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NetApp-Sun Litigation News: USPTO Order on NetApp's '292 Patent

By Pamela Jones et al.

There's news from the NetApp-Sun patent litigation front, and I think you'll like it. Sun's general counsel, Mike Dillon, posts the news that the US Patent Office has now responded to all six of Sun's reexamination requests, which they filed based on prior art. We've been waiting for the order on the reexamination from the USPTO on the claims of '292. Dillon's the lawyer, not me, and he says the USPTO has now rejected all the '292 claims, but I'd describe it from the Order [PDF] from the USPTO more that it found that the prior art "raises a substantial new questions of patentability" as to the claims. This isn't yet the end of the process, but it's still very good news for Sun, no matter how you describe it.

Last we looked, the USPTO had responded to five of the six reexamination requests. I knew you'd want to hear about this, because some of you did research last October on possible prior art on that particular patent. You might find it useful to look over the order in detail to see how the USPTO viewed prior art in the specifics, with the goal of equipping us to be more and more effective. There is also an Order [PDF] regarding the Markman hearing matters, which is also favorable to Sun, Dillon tells us. I've no doubt Sun is rejoicing, because their ZFS technology is very important to them.

I wonder how many times folks will sue Open Source projects before they realize that if there is one thing I believe you will never find it's anyone deliberately trying to misuse someone's IP?

Full post as published by Groklaw on October 08, 2008 (boomark / email).