November 2009

Damages, Damages

Submitted by patentadmin on Mon, 11/30/2009 - 20:06

A successful plaintiff in a patent infringement lawsuit is awarded damages as compensation for the defendant’s past acts of infringement. If the plaintiff is practicing the patented invention, it will – most likely – also be awarded a permanent injunction barring the defendant from committing any further acts of infringement. Whereas the grant of a permanent injunction was formerly automatic, the courts must now – thanks to eBay – apply a “four-factor test” to determine whether an injunction is appropriate.

Ford Ordered to Pay Inventor $55 Million in Patent Infringement Lawsuit

Submitted by patentadmin on Sun, 11/29/2009 - 00:00

November 29, 2009 - Jacob Krippelz, of Aurora, Illinois, invented and patented a sideview mirror light in the early 1990s and attempted to license it to Ford and Mercedes, which both turned him down. In 1997, Krippelz discovered that Ford had used his invention anyway - without paying a dime in royalties.

The End Of A Rule?

Submitted by patentadmin on Wed, 11/25/2009 - 20:08

In September, the Court Of Appeals For The Federal Circuit heard oral arguments in Microsoft’s appeal of a trial court decision awarding i4i hundreds of millions of dollars in damages for patent infringement. Although the appellate decision has not yet been rendered, much of interest may be gleaned from the questions posed by the appellate judges.

Much of the questioning revolved around the fact that the patented invention, a method of editing Extensible Markup Language (XML) files, is only one feature amongst many found in the accused Microsoft Word product.

Apple Files Patent Infringement Lawsuit Over Knockoff AC Adaptors

Submitted by patentadmin on Wed, 11/25/2009 - 00:00

November 25, 2009 - Apple, no stranger to patent lawsuits, is on the plaintiff side of the case this time. Apple has sued a company called Media Solutions Holdings for infringing the company's patent on power adaptors for Apple laptops, such as the MacBook.

The Media Solutions adaptors are alleged to infringe an Apple patent called "Power Adaptor."

Goliath Slays David

Submitted by patentadmin on Tue, 11/24/2009 - 06:23

The reader – especially the reader who voted Democrat in the past presidential election – may be familiar with the so-called “Obama Hope” image which has graced posters, tee shirts, drinking glasses, ash trays, place mats and assorted knick-knacks. The alleged creator of this image, Mr. Shepard Fairey, recently made news as he sued The Associated Press for a declaratory judgment that the said image did not infringe any of their copyrights.

GPC Secures Two New Licenses for DTL’s Cellular Communications Patent

Golden Cellular and Farmers Mutual Telephone License the DTL Patent

Suffern, N.Y., November 16, 2009 − General Patent Corporation (GPC), a leading patent licensing and enforcement firm, announced today on behalf of its client, Digital Technology Licensing LLC (DTL), that it has licensed DTL's cellular communications patent to California RSA No. 3 Limited Partnership (d/b/a Golden State Cellular) of Jamestown, Calif., and Farmer’s Mutual Telephone Company of Bellingham, Minn.

The ACLU – Fighting The Right To Life – And The Right To Patent It

Submitted by patentadmin on Fri, 11/13/2009 - 10:44

Throughout history – at least recent history – parties accused of patent infringement have shown remarkable ingenuity and creativity in devising and asserting new defenses to the claims made against them. However, we are here to acknowledge a “first” – the first attack on a patent on the grounds that its enforcement would be unconstitutional; specifically, that it would violate First Amendment rights.

It Ain’t Over

Submitted by patentadmin on Thu, 11/12/2009 - 10:39

Recently, a jury in a patent infringement case found for the plaintiff, deciding that all three patents-in-suit were “valid” (actually, “not invalid”) and infringed. A happy plaintiff, right? Wrong! The very next day, the Patent Office Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (the B.P.A.I.) ruled that the defendant was actually the first to invent the subject matter of the patents and that rights to these inventions, therefore, belonged not to the plaintiff, but to the defendant.

A Dubious New Record

Submitted by patentadmin on Tue, 11/10/2009 - 10:17

Sometimes it seems that we have become so inured to wrongdoing that only a transgression of mammoth proportions draws our attention and offends our sense of propriety – Bernie Madoff being a prime example. Well, a team of lawyers now stands accused of improperly withholding forty-six THOUSAND (46,000) documents from discovery. Qualcomm Inc. v. Broadcom Corp. Yes indeed, folks, a new world’s record in discovery misconduct.

Getting The Message Across

Submitted by patentadmin on Mon, 11/09/2009 - 10:35

Many self-proclaimed “inventors” seem unable to fully comprehend the distinction between a “concept” and an “invention.” This failure is most commonly seen in patent applications – often filed pro se – directed to computer-implemented processes. The patent application for such an invention typically recites one or more system components without actually disclosing a corresponding algorithm.

Be Careful What You Ask For

Submitted by patentadmin on Sun, 11/08/2009 - 21:20

In yet another in the recent spate of clients suing their (former) lawyers, a new wrinkle has emerged – the Court has ordered the plaintiff to produce certain documents pertaining to communications with their subsequently retained counsel. (Landmark Screens, LLC v. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP and Thomas D. Kohler) Yes, indeed, the Court ordered the production of privileged documents.

GPC Secures Settlement and Agreement from Trump University over Service Mark Infringement

Suffern, N.Y., November 5, 2009 − General Patent Corporation (GPC), a leading intellectual property licensing and enforcement firm, announced today that it secured a settlement and agreement from Trump University, based in New York City, regarding the “Negotiate to Win” service mark owned by Common Ground Seminars, Inc.

Google Hit with New Patent Infringement Lawsuit Filed by Israeli Company

Submitted by patentadmin on Mon, 11/02/2009 - 00:00

November 2, 2009 - Red Bend, a company based in Israel, has filed suit against Google in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Red Bend alleges that Google's Chrome browser, specifically the Courgette method Google uses for shrinking updates to reduce bandwidth requirements, infringes its patents on a compression algorithm.