Author: Tim Bianchi
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Reexamination Practice: One Size Does Not Fit All
I attended a reexamination roundtable at the Patent Office last week where ideas for reexamination reform were proposed. The Patent Office listened and took notes. I thought it was a very productive meeting overall. As the various speakers presented their comments to the questions posed by the Office, it reminded me how everyone views reexamination differently: Patent Owners who…
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Patent Owner Stay Motion Successful Based on Defendants’ Reexam Requests Filed on Eve of Markman
In Fifth Market, Inc. v. CME Group Inc, et al., (1-08-cv-00520, D. Del), the Patent Owner/Plaintiff (Fifth Market, Inc.) sued multiple Defendants on two patents (U.S. Pat. No. 6,418,419 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,024,387) in 2008. Three amended complaints were subsequently filed, the last one on January 10, 2011. The Defendants answered on February 7,…
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Fractus SA Gets $23M Verdict Against Samsung in Antenna Patent Litigation
In Fractus, S.A. v. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., et al. (6:09-CV-203, EDTX), a jury gave a verdict of patent infringement of four different patents owned by Fractus S.A. against Samsung to the tune of $23,129,321 in damages. The jury found that Fractus proved the infringement was willful by clear and convincing evidence. The Verdict Form provides details as to…
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TiVo’s Reexamination Strategy Helps Win a Stay in the Northern District of California
The chronology of the dispute between TiVo, AT&T and Microsoft is complex and so are the digital video recorder (DVR) technologies covered in the patents that are asserted. All of these complexities seemed to weigh in favor of a stay in the present case. Some background is necessary to understand these complexities. Litigation Background On August…
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Lockwood Cert Petition Seeks Clarification of Redress for Alleged “Sham” Reexamination Request
In a Petition for Writ of Certiorari dated April 28, 2011, inventor Lawrence B. Lockwood and his company, PanIP, LLC, requested review of the judgment of the Federal Circuit denying its petition for rehearing and rehearing en banc. (The underlying order of the Court of Appeals was issued Nov. 15, 2010, and is reprinted at Lockwood v.…
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The Patent Office Wants Your Ideas for Streamlining Reexamination
On Monday, April 25, 2011, the Federal Register announced a public meeting to solicit opinions on a number of changes being considered at the U.S. Patent Office to streamline both ex parte reexamination and inter partes reexamination proceedings. Written comments can also be submitted to the Patent Office by June 29, 2011. Some of the…
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Update: RIM and Fractus Settle Antenna Patent Litigation
Law360 reports in an article dated April 22, 2011, that Research in Motion and Fractus filed a motion to dismiss in Texas federal court because of a settlement deal in the Fractus antenna patent litigation. No terms of the agreement were disclosed according to Law360.
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Can Post Grant Review Enhance Patent Quality?
We have all heard about the new post grant review (PGR) aspect of the patent reform legislation. It is supposed to provide a mechanism for review of the patent initiated in the first year of the patent’s issue. Please indulge me for a bit as I explore what this may mean for the patent system as a…
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Petition Granted for Rehearing en banc of Akamai Technologies v. Limelight Networks
On April 20, 2011, the Federal Circuit granted the petition by Akamai Technologies for rehearing en banc its appeal in Akamai Technologies, Inc. v. Limelight Networks, Inc. The order vacated the earlier opinion of December 20, 2010. The order includes a request to file new briefs addressing this question: If separate entities each perform separate…