Tag: patent litigation
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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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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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Federal Circuit Decision in In re Tanaka
You might recall that we discussed the BPAI decision in In re Yasuhito Tanaka in an earlier post. On April 15, the Federal Circuit reversed the BPAI decision and remanded the matter for further proceedings in accordance with the opinion. The Federal Circuit held that a patent owner that retains original patent claims and adds new narrower claims in…
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More on Fractus Inter Partes Reexams
Scott Daniels has created a great table summarizing the current status of the Fractus reexams. That table is posted on his blog today with a status of each individual reexamination.
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“Past Damages” and Reexamination for Mature Patents
An earlier post discussed the impact of amendments in reexamination, but there are some dynamics we should explore for “mature” patents. A mature patent is an old patent that is close to expiration. (For example, a patent that has less than 5 years of patent term before expiration.) When a patent is asserted late in…
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The Effect of Amendment in Reexam on Past Damages
Generally speaking, patent claims that are confirmed in reexamination without substantive changes retain all of the damages they would have obtained as if there was no reexam. [Note that there are always exceptional situations. For example, there are patent cases where a claim was not amended, but its scope was deemed to have been altered by cancellation…
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Introduction: Why all of the interest in reexamination?
How many times have you heard: “They got a patent on that! There’s nothing new about that. It’s been out there for years!”? For those versed in patent matters, that is not a surprising reaction to certain issued patents. The patent issuance procedure in the U.S. relies on examination of a patent application. The sources and tools for examination are increasing…
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What is www.ReexamLink.com?
Welcome to www.ReexamLink.com. It is a blog about patent reexamination, reissue, opposition and related patent procedures. ReexamLink.com will include the interplay between ex parte prosecution, reexamination, litigation, and appeals. It is intended to provide useful content for litigators, prosecutors, and anyone interested in patent law. Please send any comments, corrections, or suggestions to make the blog better. Tim Bianchi