MPHJ: Just a Flesh Wound

We’ve spoken before about MPHJ, the posterchild for patent abuse, which sent letters to tens of thousands of ordinary businesses using scanner-printers, seeking royalty payments. States from Vermont to Nebraska were sufficiently incensed to take direct action, kicking off a trend of interest in these types of cases among state attorneys general. (Most recently, we...

VENUE Act

With Lex Machina reporting that a disproportionate 43% of patent filings in 2015 were made in – you guessed it – the Eastern District of Texas, abusive forum shopping is once again a hot topic in the minds of patent defense attorneys. And, we hope, for Capitol Hill as well. Once again, patent reform has...

Survival of the Shakedown

Perhaps no one makes patent assertors regret filing suit more than California–based Newegg, which subscribes to the motto “Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute.” More than three years after Pragmatus Telecom, LLC filed suit against Newegg for patent infringement based on the use of “live chat technology,” Newegg pursued Pragmatus all the...

Without Precedent

The Federal Circuit issued a novella last week, in the form of Lexmark Int’l, Inc. v. Impression Prods., Inc. The question at issue is straightforward: “We decided to hear this case en banc to consider whether two decisions of this court concerning the uncodified doctrine of patent exhaustion—one decision from 1992, the other from 2001—remain...

The Troll Squad

We’ve read with interest the news of Virginia’s new “Patent Troll Unit,” part of the Office of the Attorney General, and the latest effort of the Commonwealth to take a firm stand against bad faith practices against Virginia-based businesses. (The establishment of the Unit follows the passage of Va. Code §§ 59.1-215.1 et seq. in...

The Limits of Exceptionality

Much (electronic) ink has been spilled about the “exceptional case” standard under the U.S. Patent Act, permitting an award of attorneys’ fees to the victor in, well, exceptional circumstances. Following the Supreme Court’s decisions in Octane and Highmark back in 2014, district courts have been increasingly comfortable finding exceptionality. And defendants in patents suits have...

The Outer Bounds of Bilski

Tip of the hat to Patently–O for interesting reporting on the latest round in the endless legal struggle between Samsung and Apple, two titans who promise to be engaged in lawsuits until the legal system itself implodes. The most recent bout has Samsung filing a petition for writ of certiorari seeking clarity for the admittedly...

The Gold Standard of Intellectual Property

Today is the 164th birthday of Asa Candler. Depending on what brand of beverage you prefer, you owe Candler a toast of thanks – he is responsible for taking a $2300 investment in a soda formulation and channeling it into the mighty empire known as The Coca Cola Company. Coca Cola may be one of...

Zippo-Dee-Do-Dah

We’ve been skeptical in the past about the continuing viability of the so-called Zippo test for personal jurisdiction, which dates from the dawn of the Internet and relies heavily on whether a website is “passive” or “interactive” to determine whether there are sufficient contacts with the forum. Now that nearly every website is “interactive,” the...

The Jury Is No Longer Out…

The America Invents Act – major patent reform legislation which passed a few years ago – has its critics and its champions. One particularly popular aspect of the statute are the avenues it sets out to challenge issued patents before the PTO. In a recent opinion, the Federal Circuit confirmed the constitutionality of one of...