2017
Patent Trolls Still Can’t Find A Way Through Alice’s Looking Glass
David Swetnam-Burland / 0 CommentsWe (and others) have written frequently and at length about the impact of Alice v. CLS Bank on patent litigation—how the test set out in that case has enabled litigants and courts to obtain an early determination of whether a patent claims a viable invention or just an abstract idea. Parties who assert patents in...
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2016
FTC Issues Long–Awaited Patent Troll Study
David Swetnam-Burland / 0 CommentsThe Federal Trade Commission today announced the publication of its formal study of the problem of patent trolls—which the Commission more politely refers to as “patent assertion entities” or “PAEs.” Using its investigative authority, the Commission examined non–public information for 2009–2014 from 22 PAEs, 327 PAE affiliates, and 2,100 holding entities. The FTC divided the...
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2016
When You *Can* Say It Any Plainer Than That
David Swetnam-Burland / 0 CommentsOne of the peculiar features of most patent litigation—and one reason it is so expensive—is the process of claim construction. The courts have decided that disputes over the language of patent claims must be decided by the trial judge because they are “questions of law” not “questions of fact.” And that has come to mean...
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2016
New Year’s Grab Bag: Old Topics and Young Lawyers
David Swetnam-Burland / 0 CommentsWelcome to 2016! By all accounts, 2015 was a banner year: For patent litigation—the second–highest number of patent lawsuits ever were filed in 2015 (just behind 2013); For patent trolls, which accounted for two–thirds of those new lawsuits, up from 2014; And for the Eastern District of Texas, in which 44% of all new patent...
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2014
Nebraska AG Hit With $725K Attorneys’ Fees Award In MPHJ Litigation
David Swetnam-Burland / 0 CommentsThe final shoe has dropped in the Nebraska lawsuit that pitted MPHJ Technology Investments and Activision TV (n/k/a ActiveLight) against outgoing Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning; and it has fallen on the AG. Recall that in 2013 Bruning sent a cease–and–desist letter to Activision TV’s counsel, Farney Daniels, demanding that the firm stop its patent...
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2014
Judge Doubles Attorneys’ Fees In Patent Case
David Swetnam-Burland / 0 CommentsWe wrote in June about the case of Lumen View Technology v. Findthebest, in which Judge Cote of the Southern District of New York awarded attorneys’ fees to FindtheBest under the new standard announced by the Supreme Court in its 2014 opinions in Octane Fitness and Highmark, after Findthebest successfully proved the invalidity of Lumen...
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2014
Alice Strikes Again; Unified Patents Strikes Back
David Swetnam-Burland / 0 CommentsTwo newsworthy items hit our radar this week: Judge George H. Wu of the Central District of California has issued another ruling under Alice v. CLS Bank, this time concluding that patent claims to a method for automatically animating lip synchronization and facial expression for animated characters were patent–ineligible. Once again, he made that ruling...
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