Say your dear client fears that a patent holder can hardly wait to sue YDC for infringement. YDC — a lovely outfit with lots of nice people — asks you what to do. You knit your brows, think deep thoughts, draw on the deep well of experience, conduct thought experiments, and come up with a
patent
Did Apple v. Samsung Jury Go Too Far?
By Barry Barnett on
A law prof at a small school in the Golden State opined that the jury in Apple v. Samsung went Way Too Far when on August 24 it awarded Apple almost $1.05 billion after finding that Samsung copied — very much on purpose — Apple's smartphone designs.
His analysis? That an "average smartphone may arguably…
Court Hammers Patent Defendant for Tardy Info on Prior Art
By Barry Barnett on
Who likes contention interrogatories? Anyone? Anyone at all?
Blawgletter agrees. But Once in a Blue Moon they may matter. Ask DeAngelo Marine Exhaust, which lost its Best Defense as a result of paying them not enough mind.
Marine Exhaust Systems sued DeAngelo for infringing two patents. The patents dealt with systems for cooling exhaust that spews from the…
Inventor Lost Patent by Signing At-Will Contract, Federal Circuit Rules
By Barry Barnett on
A great many of your bigger companies require new hires to sign contracts that convey to the employers any "Intellectual Property" that the workers "make or conceive" during the term of employment. Courts treat such assignments as valid in spite of the at-will nature of the relationship.
But what happens if a worker conceives an invention before starting the new…
New Paper Explores Market for Patent Lawyers Who Try Cases
By Barry Barnett on
Blawgletter's firm handles lots of patent infringement cases on a contingent-fee or hybrid basis. And by hybrid we mean either a fraction of hourly plus a contingent percentage, a flat-fee plus a kicker, or an hourly or flat fee with some case-specific incentive to get exceptional results.
Now we see a scholar who has looked…
Limits of Language, Patent-Wise
By Barry Barnett on
Your patent claims a device that "attach[es]" to a "flexible" thingy.
Does "attach" require that the device touch only the outside of the thingy? Or can it also attach to the thingy's innards? And must the thingy flex "easily" or just enough to seem, well, flexible?
The district court ruled that the attachment element of…
Federal Circuit Upholds $4.6MM Worth of Patent Prosecution Estoppel
By Barry Barnett on
If you wonder what "prosecution history estoppel" in a patent infringement case means, you might check out MarcTec, LLC v. Johnson & Johnson, No. 10-2085 (Fed. Cir. Jan. 3, 2012), in which the court affirmed an award of $4,683,653.03 in fees and expenses to the defendants.
MarcTec alleged infringement by the "Cypher stent" —…
Absolute Gets Drop on Stealth in Laptop “LoJack” Patent Fight
By Barry Barnett on
Your mom asked you, when you told her you'd lost something, "where'd you see it last?" Right? And it worked? Maybe not right away but soon. Yes?
The folks at Absolute Software and Stealth Signal tried to save you from your mom's loving disdain by coming up with ways to track laptops that someone had…
Arb Panel Could Decide Who Owned Patents, Seventh Circuit Rules
By Barry Barnett on
A Seventh Circuit panel today upheld an award in arbitration.
The panel ruled that the arbtitrators didn't manifestly violate law or exceed their powers by finding that the parties jointly owned one patent "family" and that one of the parties solely owned another family of patents. Affymax, Inc. v. Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., No. 11-2070…
Dallas Paper Slams Patent Trolls
By Barry Barnett on
Blawgletter doesn't often give high marks to newspaper editors on the quality of the facts they offer in support of their opinions. The lead editorial in today's issue of The Dallas Morning News — on "patent trolls" — should thus not have come as a surprise.
Yet it stuns.
Start with the title. "Patent trolls get rich by…