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Intellectual Property
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June 6, 2013
Kolon Fights DOJ's Indictment In Trade Secrets Row
The U.S. Department of Justice can't serve a criminal indictment on South Korea-based Kolon Industries Inc. and five of its executives in the agency's trade secret suit, the company told a Virginia federal judge Wednesday, saying the department has no right to serve summons outside of the United States.
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June 6, 2013
Fed. Circ. Asked To Review Nintendo Wii Fit Patent Win
IA Labs CA LLC asked a Federal Circuit panel Thursday to revive its suit alleging Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s Wii Fit software and balance board infringe one of its patents, alleging a lower court misconstrued the claims and the ruling needs to be reviewed in full.
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June 6, 2013
Teva Settles With BMS, Merck Over HIV Drug Generic Plans
Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. on Wednesday agreed to a settlement with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., ending claims in New York federal court that its planned generic version of HIV treatment Atripla had infringed two patents.
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June 6, 2013
Fed. Circ. Asked To Move Navy Contract Fight To Fed. Court
Shipbuilder United States Marine Inc. asked a Federal Circuit panel Thursday to send its suit alleging the U.S. Navy disclosed its trade secrets to competitors back to a Louisiana federal court, claiming the Fifth Circuit erred when it said the trial court lacked jurisdiction.
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June 6, 2013
Phone Unlocking Bill Has Broad Support, But Some Want More
Lawmakers, industry groups and consumer rights advocates all expressed support Thursday for short-term legislation that would let consumers "unlock" their cellphones so they can be used on different networks, but some pushed for Congress to go even further and permanently amend digital copyright law.
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June 6, 2013
Faegre Baker Daniels To Open New Office In Silicon Valley
Faegre Baker Daniels LLP is set to open a new Silicon Valley office with a heavy emphasis on intellectual property litigation, increasing the firm's number of worldwide locations to 14 and giving it easier access to the California-based tech and life sciences companies on its client roster, it announced Thursday.
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June 6, 2013
Q&A With Choate's Eric Marandett
I can trace much of what I’ve learned about patent litigation to issues I saw over the course of the more than a decade I spent working on the long-running case between Amgen Inc. and Transkaryotic Therapies Inc. and its partner Hoechst Marion Roussel Inc., says Eric Marandett, co-chairman of Choate Hall & Stewart LLP's litigation department and intellectual property litigation practice group.
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June 6, 2013
Fla. Pharmacy Says Walgreens Lifted Its 'Teamcare' Mark
Florida pharmacy Teamcare Pharmacy Services Inc. has accused Walgreen Co. of infringing its “Teamcare” trademark by using the phrase in Walgreens advertisements, according to a lawsuit removed to Florida federal court last week.
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June 5, 2013
Ex-Clyde & Co. Atty Hits Firm With $6M Wrongful Firing Suit
A former Clyde & Co. LLP attorney fired off a $6 million wrongful termination suit Wednesday, hitting the firm with right of publicity claims and accusing a senior partner of viewing his confidential information and falsely telling a client he had “churned the file” and overbilled it.
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June 5, 2013
Samsung, Motorola Sued Over Smartphone Data Patent
Samsung Telecommunications America LLC, Motorola Mobility LLC and seven other smartphone makers were slapped with patent infringement suits Wednesday by a Delaware-based patent holding company accusing them of infringing a patent covering a technology that allows phones to find the most effective route for data transmission.
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June 5, 2013
ITC’s Apple Import Ban May Prompt Legislative Response
The U.S. International Trade Commission on Tuesday banned imports of some Apple Inc. products that allegedly infringe a Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. wireless standard essential patent despite repeated warnings from antitrust agencies and lawmakers that doing so might stifle competition, a decision that may prompt Congress to pursue greater limits on the ITC's powers.
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June 5, 2013
Lawyers Weigh In On Obama 'Patent Troll' Initiatives
President Barack Obama plunged into the debate over so-called patent trolls on Tuesday, introducing a package of legislative and executive proposals aimed at curbing frivolous lawsuits. Here, attorneys tell Law360 if the proposals will have any effect on nonpracticing entities.
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June 5, 2013
McKenna Long Faces $3.5M Malpractice Suit Over Patent Case
McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP was hit with a $3.5 million malpractice suit Tuesday by a Canadian industrial parts manufacturer accusing the law firm of mishandling its defense in an underlying patent row.
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June 5, 2013
Biosimilars Dodge State Roadblocks, But Big Hurdles Remain
The once-promising biosimilars industry is finally getting some good news as state lawmakers largely balk at bills designed to curtail access to the cheaper versions of pricey brand-name biologic drugs, but experts caution that bruising legislative fights and a daunting regulatory approval process lie ahead.
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June 5, 2013
Retailer Fined $7.8M For Continued TracFone Infringement
A Georgia federal judge on Wednesday held retailer GCA Electronics LLC in civil contempt of court and sanctioned the company $7.8 million payable to TracFone Wireless Inc., which had accused GCA of ripping off TracFone's prepaid phones in violation of an earlier judgment and injunction.
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June 5, 2013
Google, Amazon Back Fed. Circ.'s Claim Construction Ruling
Google Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and others on Tuesday backed the Federal Circuit's finding that claims construction rulings must be reviewed fresh on appeal, arguing that claims constructions are "purely legal" matters that warrant such review.
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June 5, 2013
K&L Gates Lands IP, Int'l Arbitration Pro In Calif.
K&L Gates LLP has landed an intellectual property and international arbitration wizard from Haynes and Boone LLP to join its Orange County, Calif., office specializing in technology, patent and trademark disputes and complex litigation, the firm announced Tuesday.
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June 5, 2013
Hitachi Drops Rare-Earths Probe Following Settlements
Following a slew of settlements, Hitachi Metals Ltd. asked the U.S. International Trade Commission on Tuesday to fully terminate an investigation into claims that rival companies were importing products containing Hitachi's patented rare-earth magnet technology.
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June 5, 2013
K&L Gates Deserves Sanctions For Paying Witness, USEI Says
K&L Gates LLP would set a dangerous precedent if a California federal judge doesn't sanction it for secretly compensating a key witness $122,000 to “switch sides” in patent litigation against client Hewlett-Packard Co., U.S. Ethernet Innovations LLC said Tuesday.
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June 5, 2013
Dr. Phil Goes For Win In Fight Over Te'o Hoaxer Interview
The television production company behind the "The Dr. Phil Show" asked a Texas federal court Tuesday to rule that the popular sports blog Deadspin infringed its copyrights by publishing video excerpts of an interview with the man who pretended to be Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o's girlfriend.
Expert Analysis
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Reconsidering Claim Construction Standard Of Review
In Lighting Ballast Control LLC v. Philips Electronics North America, the Federal Circuit will be reconsidering en banc the strictness by which Federal Circuit and other appellate judges evaluate rulings by district court judges. Any change in the standard of review for district court claim construction rulings could have a significant impact on U.S. patent litigation, says Rodger Sadler, patent litigation counsel at Canon Inc.
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A New Weapon In Generic Drug Companies' Arsenal
The recent Vigamox and Lexiva inter partes review proceedings offer a first glimpse of what promises to be a new front in the pharmaceutical patent wars between brand-name and generic pharmaceutical companies, say attorneys with Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP.
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AIA's 1st Trial Was More Of A Hearing — No Surprise There
It has been observed that the first "oral hearing" before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board was more akin to an oral argument than a typical court trial. That simple observation comes as no surprise, but it is one of many examples of the misnomers in the AIA “trial” proceedings, says Scott McBride of McAndrews Held & Malloy Ltd.
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3 Ways To Leverage Internet Access During Trial
A survey of local rules for courthouses with available Wi-Fi has shown that no courts expressly prohibit the use of Internet by lawyers to gain information about the venire. Interestingly, at least one appellate court has held that it was error not to allow counsel to access the Internet during jury selection, say Derek Sarafa and William O'Neil of Winston & Strawn LLP.
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DOJ Faces Challenges In Prosecuting Foreign Corporations
Courts are only now beginning to struggle with the intersection of transnational corporate crime in the Internet age and Rule 4 Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, which is woefully outdated. Two recent conflicting trade secrets decisions highlight this disconnect, say Stephen Byers and Jason Lynch of Crowell & Moring LLP.
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Divided Infringement Of System Claims After Centillion
After the Federal Circuit's Centillion Data Systems LLC v. Qwest Communications International Inc. decision and the district court decisions that have followed, it is clear that joint or divided infringement can be a powerful defense to patent infringement regardless of whether the asserted claims are method claims or system claims, say Jennifer Bennett and Mark Nelson of Dentons.
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CBP's Expanded Role In Enforcing ITC Exclusion Orders
The recent decision of the U.S. Court of International Trade in Corning Gilbert Inc. v. United States could mark a watershed for the enforcement of exclusion orders issued by the U.S. International Trade Commission under Section 337. It could significantly expand the roles of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the CIT in the enforcement of ITC exclusion orders, say attorneys with King & Spalding LLP.
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Thoughts On Oral Arguments In Gene Patent Case
On April 15, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the Myriad Genetics Inc. case, which addresses whether human genes are patentable. The justices struggled with the problem of balancing concerns relating to scientific freedom to experiment with natural products, the need for economic incentives to stimulate investment, and the widespread availability of medical care, say Deborah Somerville and Joseph Coppola of Kenyon & Kenyon LLP.
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Another Look At The Doctrine Of Equivalents
Recent Federal Circuit opinions upholding infringement findings under the doctrine of equivalents and vacating findings of noninfringement have prompted renewed questions of whether the doctrine may be coming back to life. An analysis of recent district court cases applying the doctrine suggests that reports of the doctrine’s revival are at least somewhat exaggerated, say Elizabeth Brann and Bob Chen of Paul Hastings LLP.
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How Bowman V. Monsanto May Wreak Havoc On Biotechnology
While it seems likely that the Federal Circuit’s decision in Bowman v. Monsanto Company may ultimately be upheld, the U.S. Supreme Court’s written opinion still holds the potential to enormously impact the current licensing practices of the biotechnology industry and any life sciences company that makes, sells, uses or purchases self-replicating biotechnology, say attorneys with Choate Hall & Stewart LLP.