Patent Law

Patently-O Bits & Bytes

By Dennis Crouch

By Lawrence Higgins

Upcoming Events:

• Judge Timothy Dyk will give a lecture on the commercial impact of complexity and confusion in patent law at the Lewis and Clark law school on March 1. [Link]
• Berkeley Center for Law and Technology is hosting an event entitled "Beyond Piracy in the New China" on March 10. [Link]
• 13^th Annual Richard C. Sughrue Symposium on Intellectual Property Law and Policy will be held in Akron on March 21. Guest Speakers include Donald Chisum, Judge Paul Michel, and Marybeth Peters. [Link]
• The University of Dayton School of Law will be hosting a symposium entitled "Killing the Golden Goose: How Today's Innovations in the Patent System are Harming Innovation Itself". The guest speaker is Professor F. Scott Kief. [Link]

USPTO Unveils Details of Fast-Track Patent Option

• USPTO plans to offer accelerated patent examinations for an extra $4,000 fee. Under this option, applications would be processed within a year of filing. Currently it takes the USPTO roughly 2 years to initiate its first office action. [Link]

Supreme Court will hear Global-Tech Appliance v. SEB S.A.

• On February 23^rd the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Global-Tech Appliances v. SEB S.A. [Link] The question presented is, whether the legal standard for the state of mind element of a claim for actively inducing infringement under 35 U.S.C. § 271(b) is "deliberate indifference of a known risk" that an infringement may occur, or "purposeful, culpable expression and conduct" to encourage an infringement. [Link]

AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon, and MetroPCS has been sued by Sourceprose

• Sourceprose has filed suit in the Western District of Texas alleging that the above companies infringed on patent #'s 7,142,217 and 7,161,604. The complaint contends that the defendant's infringed on claim 1 of both patents. The technology is a mapping technology used in smartphones.

Google ask USPTO to reexamine 4 patents

• In August 2010, Oracle sued Google for infringing seven of its Java patents. [Link]Google has asked the USPTO to reexamine 4 of the patents in suit. The patents are 5,966,702, 6,061,520, 6,125,447 & RE 38,104 ? related to the Java platform. [Link] The alleged infringing technology is Google's Android operating system for mobile phones.

Supreme Court will hear Microsoft v. i4i

• On April 18^th the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the important case of Microsoft v. i4i. [Link]The issue in the case is, whether Microsoft is required to prove invalidity of i4i's patent by clear and convincing evidence. [Link]This case could change the way patent law is currently practiced, if the standard is changed from the clear and convincing evidence standard. [Link]

Patent Jobs:

• HP is seeking an attorney with 1-10 years experience in patent prosecution. [Link]
• Infinity Pharmaceuticals is searching for a patent agent with 2-5 years experience in the pharmaceutical field to work at their Cambridge location. [Link]
• Amneal Pharmaceuticals is seeking a Director of Global Intellectual Property to work at their New Jersey location. [Link]
• Wenderoth, Lind & Ponack is seeking an entry-level patent attorney with a BSEE. [Link]

Full post as published by Patently Obvious on February 17, 2011 (boomark / email).