectual Property, last revised in 1995. The intervening quarter century...more
The Federal Circuit relied on Nautilus to preserve functional language of a method claim in a decision published last Friday. In Cox Comm, Inc. v. Sprint, No. 2016-1013, the Federal Circuit held that the term “processing...more
Two years after the Central District of California invalidated two 3-D animation patents under Section 101, the Federal Circuit reversed that court’s decision, finding that the lower court oversimplified the claims of a...more
Several months ago, we were struck with the question of whether, as counsel for a patent owner at the ITC, our clients’ case would benefit from a Markman hearing. Claim construction during an ITC investigation was routinely...more
American corporations are facing an ever increasing threat of misappropriation of their valuable trade secrets through industrial espionage, defined as the theft of a company’s trade secrets by an actor intending to convert...more
8/25/2016
/ China ,
Confidential Information ,
Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) ,
Former Employee ,
Industrial Espionage ,
Misappropriation ,
Monsanto ,
Popular ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Replevin ,
Restraining Orders ,
Trade Secrets ,
TRO
On July 5, 2016, in United States v. Nosal, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals clarified the definition of “trade secret,” finding that data derived from a compilation of publicly available information can constitute a...more
In some of the first decisions under the newly enacted Defend Trade Secrets Act, on June 10 and 22, 2016, United States District Judge Jon S. Tigar granted a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction in Henry...more
This past Thursday the Brexit vote sent shockwaves around world, including the IP community and in particular with respect to IP rights in the UK and Europe. But concerns at the moment are speculative as nothing yet has...more
6/28/2016
/ Community Designs ,
Copyright ,
EU ,
European Union Trade Mark (EUTM) ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Patents ,
Referendums ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademarks ,
UK ,
UK Brexit ,
Unitary Patent
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 May 11, 2016, President Obama signed the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) into law. This important new legislation creates a federal private civil cause of action for trade secret misappropriation in which “[a]n owner of a...more
The Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) is now one signature away from becoming law. On April 4, 2016, the Senate unanimously passed the DTSA and, last week, on April 27, the House of Representatives followed suit, passing the...more
On December 14, 2015, in the latest episode of the smartphone wars, Samsung filed a petition for certiorari with the Supreme Court. Samsung is appealing a Federal Circuit decision that upheld a $399 million judgment against...more
Mintz Levin has won extraordinary relief for its client, Straight Path IP Group, Inc., convincing the Federal Circuit to completely reverse and remand an IPR final written decision adverse to a patent owner for the first...more
Late last week, in an opinion authored by Judge Prost, a panel of the Federal Circuit vacated a $16 million damages award won by Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) in its patent infringement...more
On December 9, 2015, the Federal Circuit ruled in MCM Portfolio LLC v. Hewlett-Packard Company that vesting the Patent Office with power to take back previously conferred patent rights through inter partes review does not...more