Intellectual Property Law

Case Update: Hochstein v. Microsoft

Posted on July 01, 2009
Hochstein et al. v. Microsoft et al.United States District Court for E.D. Mich.Case No. 04-cv-73071, Filed August 11, 2004On June 22, 2009, the day before trial began, the judge in this patent infringement case made a key decision by opting to use the special master?s construction of a disputed claim...

New Case: Zynga v. John Does 1-50

Posted on June 30, 2009
Zynga Game Network, Inc. v. John Does 1-50United States District Court for N.D. Cal.Case No. 3:09-cv-02744-BZ, Filed June 19, 2009Zynga, the popular online social gaming company, has filed yet another lawsuit. Much like its suit against John Does 1-5, Zynga is again going after website operators infringing on its ZYNGA trademark...

News: Midway bankruptcy dispute...

Posted on June 29, 2009
From Law360:An entertainment licensing company has begun legal combat with bankrupt video game producer Midway Games Inc. over the licenses for movies, television shows, live action productions and other properties based on the blockbuster game "Mortal Kombat...

New Case: Zynga Game Network v. Playdom

Posted on June 26, 2009
Zynga Game Network, Inc. v. Playdom, Inc.United States District Court for N.D. Cal.Case No. 3:09-cv-02748-EMC, Filed June 19, 2009We recently wrote about Zynga, the developer of online social games, bringing a claim in the beginning of June against John Does 1-5 because of the defendants? use of a domain name that allegedly infringed on Zynga?s trademark...

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Case Analysis: Blizzard Entertainment v. In Game Dollar

Posted on June 26, 2009
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. v. In Game Dollar, LLCUnited States District Court for C.D. Cal.Case No. SACV07-0589-JVS, Filed May 22, 2007, Settled January 28, 2008 On May 22, 2007, Blizzard Entertainment, the creator and operator of the popular MMORPG World of Warcraft, brought suit against In Game Dollar (IGD)...

New Case: Nintendo v. Chan

Posted on June 24, 2009
Nintendo of America v. Daniel Man Tik ChanUnited States District Court for C.D. Cal.Case No. 2:09-cv-04203-JFW-PLA, Filed June 12, 2009Nintendo of America (NOA) has filed suit against Daniel Man Tik Chan and Inspire Electronics for violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, copyright infringement, trademark infringement, and unfair competition...

Case Analysis: Sitrick v. DreamWorks

Posted on June 23, 2009
Sitrick v. DreamWorks, LLC et al.516 F.3d 993 (Fed. Cir. 2008)This case, decided February 1, 2008, emphasizes the importance of enablement in determining the validity of patent claims, specifically when a patent owner is advocating a broad claim construction...

New Case: Rubin v. Apple Inc.

Posted on June 18, 2009
Don Rubin v. Apple Inc.United States District Court for N.D. Cal.Case No. 3:09-cv-02607, Filed June 9, 2009A puzzle inventor has filed suit against Apple for allegedly using one of his puzzles as the basis for an iPhone application without authorization...

New Case: Prime Table Games v. Nat?l Table Games

Posted on June 16, 2009
Prime Table Games, LLC v. National Table Games Corp.United States District Court for S.D. Miss.Case No. 3:09-cv-346HTW-LRA, Filed June 11, 2009Prime Table Games is the creator and marketer of gambling games that are generally intended for use in casinos but can also be played in other formats such as video and remote games...

Case Update: Fenner Investments v. Microsoft

Posted on June 16, 2009
Fenner Investments, Ltd. v. Microsoft et al.United States District Court for E.D. Tex.Filed 1/5/07, Decided 3/16/09 (Opinion issued 6/3/09)BackgroundThis case revolved around Fenner Investment?s U.S. Patent No. 6,297,751, which describes a low-voltage joystick port interface...

Test posting via SMS message.

Posted on June 10, 2009
Test posting via SMS message.

CASE UPDATE: Zynga v. John Does 1-5

Posted on June 09, 2009
Zynga Game Network, Inc. v. John Does 1-5United States District Court for N.D. Cal.Case No.: 3:09-cv-02441-CRB, Filed 6/2/09 After getting our hands on the complaint for this case, we can update our previous entry concerning a suit brought by Zynga, a successful online social gaming company with over 75 million registered users...

New Case: Zynga Game Network, Inc. v. John Does 1-5

Posted on June 04, 2009
Zynga Game Network, Inc. v. John Does 1-5United States District Court for N.D. Cal.Case No.: 3:09-cv-02441-CRB, Filed 6/2/09Zynga Game Network, whose settlement with CLZ Concepts we just commented on, hasn?t wasted any time in jumping into another lawsuit...

Case Update: Fenner Investments v. Microsoft et al.

Posted on June 04, 2009
Fenner Investments Ltd. v. Microsoft et al. United States District Court for E.D. Tex.Filed 1/5/07As you may recall this case consisted of a claim by Fenner that defendants had infringed on its U.S. Patent No. 6,297,751 for a low voltage joystick port interface...

Case Settled: Zynga v. CLZ Concepts (Filed 2/27/09, N.D. Cal.)

Posted on June 04, 2009
Zynga Game Network had filed suit on February 27, 2009 against CLZ Concepts, Jeff Chen and James Zhang asserting copyright infringement. Yesterday a settlement conference was held, and the parties appear to have settled out of court. So it looks like no new case law will come from this one, and we will no longer be tracking this case...

Conan the Mushroom King

Posted on June 04, 2009
CONAN THE MUSHROOM KINGSo we've noticed some buzz on the Internet lately about the backdrop to Conan O'Brien's Tonight Show set. The guys at Serious Lunch posted the backdrop, and what appears to be a doctored version of the backdrop, adding in various elements from the Mushroom Kingdom from Mario Bros...

News: Worlds.com patent invalid???

Posted on June 03, 2009
Article One Partners is a company that offers rewards to people for finding prior art that can be used to try to invalidate patents, and Article One is willing to pay serious money to those who find that prior art. Most recently, Article One Partners paid out $50,000 to an anonymous individual for identifying prior art that, Article One Partners believes, invalidates at least one of the two Worlds...

New Case: Yahoo! Inc. v. National Football League Players Association, Inc. et al.

Posted on June 03, 2009
Yahoo! Inc. v. Nat'l Football League Players Association, Inc. et al.United States District Court for D. Minn.Case No.: 0:09-cv-01272-PJS-FLN, Filed June 1, 2009 Continuing the trend of fantasy sports litigation, Yahoo! Inc., has filed a lawsuit seeking declaratory judgment against the defendants National Football League Players Association, Inc...

New Case: IQ Biometrix, Inc. v. Perfect World Entertainment, Inc. et al.

Posted on June 02, 2009
IQ Biometrix, Inc. v. Perfect World Entertainment, Inc. et al.United States District Court for N.D. Illinois, Eastern DivisionCase No.: 1:09-cv-03180, Filed May 27, 2009IQ Biometrix, Inc. on May 27, 2009, filed a new lawsuit against Perfect World Entertainment, Inc...

Supreme Court grants Cert in Bilski appeal

Posted on June 01, 2009
Today the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in the case Bilski v. Doll. As many readers may know, the case In re Bilski is the case in which the Federal Circuit court of appeals held that business methods are not patentable unless: 1) they transform matter into a different state or thing, or 2) they are tied to particular machine...

Vote for the Patent Arcade!

Posted on May 27, 2009
Vote here for The Patent Arcade as your favorite blog! The survey is NOT being run by me, FYI.Thanks,-Ross

News: First software patent issued!

Posted on May 26, 2009
On this day in history, as reported by Wired.com, on May 26, 1981, the USPTO granted the first pure software patent, U.S. Patent No. 4,270,182, to Satya Pal Asija. Video games are computer software, so the '182 patent really was a groundbreaker for the industry...

Sony/Immersion: The Plot Thickens

Posted on May 18, 2009
The dust has long settled on the Sony/Immersion haptic feedback suit, right?Not quite. According to a complaint filed in Thorner v. Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc., Case No. 09-01894 (NJ filed April 21, 2009), and amended recently, a witness from that case claims he was tricked into cooperating and signing away his own patent rights for a fraction of their worth...

CASE UPDATE: Paltalk v. Microsoft

Posted on May 13, 2009
Online chat company Paltalk Holdings, Inc. and Microsoft Corporation have formally dismissed the patent suit between them in the Eastern District of Texas.In the suit, Paltalk alleged that the chat and communication features in Microsoft's XBox Live service infringed Paltalk's patents 5,822,523 and 6,226,686, both entitled "Server-group Messaging System for Interactive Applications," and sought tens of millions of dollars in damages...

News: bits and, well, more bits...

Posted on May 11, 2009
Two items of note, one of which is in two parts:1) Square Enix reportedly kills Chrono Trigger fan project based on alleged copyright infringement.2) Duke Nukem Forever news...2.1) 3 minutes of Duke Nukem Forever footage released, but...2.2) It appears that the 3 minutes is all we'll ever see, because 3D Realms has reportedly shut down!Bummer.

New Case: Keller v. Electronic Arts [Publicity]

Posted on May 07, 2009
Samuel Michael Keller v. Electronic Arts inc. et al.case number 09-cv-1967U.S. District Court for the Northern District of CaliforniaFrom Law360:Law360, New York (May 06, 2009) -- A former quarterback for Arizona State University has filed a putative class action against Electronic Arts Inc...

Case Update: Taser v Linden Research

Posted on May 06, 2009
In an interesting twist, Taser International voluntarily dismissed this case before Linden even answered the complaint. Taser filed a Notice of Voluntary Case Dismissal on May 5, 2009. Because Linden never filed an answer, the dismissal is without prejudice and Taser could choose to refile the case at a later time if desired...

News: Patent Arcade author handles one of the highest profile virtual law cases.

Posted on April 27, 2009
The San Francisco Chronicle ran a nice article today about virtual law, including quotes from yours truly. The high point (at least in MY opinion):But some attorneys set up virtual offices in the world as a kind of advertisement. Intellectual property specialists Banner & Witcoff did just that, and their virtual presence led to their attorney Ross Dannenberg representing one of the highest-profile virtual law cases so far...

Video game trademark dispute brewing over OCTOMOM...

Posted on April 21, 2009
On April 10, 2009, Nadya Suleman, who became famous in January when she gave birth to octuplets, filed a pair of trademark applications at the USPTO. She wants to use the mark for disposable diapers, cloth diapers, dresses, pants, shirts and entertainment in the nature of ongoing television programs in the field of "varity" [sic]...

New Case: Taser v. Linden Research [T]

Posted on April 21, 2009
I'm short on time today, but Bloomberg reported a new lawsuit filed by Taser against Second Life (via its parent Linden Research Inc.). No sense in recreating the wheel, and Virtual World News has already posted a nice intro to the case here. The case is Taser Interntional v...

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