Latest News & Alerts

FTC Study Picks Up Steam

On June 20th, we reported that FTC Chair Edith Ramirez planned to ask the Commission for approval to launch a broad–ranging inquiring into patent trolls, following the solicitation of comments from interested parties (including comments we submitted on behalf of a consortium of Internet retailers). Based on the recent news reporting of Law360, we now understand that...

Piercing the Veil

Just a reminder from the District of New Jersey for everyone sued by a patent shell company…much as you might like to sue the man behind the curtain, that isn’t always possible… Posted by Stacy Stitham

STOP In The Name Of Legislation

Adding to our growing roster of patent reform proposals, we wish to call your attention to yet another Congressional bill, the Stop Offensive Use of Patents Act (STOP), H.R. 2766. Really, how could one argue with a name like that? Evidently closely tracking the Senate legislation proposed by Senator Charles Schumer, The STOP Act isintended to make “improvements to...

Another Model For Patent Litigation

Fresh off the success of its E–Discovery Model Order, which attempted to rein in the often enormously expensive process of e–discovery by suggesting limits to search terms and custodians, the Federal Circuit Advisory Council has recently released a “Model Order Limiting Excess Patent Claims and Prior Art.” The stated goal is to “[f]ocus[ ] patent cases...

Stories from the Trenches

If you haven’t seen it yet, there’s an interesting blog article in the Washington Post that lends some real world support to the call for patent reform. Posted by Stacy Stitham

Yet More Patent Reform

Just a heads up that there is another party hopping aboard the patent reform band wagon, as U.S. Congressmen Blake Farenthold (R-TX) and Hakeem Jeffries (D- NY) recently introduced H.R. 2639, The Patent Litigation and Innovation Act of 2013. According to the press release issued by Congressmen Farenthold’s office: “This legislation modernizes our patent litigation system to address...

Can the ITC Cut Off the Bridge from Patent Trolls?

Numerous commentators have pointed to the newfound popularity of the International Trade Commission among “non–practicing entities,” a/k/a patent trolls, seeking to obtain license agreements through a threat of a ban on imports of allegedly infringing products or components. As our readers know, the Commission recently expressed concerns about abuse and announced a pilot program to test whether earlier rulings...

NPEs by the Numbers (Redux)

We appreciate the heads up from our colleagues at Retail Patent Litigation that PWC has published their annual patent litigation study. Readers of this blog will find that most trends are not surprising (for example, the number of lawsuits filed by non-practicing entities (a/k/a patent trolls) is on the rise, even if the number of defendants per case...

ITC Announces Pilot Program

The International Trade Commission was created to protect domestic industries from the unfair trade practices of companies overseas, including the importation of foreign products that infringe U.S. patents. Lately, however, the ITC has become a popular destination for non–practicing entities, who see the quick pace and high cost of ITC proceedings as powerful incentives for their litigation...

There and Back Again

We’ve been following the twists and turns of the Ultramercial matter, which wound its way from the Central District of California to the Federal Circuit to the Supreme Court and back again to the Federal Circuit……where it has been sent once more to California. There, if the litigants aren’t yet exhausted, the case may proceed. The issue is that...