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Companies Mentioned
Insurance Cos. Clash Over Gift System Patent
Thursday, Jul 02, 2009
Equitable Life & Casualty Insurance Co. has accused rival American National Insurance Co. of infringing a patent covering a system that releases life insurance payments as gifts to designated beneficiaries.
EFF Blasts ASCAP Bid For Ringtone Royalties
Thursday, Jul 02, 2009
Free-information advocacy group the Electronic Frontier Foundation has accused the American Society of Composers, Authors and Performers of attempting to cash in on performance royalties every time a copyrighted song snippet plays on one of millions of users' cell phones.
Skype, EBay Lose Bid For Stay In VoIP Patent Fight
Thursday, Jul 02, 2009
A federal judge has rejected a bid by Skype Technologies SA and its parent company eBay Inc. to stay a patent infringement lawsuit filed by Net2Phone Inc. over Voice Over Internet Protocol online communications technology.
Microsoft Exits Dispute Over Online Ad Patent
Thursday, Jul 02, 2009
Another heavyweight has exited Performance Pricing Inc.’s infringement action, as the court dismissed with prejudice all allegations against Microsoft Corp., leaving Google Inc. and AOL LLC to face claims related to a patent for online marketing and transactions.
Apotex Launches Suit Over Eisai’s Aricept Patents
Thursday, Jul 02, 2009
Canadian generics maker Apotex Inc. has fired off a declaratory judgment action asserting it is not infringing Eisai Co. Ltd.’s patents, in a move to secure federal approval for its generic version of the Tokyo company’s Alzheimer’s drug Aricept.
Dutch Brewer Can Sell Bavaria Beer: EU High Court
Thursday, Jul 02, 2009
Europe's highest court has ruled that a Dutch brewer can continue to sell beer called Bavaria, rejecting a challenge from a group of brewers in the Bavaria region of Germany.
Fed. Circ. Stays Dish Injunction In TiVo DVR Battle
Thursday, Jul 02, 2009
A federal appeals court has stayed a permanent injunction barring Dish Network Corp. from infringing TiVo Inc.'s Time Warp digital video recorder patent, extending the temporary pause it put on the case when the satellite television provider first sought to overturn a $103 million contempt order.
Q&A With Paul Hastings' Joseph O’Malley
Thursday, Jul 02, 2009
The defense of inequitable conduct needs reform, as the standard for proving the defense is perceived by many in the patent bar as being applied somewhat inconsistently right now at the Federal Circuit, says Joseph M. O’Malley Jr., chair of Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker LLP's intellectual property practice.
Akin Gump Fights Subpoenas In IP Malpractice Suit
Thursday, Jul 02, 2009
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP has asked a judge to enjoin subpoenas seeking its testimony in a post-verdict hearing related to a malpractice suit over botched technology patent applications, in which a jury returned a $72.6 million verdict against the firm.
Bayer Hits Teva With Suit Over Levitra Patent
Thursday, Jul 02, 2009
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. is facing a suit by two Bayer AG units over the Israeli generics maker’s plans to launch a generic version of erectile dysfunction drug Levitra.
LG, Hitachi Settle Technology Patent Battles In US
Thursday, Jul 02, 2009
Japan's Hitachi Ltd. and South Korea's LG Electronics Inc. have reached a settlement of their U.S. patent disputes over technology including plasma display technology and audiovisual products.
ClearOne Fights Trade Secrets Award Reduction
Thursday, Jul 02, 2009
ClearOne Communications Inc. is planning to appeal a federal court’s ruling trimming roughly $800,000 from a $10.5 million damages award that a jury handed the audio and video company in a case alleging former ClearOne employees stole trade secrets related to audio-conferencing technology.
9th Circ. Vacates Marlyn Supplement Recall Order
Thursday, Jul 02, 2009
A federal appeals court has upheld a decision that granted a preliminary injunction against Marlyn Nutraceuticals Inc. in a trademark infringement case over the dietary supplement Wobenzym, but it threw out a recall order.
Chadbourne Nabs Credit Suisse Chief Patent Counsel
Thursday, Jul 02, 2009
Chadbourne & Parke LLP has hired Kenneth L. Johnson, formerly chief patent counsel for Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLP, to serve as counsel of its intellectual property group.
Q&A With Morgan Lewis' Kell Damsgaard
Wednesday, Jul 01, 2009
Once the recession abates, we can expect an uptick in intellectual property litigation — particularly in traditional areas such as electronics and computers, but also in new areas like “green” technology where companies are bound to start bumping into each other on inventions, says Kell M. Damsgaard, leader of Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP's intellectual property practice group.
Arista Prevails In Copyright Case Against Usenet.com
Wednesday, Jul 01, 2009
A group of 14 record companies — including Arista Records LLC, BMG Music and Virgin Records America Inc. — has won a judgment against commercial Usenet provider Usenet.com Inc., which allegedly tailored its service to fill a void left by now-shuttered illegal file sharing networks.
Forest, Lundbeck Lose Bid To Limit Lexapro Claims
Wednesday, Jul 01, 2009
A federal judge has rejected the latest bid from H. Lundbeck A/S and its partner Forest Laboratories Inc. to pare down a patent dispute related to the antidepressant citalopram, ruling that a lone letter from one of the companies' suppliers did not yield enough evidence to drop part of Infosint SA's infringement claims.
Alzheimer's Institute Sues Pfizer Over Mice Patents
Wednesday, Jul 01, 2009
A biotechnology patent-holding company has sued Pfizer Inc. alleging the drugmaker infringed patents related to components of Alzheimer’s disease research, including nucleic acid coding for the so-called Swedish mutation and genetically engineered mice expressing the mutation.
Music Cos. Say Yahoo, Rhapsody Infringe Copyrights
Wednesday, Jul 01, 2009
A group of music rights holders has filed suit against Yahoo Inc., RealNetworks Inc. and Microsoft Corp. alleging that the companies have infringed copyrights by offering songs for download over their online music services.
Movielink Didn't Infringe VOD Patent Claims: Judge
Wednesday, Jul 01, 2009
A federal judge has ruled that defunct video-on-demand service and Blockbuster Inc. subsidiary Movielink LLC did not infringe two claims of an American Patent Development Corp. patent on a method of limiting the use of a downloaded video program purchased by a customer.
Cell Phone Spyware: Absurd? Or a New Concern?
As if it is not bad enough that employers have to monitor computers, phones and other electronic communications of employees, here comes the next wave of e-caution: cell phone spyware, say Tex McIver and Deepa Subramanian of Fisher & Phillips LLP.
Understanding The Objective Prong In Seagate
Certain arguments made in a recent Law360 guest article — "Seagate, The Issue Of Willful Patent Infringement" — reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of the objective prong of the Seagate test. The objective prong has nothing at all to do with what a reasonably prudent corporation does when faced with a charge of infringement, say Robert E. Freitas and Jason S. Angell of Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP.
In The Wake Of Bilski
Eight months after the Bilski decision, courts are beginning to come to grips with defining the metes and bounds of the Bilski standard; but in many instances, no clear picture has yet emerged, say Carlos Perez-Albuerne and Margaret E. Ives of Choate Hall & Stewart LLP.
More Independent, Court-Appointed Experts?
Although district judges often appoint special masters or technical advisers to help with technical issues in patent cases, they have only rarely invoked Federal Rule of Evidence 706 and appointed independent experts to testify at trial. That may be changing, says Dan L. Bagatell of Perkins Coie LLP.
Setting A Lower Patent Misuse Standard?
The latest Federal Circuit Princo decision reinforces the lessons of its earlier ones: Patent holders that contribute technology to patent pools should ensure the same patents are available for separate, individual licensing, say Kevin M. Bolan and Stefan M. Meisner of McDermott Will & Emery LLP.
Inequitable Conduct Still A Thorny Issue
Last month’s denial by the U.S. Supreme Court of a petition for certiorari filed by Aventis Pharma SA signals continued uncertainty regarding the state of the law of inequitable conduct, says Rachel K. Zimmerman of Merchant & Gould PC.
Making The Most Of Rule Of Evidence 502
It is foreseeable that, if used strategically, the new Federal Rule of Evidence 502 should alleviate the burdens of costly electronic discovery and post-production privilege review and should ultimately reduce the billions of dollars spent each year in litigation to protect against the inadvertent disclosure of privileged materials, says Otilia Gabor of Miles & Stockbridge PC.
A Practical Case For Federalizing Trade Secret Law
Trade secrets are the only major type of intellectual property not governed primarily by a federal statute. That should change, says David S. Almeling of O'Melveny & Myers LLP.