Patent Law Practice Center

Technicolor Prepares to Use its 40,000 Patents to Enter the Mobile Patent Wars

Technicolor, the French company that invented the process for color movies, currently holds an estimated 40,000 valuable patents in digital audio and video. Their innovations go back almost a century and have been involved in licensing deals for said innovations for almost sixty years. The longevity of the impact of Technicolor’s visual, audio, and optic patents has somewhat caused them to be taken for granted. Not many can remember a time without Technicolor, but the company is now taking proactive steps to remind us of what it has done, and more importantly, what patents remain active in their arsenal.

As smartphones, tablets, and other electronic devices are igniting international patent litigation over what company is infringing on another company’s technology patent, Technicolor is literally breaking these devices apart. The company has devised a team of 220 employees whose purpose is to take apart every popular electronic device to find possible patent infringements. (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) Deal Book: Research in Motion Projects a Quarterly Loss – In the midst of the mobile technology patent storm, this post highlights what could serve as the impetus behind another set of valuable patents hitting the marketplace: the financial decline of the BlackBerry manufacturer. As Research in Motion is set to announce its second-consecutive quarterly loss next month, this post notes the possibility of, “the licensing of BlackBerry software or “strategic business model alternatives,” an apparent reference to the possible sale of all or part of the company.”

2) IP Watchdog: PTO Proposes Changes to Implement Micro Entity Patent Fees – This post reports on the USPTO’s announcement of a proposed rule change in regards implementing the micro entity provision of the America Invents Act (AIA). The announcement with the Federal Register is titled “Changes to Implement Micro Entity Status for Paying Patent Fees”.  The Office seeks written comments no later than July 30, 2012. (more…)