Patent Law

On Behalf

By Gary Odom and Jordan Kuhn

Connecticut Congressman Christopher Shays wrote the Chairman of the ITC last week, carping about the ITC sitting on its thumbs during a PTO reexam while Tessera's patents wither on the vine.

Administrative Law Judge Essex entered an order staying the action at the request of the defendants. It is my understanding the request was based on the fact that the [USPTO] had issued non-final office actions rejecting claims of the patents being asserted in the ITC investigation, and that Judge Essex's order stayed the case until the PTO renders a final decision -- possibly for several years... Because the patents at issue will expire within the next couple of years, I am concerned the effect of the stay order is to effectively terminate the investigation without considering its merits... It seems to me the ITC was not created to stay such disputes for years (particularly based on preliminary, non-final findings of another agency) while the patents expire and US domestic industries are lost.

Full post as published by The Patent Prospector on March 25, 2008 (boomark / email).