Patent Law Practice Center

HTC Attack on FlashPoint Image Capture Patent Among the Reexamination Requests Filed Week of Jan 9th

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

HTC has requested reexamination of FlashPoint Technology’s U.S. Patent No. 6,278,447 for video interface system (see ex parte Request No. (9)).  The ‘447 patent has survived two earlier ex parte reexaminations without cancelation or amendment of claims.

Reexamination was requested of another MobileMedia Ideas patent for data storage, U.S. Patent No. 5,977,887 (see ex parteRequest No. (2)).  The PTO records do not indicate the identity of the requester, but it might be HTC. (more…)

Top 5 Patent Law Blog Posts of the Week

Today we continue our weekly installment highlighting the best of the patent blogosphere from the past week. If there are any patent blogs you think should be highlighted by our Top 5, please comment on this post and we’ll check them out!

1) IPWatchdog: Court Slams Frivolous & Vexatious Litigation with $4.7 MM in Fees – This post discusses the recent developments within the Federal Circuit in regards to no longer tolerating abusive patent litigation tactics with the case MarcTec, LLC v. Johnson & Johnson.

2) Foss Patents: Thanks to Apple’s flawed litigation strategy, HTC has nothing to fear until March 2013 (in the US) – This post outlines what Florian Mueller considers to be tactical missteps by Apple’s litigation team when dealing with Motorola, Samsung, Nokia, and HTC.

3) Patently-O: 2011 Patent Grants: A New Record – This post highlights the banner year the USPTO had in 2011 as more patents were granted in 2011 than any other year in history. Check out the post for a detailed graph demonstrating the amount of US Utility Patents granted over the last ten years. (more…)

The ITC’s Injunctive Relief Power

The International Trade Commission’s recently issued decision to ban HTC smart phones from being imported to the U.S. as a result of the  HTC Android operating system infringing one of Apple’s patents. What is interesting is that the discussion surrounding this matter hasn’t been about whether or not there was any patent infringement, but rather the focus has been on the impact of banning HTC smart phones as the means of remedying the patent infringement.

Dennis Crouch, of Patently-O, provides a great summary on the ITC’s role in patent infringement cases and how it’s power to grant injunctive relief compares with that of the federal courts. Here is an excerpt from Crouch’s summary entitled, “Injunctive Relief and the Public Interest at the ITC”:

In federal court litigation, a court can only award injunctive relief after considering the four equitable factors outlined in eBay v. MercExchange. The ITC is not bound by eBay, but is required to consider the impact that an injunction (or “exclusion order”) would have on competition and consumers.  Interestingly, the ITC order follows a recentNYTimes editorial, by Professors Mark Lemley and Colleen Chien who argued for delay in exclusion orders in order to serve the public interest.

Click here to read the article in full on PatentlyO.com.

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…)

HTC Claims Intervening Rights Against Apple In ITC Case

Scott Daniels, Partner at Westerman, Hattori, Daniels & Adrian and Practice Center Contributor, sent in this article discussing the pending ITC investigation of HTC’s mobile communication devices.  Daniels raises interesting questions regarding HTC’s latest motion asking the ITC  for a determination that it does not infringe one of Apple’s patents because it’s entitled to “absolute intervening rights” against Apple.

HTC might be making a comeback in the ITC’s investigation of mobile communication devices  (337-TA-710).  In July Administrative Law Judge Charneski issued an Initial Determination (ID) against HTC, finding that its accused communication devices infringe two data manipulation patents owned by Apple.  That determination, if affirmed by the full Commission, would likely result in exclusion from entry into the United States of HTC’s infringing devices.

But in September the full Commission announced that it was reviewing Judge Charneski’s ID against HTC.  And, in a step that will interest reexamination practitioners, HTC asked the ITC for a determination that it does not infringe one of the Apple patents – U.S. Patent No. 5,946,647 – because HTC is entitled to “absolute intervening rights” created in a co-pending reexamination of Apple’s ‘647 patent. (more…)