Patent Law

From General Patent Corporation's Wealth of Ideas August 2009 newsletter:

...Chinese manufacturers are beginning to turn from imitation to innovation. They?re applying for United States patents in droves ? and, in an interesting twist, they?re starting to sue each other and the US retailers that sell the infringer?s products in US courts.

Case in point: Changzhou Asian Endergonic Electronic Technology Co., based in Changzhou, China, is suing US retail giants Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Target, Office Depot, Radio Shack, Staples and TomTom for selling products that the company alleges infringe its patent on dashboard mounts for navigation devices.

Changzhou Asian is also suing the Chinese manufacturer of the allegedly infringing product, known as Nav-Mat mounts, in China. Another interesting twist is that the lawsuit against Best Buy, Wal-Mart et al. was filed in the Eastern District of Texas, the most popular jurisdiction for patent infringement lawsuits. The venue that was once feared by foreigners is now their venue of choice?when they are plaintiffs, that is.

Chad Nydegger, Changzhou Asian?s attorney, commented on their patent infringement case. "My client's view is [that] China is starting to emerge as a first-world country,? Nydegger said. ?There's been a significant influx of technology, and they are starting to make improvements. They are becoming innovators, not just copiers."

If that proves true and Chinese companies become a leader not just in technology, but also in US patent filings and patent infringement lawsuits, the implications could be staggering for the US Patent Office ? which is already overworked, undermanned and underfunded. (Just ask David Kappos, confirmed on August 7 by the Senate as Director of the Patent Office amid high hopes that he can run the USPTO as efficiently as he ran the IP department of IBM.)

Read the full article here.