The Federal Circuit revived a patent infringement case last Friday. The court held that IpVenture solely owned the patent-in-suit. An old agreement "to assign" all inventions to Hewlett-Packard hadn’t effected a present assignment. Plus H-P disclaimed any interest in the patent. IpVenture therefore did have standing to bring the case and didn’t have to join H-P as a party. IpVenture, Inc. v. ProStar Computer, Inc., Nos. 06-1012 & 06-1081 (Fed. Cir. Sept. 28, 2007) (reversing dismissal).
Barry Barnett
