Patent Law Practice Center

Google Challenge To Tierravision Geographic Database Patent Among The Reexamination Requests Filed Week of 10/31/11

Here is the latest installment of Reexamination Requests from Scott Daniels, of Reexamination Alert and Practice Center Contributor…

Earlier this year Tierravision sued Microsoft, RIM and Google, accusing them of selling Internet-based map services that infringe U.S. Reissue Patent No. 41,983.   Google has now replied by requesting reexamination of the ‘983 patent (see inter partes Request No. (3)). Google’s Request is a bit spicier than most.  At the very outset, it asserts that “Tierravision buried the 18 claims subject to reexamination in a wildly varied set of 70 total claims,” with the result that “[t]hey bear little or no resemblance to the claims of the original patent, yet the original Examiner subjected them to virtually no scrutiny, allowing them in the first action without any explanation.”  It seems likely that RIM and Microsoft will file their own Requests.

Research in Motion has requested reexamination of U.S. Patent No. 6,055,439 owned by MobileMedia Ideas (see ex parte Request No. (14)). The ‘439 patent was originally assigned to Nokia and is one of a portfolio of mobile phone patents assigned by either Nokia or Sony to MobileMedia.   (more…)

Augme Attack on Yahoo! Streaming Media Patents among the Reexamination Requests Filed Week of 10/24/11

Here is the latest installment of Reexamination Requests from Scott Daniels, of Reexamination Alert and Practice Center Contributor…

Last week Augme upped the ante in its patent fight with Yahoo! by requesting reexamination of two Yahoo! streaming media patents (see inter partes Request Nos. ((4) & (5)).  Yahoo! has accused Augme and its partner World Talk Radio of infringing the patents by operating websites and related infrastructure that employ Augme’s “BoomBox” technology.  The accused websites are VoiceAmerica^TM and World Talk Radio^TM Network.

Cisco has requested reexamination of a VirnetX network protocol patent – U.S. Patent No. 7,188,180 – which is one of six VirnetX patents in litigation in the Eastern District of Texas (see inter partes Request No. (2)).  Cisco’s request follows requests from the previous week by Apple regarding two other VirnetX network protocol patents – U.S. Patent Nos. 7,418,504 and 7,921,211.  (more…)

Apple Reexamination Requests Of Two VirnetX Patents Among Those Requested Week Of 10/17/11

Here is the latest installment of Reexamination Requests from Scott Daniels, of Reexamination Alert and Practice Center Contributor…

Apple has requested reexamination of two more VirnetX network protocol patents – U.S. Patent Nos. 7,418,504 and 7,921,211 (see inter partes Request Nos. (2) & (3)).  VirnetX has sued Apple and several others for infringement of the ‘504 and ‘211 patents, as well as four other related patents.  Three of the other VirnetX patents-in-suit are in reexamination, and a fourth emerged from reexamination earlier this year with the validity of its claims confirmed.

CSR Technology has requested reexamination of two Bandspeed patents claiming methods for selecting communications channels based on use, in products such as computers and mobile telephones.  (see inter partes Request Nos. (5) & (6)).  Bandspeed has sued 38 companies for infringement of the patents, among them Acer, Dell, HP, HTC, Kyocera, LG, RIM and Samsung. (more…)

Facebook Request For Reexamination of Data Review Patent Among Those Requested Week Of 10/10/12

Here is the latest installment of Reexamination Requests from Scott Daniels, of Reexamination Alert and Practice Center Contributor…

A Markman hearing is currently scheduled for the beginning of November in Indacon’s case against Facebook for infringement of two patents related to storing and reviewing data.  But on FridayFacebook requested reexamination of one of the Indacon patents (see inter partes Request No. (9)) and on the same day, asked Judge Orlando Garcia of the Western District of Texas to stay the infringement action “until Indacon files its response to the PTO’s first Office Action in the reexamination.”  At that time, Facebooksays, Judge Garcia could assess the effect that the reexamination might have on the case and whether the case should be stayed pending completion of the reexamination.  Facebook focused on the imminent Markman hearing, noting that the reexamination could provide additional evidence that might affect Judge Garcia’s claim construction of both patents-in-suit.  “No matter what the outcome of the reexamination, claim construction will surely be affected.”

In 2007 the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) issued a general exclusion order prohibiting the entry into the United States of ink cartridges that infringed any of ten Seiko Epson patents, plus a cease and desist order stopping the sale of infringing ink cartridges already in the United States.  The principal target of these orders was Ninestar Technology.  In March Ninestar asked the ITC for an advisory opinion whether its R-Series ink cartridges infringe any of the ten Seiko Epson patents.  Ninestar has now expanded its challenge to the Seiko Epson patents by requesting reexamination of the ‘053 patent (see inter partes Request No. (1)).  It will be interesting to see how Ninestar coordinates its challenges to that patent at the ITC and at the PTO, respectively. (more…)

Requests For Reexamination Of Four Round Rock Patents Among Those Filed Week of 9/12/11

Here is the latest installment of Reexamination Requests from Scott Daniels, of Reexamination Alert and Practice Center Contributor…

Requests for reexamination were filed against four RFID patents owned by patent-holding/enforcement company Round Rock Research (see ex parte Request Nos. (1), (2), (4), & (5)).  The requests do not indicate who filed them, and the patents does not appear to be the subject of pending litigation, raising the prospect of a party simply targeting Round Rock patents.Rou

Earlier this year, Universal Electronics sued Logitech in the Central District of California for infringement of three touch-pad patents. Logitech has now replied by seeking reexamination of those patents (see inter partes Request Nos. (7), (8) & (9)).

Google, Apple and Quattro teamed up to request reexamination of a StreetSpace patent for online advertising (see inter partesRequest No. (10)).  The parties are currently in litigation over that patent in the Southern District of California.

And yet another reexamination request was filed in the long, on-going war between Abbott Diabetes Care and DexCom over analyte measuring devices (see ex parte Request No. (9)). (more…)