Katherine Vidal, the director of the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a 52-page sua sponte decision dealing with issues of sanctionable misconduct in inter partes review (IPR) proceedings. “Sua sponte”...more
Trimble Inc. v. PerDiemCo LLC, Appeal No. 2019-2164 (Fed. Cir. May 12, 2021) - In this week’s Case of the Week, the Federal Circuit revisited its decision in Red Wing Shoe Co. v. Hockerson-Halberstadt, Inc., 148 F.3d 1355...more
With three new filings in February 2019 against household names like Macy’s, Best Buy, and Lululemon, Vindolor, LLC—a non-practicing entity—has expanded its contactless “tap-to-pay” point-of-sale patent litigation assault to...more
RPX petitioned for inter partes review of ChanBond’s ’822 patent. The Board instituted the IPR and determined that RPX did not show any challenged claim to be unpatentable. RPX appealed the final written decision to the...more
In 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit docketed close to 600 appeals from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). That is the second highest number since starting to hear post-American Invents Act...more
My first presentation about the creation of inter partes review was to a group of Stanford students in 2011. In that presentation, to the amusement of the class, I analogized IPRs to Dr. Seuss’ classic 1961 children’s book...more
Global Equity Management (SA) Pty. Ltd. (“GEMSA”), a foreign non-practicing entity (“NPE”) organized under the laws of Australia, filed almost 40 patent lawsuits in five batches in 2015 and 2016. The majority of these...more
Sportbrain Holdings LLC (“Sportbrain”) is a company that was previously engaged in the business of selling fitness trackers. Sportbrain recently sued eight smartwatch manufacturers for alleged infringement of its U.S. Patent...more
A Smooth Patch in a Rough Road? Governmental Transition and Intellectual Property - Whenever a new Congress convenes, some IP issues come to the fore while others take a back seat. Transition to a new administration in the...more
The Federal Circuit recently reversed the PTAB’s cancellation of a patent directed to point-to-point communications in a dynamically addressed network. Sipnet EU S.R.O. has challenged U.S. Patent No. 6,108,704 held by...more
Since the America Invents Act (AIA) passed in 2012, Covered Business Method (CBM) reviews have become the Sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of non-practicing entities, also referred to as patent trolls. Many CBM...more
Politico, the popular political journalism publication, recently ran the story “Patent Reform Advocates: PTO Process Not Patent ‘Death Squad.’” The story was based on a blog post by patent reform advocate Unified Patents. ...more
The PTAB has not yet instituted the IPR petition. The deadline for decision on whether to institute the IPR petition is October 22, 2015. Delay in petitioning for IPR could create some tactical disadvantage to plaintiff and...more
Yesterday, Sen. Christopher Coons (D-DE), Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL), and Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) introduced the "Support Technology and Research for Our Nation's Growth (STRONG) Patents Act of 2015." What is unique about...more
The press has been all too eager to decry the so-called "broken" U.S. patent system and the alleged "scourge" of non-practicing entities (NPEs). However, few if any articles attempt to provide an even-handed analysis of...more
Introduced by the America Invents Act (AIA), Inter Partes Review (IPR) first became available on September 16, 2012. “IPRs have really taken off and filings have increased over time as more and more people consider how useful...more
Yesterday, BIO 2014 presented a session entitled "Navigating Patent Challenges Under the America Invents Act" during which the presenters analyzed the differences between patent challenges in Federal District Court and before...more
The U.S. Congress continues to focus on patent reform legislation with House passage of the Innovation Act, a bill primarily addressing the conduct of patent litigation. While much attention has been paid to litigation...more