November 28, 2011 - A panel of judges at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office found in favor of InSite Vision Inc. in a patent interference dispute with the University of California, San Francisco.
The patent interference litigation concerned two patents, assigned to InSite Vision, which cover InSite's AzaSite products for treating bacterial eye infections.
Why did the kale cross the road? Probably to get away from a trademark infringement lawsuit.
November 23, 2011 - Taiwan-based DRAM-maker Nanya Technology Corp. filed a patent infringement complaint with the International Trade Commission against Elpida Memory Inc., Elpida Memory (USA) Inc., and Kingston Technology Co. Inc.
Nanya claims that Elpida DRAM infringes four of Nanya's U.S. patents, and has asked the ITC to block Elpida from importing or selling its DRAMs in the U.S.
November 23, 2011 - A company called Personal Audio LLC filed a patent infringement suit against Amazon. Personal Audio recently won a jury verdict of $12 million from Apple in a similar lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims that the act of downloading a "navigable playlist" to Amazon's new tablet PC, the Kindle Fire, infringes two Personal Audio patents.
November 22, 2011 - Western Digital, already affected by the flooding in Thailand which has caused a shortage of hard drives, was ordered to pay an arbitration award of $525 million to its rival Seagate Technology. The award is based on a finding that a former Seagate employee misappropriated trade secrets and other confidential information.
The $525 million does not include prejudgment interest, which has yet to be determined.
Butterfingers take note: You will soon be able to buy a smartphone that refuses to be a victim of your clumsiness.
Apple has patented a crack-resistant glass that "employs a tunable shock mount" between the glass and the rest of the device. When the smartphone's internal accelerometer lets it know it's falling, the mount will inflate to reduce the impact on the glass.
November 18, 2011 - Lemko Corp. filed suit against Motorola Mobility for allegedly misappropriating trade secrets. Lemko claims that Motorola hired an ex-Lemko engineer who had "access to and knowledge of Lemko's trade secrets" and source code, and that Motorola then assigned the engineer to create the position-determining technology that the company previously lacked.
November 16, 2011 - A federal judge in the Northern District of California denied Google's motion for partial summary judgment in its patent infringement lawsuit with Oracle America Inc.
November 14, 2011 - A company called SmartPhone Technologies filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Apple, AT&T and AT&T Mobility for the infringement of six patents that originated with Palm and 3Com between 1997 and 2000. SmartPhone Technologies states that it is the exclusive licensee of these patents.
November 8, 2011 - A company called Hothand sued the popular daily-deal website Groupon for infringing a patent on a "subscription-based system for providing commerce information for one or more mobile devices for one or more merchants".
Hothand claims that Groupon's iPhone and iPad apps infringe the patent, as do its apps for Android, Windows and BlackBerry devices.
Promptness is a trait valued by party planners looking for RSVPs - and it seems insurers value it pretty highly, too. Case in point: Rockland Exposition, Inc., v. Great American Assurance Co.
Rockland Exposition (REI) has a commercial general liability policy from Great American. In June of 2008, a company called the Association of Automobile Service Providers of New Jersey ("AASP") sued REI for trademark infringement because REI had "[created] a similar and therefore competing trade show, and [used] a name that is similar."
As dozens of app developers look to the horizon, hoping for Apple and Google to make Lodsys go away on their behalf, some are taking matters into their own hands.
One, a college sophomore named Michael Karr who developed an app called 69 Positions (don't ask), figured he'd waited long enough for the cavalry and agreed to take a license from Lodsys.
GPC's Alexander Poltorak commented on a request from the European Commission for information from Apple and Samsung regarding standards-essential patents in the mobile telephony sector ("EU Asks Tech Giants for Patent Details", Wall Street Journal, November 4, 2011 - subscription required). Standards-essential patents are those which relate to an area of technology crucial to compliance with an industry standard, such as WiFi or 3G.
November 3, 2011 - Keurig, the company known for its single-serve coffeemakers, filed a patent infringement lawsuit against the Rogers Family Co. alleging that the latter's OneCup product infringes two Keurig patents.
It looks like the gig may be up for Righthaven LLC, the "copyright troll" that filed 275 copyright infringement lawsuits against website owners, bloggers and even message board posters without actually owning the copyrights in question.
November 1, 2011 - Last week Klausner Technologies, Inc. announced that it had filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Oracle Corporation. The patents-at-suit cover Visual Voicemail, which allows users of mobile phones or computers to visually identify and selectively listen to voicemail messages.
Oracle's enterprise messaging products allegedly use the patented Visual Voicemail technology.