2013
A Scam On Scanners?
David Swetnam-Burland / 0 CommentsA tip of the hat to ars technica for a detailed, if depressing, glimpse at another corner of the patent troll world. For those (many) businesses who found Innovatio IP Ventures’ patent “licensing” campaign against companies which use Wi–Fi (in other words, most every sizeable enterprise) alarming, ars technica’s journalistic piece may introduce the next generation of patent...
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‘Tis The Season…
David Swetnam-Burland / 0 Comments…to recycle an oldie, but goodie, from the US Patent Office. The twelve days of Christmas, patent-style. And a happy holidays to you and yours from those of us at IP Wise. Posted by Stacy Stitham
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En Banc Re [CLS] Bank
David Swetnam-Burland / 0 CommentsJust a short follow up to our prior post regarding the Federal Circuit’s upcoming consideration of the patent-eligibility of computer-implemented inventions….Patently-O has collected the briefs filed to date in support of the defendant or in support of neither party, including the brief filed by the writers of this blog on behalf of Internet Retailers (in support of neither party,...
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Patent Troll Cases Now a Majority of All Patent Lawsuits Filed
David Swetnam-Burland / 0 CommentsA quick–hitter coming out of the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice’s workshop on patent assertion entities (a/k/a non–practicing entities or patent trolls). As reported by Reuters, Professor Colleen Chien of Santa Clara University presented new findings thatan astounding 61% of all patent lawsuits filed through December 1, 2012, were brought by patent–assertion entities, up from a...
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Putting Teeth To The Tiger
David Swetnam-Burland / 0 CommentsRule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure permits the court to impose sanctions on a party that files a pleading, motion or other document that is presented for an improper purpose, is unsupported by existing law or by a non–frivolous argument for establishing new law, or otherwise falls under certain no–nos delineated by the...
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Federal Circuit Strikes Down Free–Flowing Claim Against Patent Office
David Swetnam-Burland / 0 CommentsIt’s a rough–and–tumble world in the air–filled packaging cushion industry by all appearances. In April 2009, Pregis sued its competitor, Free–Flow, seeking a judicial ruling that Pregis did not infringe a Free–Flow–owned patent, and that the patent was invalid. But Pregis did not stop there. Pregis also asserted a claim against the Patent Office under...
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What’s Clear and Convincing to Juries
David Swetnam-Burland / 0 CommentsLitigants seeking to invalidate a patent in federal court face an uphill battle. Last year, the Supreme Court confirmed that, while patent–owners can prove infringement by a mere preponderance of the evidence, accused infringers must prove invalidity by clear and convincing evidence. But what if the Patent Office had never seen the prior art—earlier examples of the...
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Tabarrok’s Take–Down of Software Patents
David Swetnam-Burland / 0 CommentsGeorge Mason University Economics Professor Alex Tabarrok, who writes at Marginal Revolution, has posted a two–minute video making the case against software patents. Whether you love or hate software patents, this is certainly the most entertaining version of the anti–software–patents argument we’ve seen: Posted by David Swetnam-Burland
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Customers Give Thanks to Federal Circuit for Right to Bring “Walker Process” Claims
David Swetnam-Burland / 0 CommentsWhile some of us were consulting U.S. Patent No. Des. 397,955 (“Turkey Decoration”) for home decorating tips this season… Usd 397955 View this document on Scribd …the Federal Circuit remained hard at work cranking out opinions. In Ritz Camera v. SanDisk, that court made an important clarification regarding the scope of so–called Walker Process claims....
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FTC, DOJ….and PAEs
David Swetnam-Burland / 0 CommentsAn upcoming joint public workshop by the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice is scheduled for December 10, 2012, to address a topic near and dear to the heart of this blog: Patent Assertion Entity Activities. In its press release for the event, the FTC describes patent assertion entity activities as “purchasing patents...
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