IP Wise

32 Internet Companies, Retailers, and Associations File Supreme Court Amicus Brief on Patent Venue

Perhaps only in the sphere of patent litigation can the issue of venue—in what court a case can be filed—take on mammoth significance, and draw the attention of interested observers. Why does venue matter? Well, under the current relaxed regime, over 40% of all patent cases in 2015 were filed in the Eastern District of...

Unpatent To Take on Patent Trolls

Newegg and its Chief Legal Officer, Lee Cheng, have been outspoken and uncompromising in opposition to patent trolls. Cheng has now joined forces with two well–known hackers, Luis Cuende and Jorge Izquierdo, on their new venture, Unpatent, with the goal of “fixing the innovation framework,” beginning with patent trolls, which they describe as a “glitch...

Happy Birthday, Patent Reform

Today marks the fifth anniversary of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, a comprehensive patent reform package that, depending on your vantage point, either went too far or not far enough. From a removal of half a decade, it appears that some of the AIA’s requirements have had little practical effect – for example, the fact...

Patent Office Employees Found To Have Wasted Their Time, Taxpayer Money

According to a report issued today by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Commerce, hundreds of thousands of the claimed work hours of patent examiners at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office cannot be reasonably accounted for. After a minute–by–minute review of data for 94% of all patent examiners’ claimed...

The Role of Design Patents in Patent Troll’s Litigation Designs

The business world snapped to attention when Apple obtained a $400 million verdict from Samsung in a dispute largely focused on design patents covering how smart–phones look. The Supreme Court has agreed to take up the question of how to assign damages for design patent infringement—that is, how to distinguish between the value of the...

Permission Granted

With a hat tip towards Law360 for noting that Judge Gilstrap may have quietly done away with his notorious “permission slip” requirement for filing a summary judgment motion. While previous docket control order templates required a party to submit a five-page letter brief seeking permission to file a summary judgment motion, the latest incarnation simply...

Goodbye, Ruby Sands….

In a short but scathing order, Judge Gilstrap sent frequent patent lawsuit flier Ruby Sands, LLC packing, in granting a motion to dismiss Ruby’s amended complaint on grounds that it “plainly fails to state a claim for relief that is plausible on its face.” The Court found that Ruby’s direct infringement pleadings “are constructed upon...

The Results Are In: Patent Quality Can Improve

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released two reports on the Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) recently, including one on patent quality and clarity. As to such report, the GAO recommends that the PTO: Develop a consistent definition of patent quality, and clearly articulate this definition in agency documents and other guidance. Develop measurable, quantifiable goals...

Too Little, Too Late?

On June 23, 2016, the U.S. International Trade Commission (“ITC”) issued a decision invalidating one of Converse’s trademarks for its iconic Chuck Taylor shoes (and issuing an exclusion order prohibiting the import of any shoes that infringe certain of Converse’s other trademarks). It is the former that is of particular interest here. Though Converse had...

Supreme Court To Decide Which Exports Can Trigger Patent Infringement Liability For World–Wide Sales

The Supreme Court term is closing this week with a flurry of long-awaited, contested opinions on abortion, gun control, and government corruption. But intellectual property–minded court–watchers found interest in the Court’s decision to grant cert. (in part) in the case of Life Technologies v. Promega. While U.S. patent law is generally limited to domestic conduct,...