August 25th, 2008

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Patent News Watch

From First to File (www.firsttofile.com)
August 25th, 2008
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Headlines for the week: (Scroll down for articles) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -US company sues Nintendo in Wii wand patent suit -Why is the Marshall, Texas, district court known even in Minnesota for hearing patent lawsuits? -NTP Can't Leave Well Enough Alone Concerning RIM -Cisco employees deny directing patent "troll" blog -How patent gridlock is blocking the development of lifesaving drugs. -No case or controversy when patentee doesn't even know of potentially infringing product -Annals of the Patently Absurd -Is a College Football Playoff Patented? -From the sky to the midway, it's been a wild ride -A Man and His Gun: 'Mr. Gatling's Terrible Marvel' ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ US company sues Nintendo in Wii wand patent suit (AP) Nintendo's hit Wii console with its wandlike remote controller has been targeted in patent infringement complaints by a U.S. technology company. Read More Why is the Marshall, Texas, district court known even in Minnesota for hearing patent lawsuits? (TwinCities) The sleepy town of Marshall, Texas, is looming larger than ever for medical device companies in the Twin Cities. The federal courthouse in the town of 24,000 has helped propel the Eastern District of Texas into the country's most popular venue for patent lawsuits, raising the chances a Twin Cities manufacturer either will sue or be sued in the district. Read More NTP Can't Leave Well Enough Alone Concerning RIM (Techdirt) In one of the biggest travesties of the patent system, over two years ago, RIM agreed to pay NTP $612.5 million for patent infringement, even though the USPTO had been rejecting NTP's patents on re-exam. The patents were highly questionable: extremely broad patents covering pretty basic concepts about making email "wireless." Read More Cisco employees deny directing patent "troll" blog (MarketWatch) A current and a former Cisco Systems Inc. employee on Monday denied they coordinated an anonymous blog that railed against attorneys pursuing patent litigation against Cisco and other technology companies. Read More How patent gridlock is blocking the development of lifesaving drugs. (Forbes) How patent gridlock is blocking the development of lifesaving drugs. A curious thing happened on the way to the biotech revolution. While investment in biotech research and development has increased over the last three decades, new drugs that improve human health have not been forthcoming at the same rate. Read More No case or controversy when patentee doesn't even know of potentially infringing product (File Wrapper) In a decision last week, the Federal Circuit upheld a district court's decision that Article III jurisdiction did not exist in a case where a potential infringer was seeking a declaration of noninfringement. The district court granted a motion to dismiss the under the Federal Circuit's pre-MedImmune reasonable apprehension of suit test, noting that there was no reasonable apprehension of suit. Read More Annals of the Patently Absurd (O'Reilly Radar) Microsoft has received a patent on a "new and improved" Page-Up and Page-Down system. Timothy D. Sellers et al. was awarded the patent on August 19, 2008 for a "Method and system for navigating paginated content in page-based increments." Read More Is a College Football Playoff Patented? I recently discovered US Patent #6053823: Method for conducting championship playoff. It's quite clear that it's for a college football playoff. It includes a "Coaches' Poll, Writers' Poll and Independent/Objective Poll," all combined to produce a playoff bracket. Read More From the sky to the midway, it's been a wild ride (Statesman Journal) Lee Eyerly was an aviation pioneer. He set up a flight school and service shop near the Oregon State Fairgrounds, before Salem even had an airport. He was among those who hounded city officials to build one, and when they finally did, he moved his operations there. Read More A Man and His Gun: 'Mr. Gatling's Terrible Marvel' (NYSun) Richard Jordan Gatling (1818-1903), the inventor of the weapon that bears his name, had a passion for setting objects in orderly motion. His first invention was a four-bladed, screw-type ship's propeller, for which he just missed establishing a patent. Read More ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Go Green with our exclusive First to File® EFR™ system ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The First to File EFR™ electronic filing and storage system is our next generation product which is designed to reduce paper output in corporate patent departments. This system integrates seamlessly with outside docketing providers and document management systems using XML API technology. The First to File EFR system is an out of box solution with customized fields and user profiles to match your company's IP management workflow. First to File EFR™ also features the following: · Exclusive Tri-Fold™ interface · Effective patent workflow process management · Fully searchable text with InstantOCR™ · WebDAV drag-and-drop functionality · Centralized Reference Library with search and ranking · PAIR integration · LDAP administration · Managed user access · Effective group collaboration · Serversecure™ technology · Document level security access FTF Technologies specializes in finding cost-effective solutions to meet the needs of individual patent departments. To find out more information about First to File EFR™, please click Here. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

August 18th, 2008

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Patent News Watch

From First to File (www.firsttofile.com)
August 18th, 2008
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Headlines for the week: (Scroll down for articles) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -Patent lawsuit puts spotlight on a pair of heavyweights -Maintain an automated networked database? GraphOn wants to sue you -Broadcom wins latest patent battle over GPS technology -Nevada Jury Awards Inventor Gil Hyatt $388 Million Against California's Taxing Agency -Exposing The Patent Troll Playbook... And How To (Almost) Beat It -Fish & Richardson Settles Suit Against Ex-Partner Over Patent Sale -Patent Office Adopts New Rules for Conduct -Evident domain -Is the USPTO Trying to Put Itself In A Better Light On Appeal? -Why Treating Patents As Property Is A Bad Idea -No Inequitable Conduct if Examiner Finds Withheld Reference while Searching -Historically Speaking: Boy from Griswold grew up to design great Army rifle -Getting a grip for 25 years ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Patent lawsuit puts spotlight on a pair of heavyweights (UNION-TRIBUNE/SignonSandiego) Poway entrepreneur Cary Jardin - a co-founder of IPivot, an Internet hardware company that was sold to Intel for $500 million in 1999 - claims a more recent concept was stolen by a former employee. Read More Maintain an automated networked database? GraphOn wants to sue you (ZDNet) GraphOn is suing Google for patent infringement and the company appears to be doing a nice imitation of NTP, the company that made its name by suing Research in Motion. GraphOn is going for gold in the patent troll Olympics. Read More Broadcom wins latest patent battle over GPS technology (CNet) Chipmaker Broadcom has won the latest battle in a patent dispute with SiRF Technology Holdings, a developer of location-based technologies. Read More Nevada Jury Awards Inventor Gil Hyatt $388 Million Against California's Taxing Agency (PRNewswire/StreetInsider) Gil Hyatt, a Nevada inventor, scientist and engineer with over 70 patents from the United States Patent & Trademark Office to his credit, was awarded more than $388 million by a Nevada jury against the Franchise Tax Board of the State of California. Liability was based on torts committed by the Franchise Tax Board while auditing Mr. Hyatt's residency, during the time he received substantial sums of money for licensing his patents. Read More Exposing The Patent Troll Playbook... And How To (Almost) Beat It (Techdirt) We've written about patent hoarding firm RTI before, back when it sued Google. At the time, we pointed to Rich Tehrani's fantastic article about the company and how it was basically one guy who claimed his rather narrow patents covered pretty much everything having to do with VoIP. Pretty much any company of any substantial size that had anything to do with VoIP had been on the receiving end of threats and/or lawsuits from RTI. Read More Fish & Richardson Settles Suit Against Ex-Partner Over Patent Sale (ABAJournal) Fish & Richardson has settled its lawsuit against ex-partner Scott Harris that claims he breached his duties to the firm by selling his inventions to patent trolls, one of which sued a firm client. Read More Patent Office Adopts New Rules for Conduct (PatentBaristas) The United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office) is adopting new rules governing the conduct of disciplinary investigations, issuing warnings when closing such investigations, disciplinary proceedings, non-disciplinary transfer to disability inactive status and reinstatement to practice before the Office. Read More Evident domain (SCMagazine) With e-discovery laws in effect, companies find benefits to data archiving, says TLC Vision's Roger McIlmoyle. Dan Kaplan reports. Read More Is the USPTO Trying to Put Itself In A Better Light On Appeal? (PatentBaristas) In a notice labeled "Clarification of Patent Regulations Currently in Effect, and Revision in Applicability Date of Provisions Relating to Patent Applications Containing Patentably Indistinct Claim," the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published a notice to "clarify" just which patent-related regulations are currently in effect. Read More Why Treating Patents As Property Is A Bad Idea (Techdirt) We've pointed out in the past why it doesn't make much sense to treat "intellectual property" as "regular property," since it ignores some very important differences between the two. James Bessen and Michael Meurer, who wrote the recent book Patent Failure have always taken a slightly different approach. While they agree with us that the patent system tends to do more harm than good (and they've got a ton of research to back that up), they claim that the problem is that patents don't act enough like property. Read More No Inequitable Conduct if Examiner Finds Withheld Reference while Searching (PatentlyO) In 2007, Teva sued Apotex infringing its carvedilol patents. Apotex counterclaimed with charges of inequitable conduct - alleging that Teva had failed to disclose "any of the English language counterparts" of a submitted prior art reference. Read More Historically Speaking: Boy from Griswold grew up to design great Army rifle (NorwitchBulletin) Some individuals show early signs and foreshadowing of what they will accomplish as adults. Today we look at one such individual (John Cantius Garand). Read More Getting a grip for 25 years (ScrippsNews) They started as cardboard and wood prototypes assembled in a Portland, Ore., garage. Now they're made of stainless steel and hang from belts, sit in pockets and ride in backpacks to the most remote corners of the world. The Leatherman multitool, must-have equipment for many a working man and/or outdoorsman, turned 25 last month. Read More ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Go Green with our exclusive First to File® EFR™ system ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The First to File EFR™ electronic filing and storage system is our next generation product which is designed to reduce paper output in corporate patent departments. This system integrates seamlessly with outside docketing providers and document management systems using XML API technology. The First to File EFR system is an out of box solution with customized fields and user profiles to match your company's IP management workflow. First to File EFR™ also features the following: · Exclusive Tri-Fold™ interface · Effective patent workflow process management · Fully searchable text with InstantOCR™ · WebDAV drag-and-drop functionality · Centralized Reference Library with search and ranking · PAIR integration · LDAP administration · Managed user access · Effective group collaboration · Serversecure™ technology · Document level security access FTF Technologies specializes in finding cost-effective solutions to meet the needs of individual patent departments. To find out more information about First to File EFR™, please click Here. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

August 11th, 2008

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Patent News Watch

From First to File (www.firsttofile.com)
August 11th, 2008
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Headlines for the week: (Scroll down for articles) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -New patent suits against Google, Palm and mobile phone makers -Google Sued For Patent Infringement For Keeping Track Of How Many Ads People Click On -Reexamination Filings Continue Their Upward Trend -Lawyer Points Out That Simultaneous Invention Can Get Patents Tossed -Economic Gridlock - the Invisible Cost of IP Law -Is It Time To Offshore Protection For Inventions? -Streams of Thought: The Patent Wars -US patent office tweaks rule amid court fight -Lawyering Your Company's Transition to Software as a Service -Table tennis it's not the game it used to be -Who really made the first motorcycle? -The Word About Scrabble ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ New patent suits against Google, Palm and mobile phone makers (heise-online) Despite the efforts of the US Supreme Court to limit the awarding of trivial patents, a number of information technology and telecommunications firms are once more facing accusations of infringing processes that, although not very innovative, are nevertheless protected by industrial property rights. The US firm Aloft Media late last week sued Research in Motion, AT&T, Motorola, Nokia and Sony Ericsson in the Federal Court in Marshall, Texas, which has shown itself to be quite friendly to patent holders. Read More Google Sued For Patent Infringement For Keeping Track Of How Many Ads People Click On (Techdirt) It still seems rather amusing (if not twisted) that some patent system supporters are trying to convince the world Google would be harmed by an absence of software patents. Instead, it seems increasingly obvious that it would only serve to help Google, who is a regular target of questionable patent infringement lawsuits. Read More Reexamination Filings Continue Their Upward Trend (ipfrontline) In the September 2007 issue of this newsletter, we reported on the latest reexamination statistics available at that time. In this issue, we provide an update on those figures based upon the USPTO's recent release of statistics for the first half of fiscal year 2008. Both ex parte and inter partes reexamination filings continue to increase, with inter partes reexaminations again scoring a sizeable increase. Read More Lawyer Points Out That Simultaneous Invention Can Get Patents Tossed (Techdirt) For years, we've pointed out how ridiculous it is that our patent system doesn't include an independent invention defense. It seems rather against the concept of promoting innovation to say that someone who invented something entirely independently should be barred from using his own invention just because someone else invented the same thing slightly earlier. Read More Economic Gridlock - the Invisible Cost of IP Law (Slashdot) "This week's New Yorker magazine has a financial article, 'The Permission Problem,' discussing the hidden cost of patent, trademark and copyright laws. It's a subject anyone here already knows well, but he brings up two interesting points... Read More Is It Time To Offshore Protection For Inventions? (IPToday) With all three branches of the United States government resolutely eroding the value of U.S. patents, it may be time to consider a new patent filing paradigm: partially offshoring protection of intellectual property. Read More Streams of Thought: The Patent Wars (Streaming Media) As content delivery networks (CDNs) commoditize and as streaming grows up, there are three ways for companies to create market share: disrupt, enhance, and defend. Read More US patent office tweaks rule amid court fight (Reuters) - The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office said on Thursday it would limit the retroactivity of a controversial new rule aimed at reducing the size of patent applications and cutting a backlog of patent requests. Read More Lawyering Your Company's Transition to Software as a Service (IPToday) As a general counsel, you're well versed in meeting the legal needs of your employer, a company that has been producing and selling a software product successfully for some time. Change has come, however, and you've just received new marching orders from the CEO - your company will adopt a Software as a Service business model. Read More Table tennis it's not the game it used to be (Sierra Star) Although chants of USA! USA! USA! probably won't echo in the cavernous Beijing University Gymnasium on August 13, the table tennis venue will be packed with frenzied fans from around the world rooting their teams on. Read More Who really made the first motorcycle? (The Economic Times) When it comes to the origins of the motorcycle, the history books are unanimous in crediting Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach for creating the archetype in 1885. However, while there is little doubt that their "Petroleum Reitwagen" was indeed the first two-wheeler to be successfully fitted with an internal combustion engine, it is not quite accurate to refer to it as the first true motorcycle. Read More The Word About Scrabble (Creators) So have you heard about the Scrabble squabbles, the brouhaha over Scrabulous, the popular but unauthorized version of the game played online by millions of Facebook users? It was created by a pair of brothers in India, much to the dismay of Hasbro, controllers of the game in the United States, who have their own application on Facebook launched two years after Scrabulous and considered by most fans to be inferior. Read More ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Go Green with our exclusive First to File® EFR™ system ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The First to File EFR™ electronic filing and storage system is our next generation product which is designed to reduce paper output in corporate patent departments. This system integrates seamlessly with outside docketing providers and document management systems using XML API technology. The First to File EFR system is an out of box solution with customized fields and user profiles to match your company's IP management workflow. First to File EFR™ also features the following: · Exclusive Tri-Fold™ interface · Effective patent workflow process management · Fully searchable text with InstantOCR™ · WebDAV drag-and-drop functionality · Centralized Reference Library with search and ranking · PAIR integration · LDAP administration · Managed user access · Effective group collaboration · Serversecure™ technology · Document level security access FTF Technologies specializes in finding cost-effective solutions to meet the needs of individual patent departments. To find out more information about First to File EFR™, please click Here. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

August 4th, 2008

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Patent News Watch

From First to File (www.firsttofile.com)
August 4th, 2008
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Headlines for the week: (Scroll down for articles) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -Appeals Court Revives Patent Suit Against Microsoft -Microsoft bites the bullet on .Net suit -Nintendo puts up $38 M to keep Wii in the game -Did Qualcomm Really Win? -Inventors flock to file patents in US -Admitted Patent Troll Finds The Phrase 'Shell Entity' Offensive -Intellectual Property on Trial -Another Circuit Court Kicks Judge Real Off Case -Delaware known as haven for patent suits -Kids invent the darndest things, and the U.S. patent office wants to see them -Man who didn't stop thinking dies at 100 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Appeals Court Revives Patent Suit Agaist Microsoft WASHINGTON - Reviving a $500 million patent lawsuit against Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), a federal appeals court ruled Friday that a trial judge was too quick to throw out claims alleging that the software giant infringed six patents related to digital imaging. Read More Microsoft bites the bullet on .Net suit After the Seattle Post Intelligencer reported last week that Vertical Computer Systems (VCSY) and Microsoft had settled their .Net patent suit, three Cringesters emailed me on a Sunday wondering why this story hasn't gotten more attention. Read More Nintendo puts up $38 M to keep Wii in the game Nintendo of America was told last week that it had to stop making its Wii game controllers because the product infringed on the patents of a Texas game designer. Now Nintendo has put up more than $38 million in bonds to keep its popular device on store shelves. Read More Did Qualcomm Really Win? You wouldn't know it by the stock's reaction last week (up 21 percent in two days), but after looking past the warm and fuzzy press releases, I'm not so certain Qualcomm Inc. came away a winner in its settlement with Nokia Corp. Read More Inventors flock to file patents in US The United States is again the favored destination to patent inventions after 43 years in which Japan and the now-defunct Soviet Union held the lead, a U.N. report said Thursday. Read More Admitted Patent Troll Finds The Phrase 'Shell Entity' Offensive You may recall last year that we wrote about a patent lawsuit where the judge banned the use of the word "patent troll." That seemed reasonable enough, since it's clearly a negatively loaded phrase. Read More Intellectual Property on Trial Chrysler's "Let's Refuel America" sales incentive sounds like a gas giveaway that puts the car maker on the hook for skyrocketing gas prices-but look again. Read More Another Circuit Court Kicks Judge Real Off Case In a rare move, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit booted a trial judge off a patent infringement case Friday. But it was not so unusual for the judge: U.S. District Judge Manuel Real. Read More Delaware known as haven for patent suits Lawyers are fleeing hometown courts to file patent infringement complaints in places like Delaware and east Texas where it's easier to win, a new study shows. Read More Kids invent the darndest things, and the U.S. patent office wants to see them You'd think that the last thing needed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, which as of last fall had a two-year backlog of pending applications, would be more people submitting their ideas. Read More Man who didn't stop thinking dies at 100 RUTLAND- George L. Gershman packed a lot of living into his 100 years and even more into his stories, but the most important truth about him is that he never retired his mind. Read More ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Go Green with our exclusive First to File® EFR™ system ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The First to File EFR™ electronic filing and storage system is our next generation product which is designed to reduce paper output in corporate patent departments. This system integrates seamlessly with outside docketing providers and document management systems using XML API technology. The First to File EFR system is an out of box solution with customized fields and user profiles to match your company's IP management workflow. First to File EFR™ also features the following: · Exclusive Tri-Fold™ interface · Effective patent workflow process management · Fully searchable text with InstantOCR™ · WebDAV drag-and-drop functionality · Centralized Reference Library with search and ranking · PAIR integration · LDAP administration · Managed user access · Effective group collaboration · Serversecure™ technology · Document level security access FTF Technologies specializes in finding cost-effective solutions to meet the needs of individual patent departments. To find out more information about First to File EFR™, please click Here. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~