Patent Law Practice Center

Google and Yahoo! Attack on Browser Patent, Among the Reexamination Requests Filed the Week of December 26, 2011

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

Google and Yahoo! have requested reexamination of a browser patent owned by Interval Licensing (see ex parte Request No. (3)). Interval had already sued the two companies for infringement of the patent. Google and Microsoft have requested reexamination of a patent owned by Paid Search Engine Tools for a bid management system (see inter partes Request No. (1)). As above, there is a pending infringement action regarding the patent in question.  This approach of two or more companies jointly requesting reexamination is becoming more common.

Ex parte reexamination was requested by an unidentified party against Intellect Wireless’ U.S. Patent No. 7,266,186 claiming a paging receiver and system (see ex parte Request No. (1)). Intellect Wireless has sued a number of companies – among them HTC, RIM, AT&T Mobility – for infringement of the ‘186 patent, as well as for infringement of U.S. Patent No. 7,310,416. HTC America filed inter partes requests against the ‘186 patent at the beginning of October, and against the ‘416 patent in November. Non-final rejections have already issued against both Intellect Wireless patents. According to HTC, the infringement action has been “effectively stayed pending a ruling” on HTC’s motion for summary judgment of inequitable conduct. The various reexaminations might have an impact on HTC’s inequitable conduct allegations.

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Top 5 PLI Patent Law Posts of the Year

Every Friday, the Patent Law Practice Center likes to provide our readers with highlights from the week’s best patent law blog posts and articles. As 2011 reaches its end, and as the new year causes people to look back on the year that was, we thought it was a great opportunity to present to you the Patent Law Practice Center’s top 5 posts of the year:

1) America Invents Act: How the New Law Impacts Your Clients and Your Patent Practice, Parts 1 & 2: Explanations provided by Robert A. Armitage of Eli Lilly and Company, and Janet Gongola, Patent Reform Coordinator at the USPTO, helped in breaking down the AIA for the masses.

2) A New Doctrine of Equivalents? CAFC Defines “Use” Under §271 – Written by Gene Quinn, of IPWatchdog and Practice Center Contributor, this post discusses Centillion Data Systems, LLC v. Qwest Communications International, Inc., and questions whether it will “breathe new life into the doctrine of equivalents” given the Court’s determination of the meaning of “use” of a system as a matter of law under 35 U.S.C. 271 (a). (more…)

Challenges to 5 Ronald Katz Telephone Patents, Among the Reexamination Requests Filed the Week of December 19, 2011

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

Perhaps more than any other inventor, Ronald Katz has been the target of rivals’ requests for reexamination.  This was certainly true this past week, when requests were filed against five Katz telephone system patents (see ex parte Request Nos. (1), (3) to (5) & (10)).  According to Patent Office assignment records, the five patents are owned by General Electric Capital.

Vicor requested reexamination of a SynQor power converter patent (see inter partes Request No. (5)).  Synqor has sued a number of companies, including Ericsson, for infringement of that patent.

And Ford has requested reexamination of a GM patent for a car body structure, specifically a roof panel-side frame construction (see inter partes Request No. (3)).

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CISCO Challenge to Two Virnetx Network Patents, Among the Reexamination Requests Filed the Week of Dec. 12, 2011

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

VirnetX, having long ago vanquished Microsoft, is now in a difficult infringement action in the Eastern District of Texas against Cisco and a number of other network-makers.  Last week Cisco requested reexamination of two VirnetX patents (see inter partesRequest Nos. (3) & (8) – U.S. Patent Nos. 7,418,504 and 7,921,211.

Knowles Electronics is involved in a rather complicated litigation position.  First, it sued Analog Devices in Illinois for infringement of U.S. Patent Nos. 7,439,616 and 7,537,964, and then, at the beginning of this month, it filed an ITC Complaint against Analog Devices, Amkor and Avnet for infringement of the ‘964 patent, plus infringement of U.S. Patent No. 8,018,049.  Reexamination requests were filed last week against the ‘964 and ‘049 patent (see inter partes Request Nos. (1) & (2)), and reexamination was requested against the ‘616 patent last May.  This multi-front dispute creates another opportunity for interaction between the respective forums.

Reexamination is rarely requested for design patents, but two requests were filed last week (see ex parte Request Nos. (7) & (17)).  Challenges by reexamination to design patents seem to do much better than those in District Court.

Volkswagen requested reexamination of a GPS patent owned by Beacon Navigation who has sued a number of automakers for infringement of the patent (see inter partes Request No. (4)). (more…)

LG Attack on Whirlpool Refrigerator Patent, Among the Reexamination Requests Filed the Week of Dec. 5, 2011

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

LG has requested reexamination of Whirlpool patent for icemakers (see inter partes Request No. 3).  The Whirlpool patent is already the subject of a declaratory judgment action in Delaware, also filed by LG.  The two companies have been involved in a series of disputes over refrigerator patents.

Hitachi Koki has requested reexamination of seven Milwaukee Electronic Tool patents for lithium battery packs for hand-tools (see inter partes Request Nos. (8) to (10) and ex parte Request Nos. (5) to (8)).  Milwaukee has sued Hitachi in the Eastern District of Wisconsin for infringing the patents

Reexamination was also requested for two Ronald Katz patents for a telephonic lottery (see ex parte Request Nos. (3) & (4).  Katzpatents have been the subject of quite a number of reexaminations over the years. (more…)