Patent Law Practice Center

Patent Docs: Impact of Advances in DNA Sequencing Technology on Genetic Diagnostic Testing

We are pleased to share the latest from our friends at PatentDocs.org, the Biotech and Pharma Patent Law and News Blog. The authors, Donald Zuhn and Kevin Noonan, are partners at McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff, LLP, and contribute to Patent Docs on a daily basis. Today’s post is entitled, “Impact of Advances in DNA Sequencing Technology on Genetic Diagnostic Testing”, and it discusses how because DNA sequencing soon may be within the reach of the consumer, the current patent protection (and the IP protection model underlying it) for genetic diagnostic testing may become obsolete.

Here is an excerpt: (more…)

Patent Attorneys Leave Firms for NPEs

OK it’s Super Bowl season so forgive the football picture but are some top patent litigators switching sides?

An article by the Wall Street Journal describes the transition of two patent attorneys who left incredibly lucrative careers representing some of the biggest companies in the world to work for nonpracticing entities:

As recently as three years ago, the two lawyers were among a small group of elite attorneys used by U.S. companies to defend their patents in courtrooms.

Mr. Desmarais was a lawyer for such companies as International Business Machines Corp., GlaxoSmithKline PLC, Boston Scientific Corp., Alcatel-Lucent SA and Verizon Wireless. The clients of Mr. Powers included Cisco Systems Inc., Merck & Co., MicrosoftCorp., Oracle Corp., Samsung Electronics Co., and Apple Inc.

But in the last couple of years, both men have turned about-face. They have created practices to represent not the largest, most tech-savvy companies, but to work for patent-holding plaintiffs known as “nonpracticing entities,” or what some critics call “patent trolls.”

Starbucks’ Mobile Payment Technology Gets Patent Holder Steamed

Maxim Integrated, a California semiconductor company, filed a patent infringement suit against Starbucks in the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Texas alleging the Starbucks Card Mobile, Starbucks for iPhone and Starbucks for Android applications infringed upon four of Maxim Integrated’s patents. The patents in question describe mobile payment methods “for enabling a user to fill a portable module with a cash equivalent and to spend the cash equivalent at a variety of locations” and as an “electronic module [that] is capable of passing information back and forth between a service provider’s equipment via a secure, encrypted technique so that money and other valuable data can be securely passed electronically.”

Starbucks isn’t the only recipient of the mobile payment app infringement claim. Maxim Integrated also filed similar patent infringement suits against Expedia Inc. and Capital One Financial Group. According to paidContent.org,

The activities described in the patents seem to encompass activities inherent to any mobile payments operation. Moreover, Maxim is asserting them across different platforms. In its complaints, it singles out apps like “Expedia Hotels for Android” and “Capital One Mobile Banking for Android” in addition to iPhone and iPad apps. (more…)

Patent Infringement Doesn’t Pay…Unless You’re Verizon, in Which Case You Owe $11 Million a Month for the Next 6 Months

The National Law Journal reports that starting December 16, 2011, Verizon must pay $2.74 per every FiOs customer each month as “sunset royalties” for their continued use of technology deemed to be infringing patents belonging to ActiveVideo.  The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia had ruled in August 2011 that Verizon infringed four of ActiveVideo’s patents regarding interactive TV and video-on-demand applications. Verizon would have to pay “sunset royalties” for its continued use of the technology until it changed its internal system. Last week, the same court denied a motion from Verizon to stay having to pay “sunset royalties” pending an appeal. (more…)

ITC on HTC: The Possible U.S. Ban on Android Phones

Tomorrow, the International Trade Commission will issue its decision regarding whether or not HTC infringed Apple’s patents in producing Android phones. Six months ago, an ITC administrative law judge ruled that HTC had in fact infringed Apple’s patents. The decision to come down this Wednesday, December 14, is in response to HTC’s appeal. The patents in question are U.S. Patent No. 5,946,647, a patent on a “system and method for performing an action on a structure in computer-generated data”, and U.S. Patent No. 6,343,263, a patent on a “real-time signal processing system for serially transmitted data”. Essentially, these patents are at the core of the Android operating system, which means that HTC may not be the only manufacturer to be impacted by the ITC’s decision as they are not the only ones using the Android system. (more…)