Patent Law Practice Center

Verizon Attacks On Two TiVo Time-Shifting Patents Among The Reexamination Requests Filed The Week of 7/18/11

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

In 2009, TiVo sued Verizon and AT&T for infringement of U.S. Patent Nos. 7,493,015 and 7,529,465 related to time-shifting and play-back of media streams.  Verizon has now requested reexamination of the ‘015 and ‘465 patents (see inter partes Request Nos. (7) & (8)).

Precision Biosciences filed for reexamination of Cellectis’ Patent No. 7,842,489 for single-chain endonucleases useful in genetic modifications of various sorts (see ex parte Request No. (7)).  The two companies are engaged in several infringement and declaratory judgment actions in North Carolina and Delaware involving the ‘489 patent and certain related patents.

RIM requested reexamination of Mobile Media Ideas’ Patent No. 5,732,390 (see ex parte Request No. (9)).  Moble Media has sued RIMfor infringement of the ‘390 patent in the Eastern District of Texas.

Medical device patents are the subject of two requests, one for Voda’sU.S. Patent No. 6,475,195 for an angioplasty catheter guide (see inter partes Request No. (5)) and one for Boston Scientific’s U.S. Patent No. 5,922,021 for an intravascular stent (see ex parte Request No. (1)).

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TiVo Attack On Four Verizon Patents Among Reexamination Requests Filed Week Of 5/30/11

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

On Thursday, TiVo requested reexamination of three Verizon cable box patents, and on Friday, of a fourth Verizon patent (see ex parteRequest Nos. (9) through (12)).  These requests are only the latest development in an on-going patent war between the two companies that includes fronts at the ITC and in two District Courts.

Reexamination was requested for SynQor’s U.S. Patent No. 7,272,021 for power converters (see inter partes Request No. (1)).  In January, Judge Ward enjoined Artesyn/Astec and a series of other companies from infringing four SynQor patents, among them the ‘021 patent.  It is not yet clear from the PTO records who filed the request.

And Abbott Diabetes Care requested reexamination of three DexComanalyte-sensor devices in the long-term patent dispute between the companies (see ex parte Request Nos. (4), (5) & (6)). (more…)

TiVo vs. Dish at the Federal Circuit: Examining TiVo’s Brief

Written by Gene Quinn ( of IPWatchdog and Practice Center Contributor)

Several weeks ago TiVo filed its brief in the matter of Tivo, Inc. v. EchoStar Corp., which will be hearden banc by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Tuesday, November 9, 2010. The dispute between TiVo and EchoStar dates back to 2004 when TiVo sued EchoStar in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, alleging that its receivers infringe “hardware” claims (claims 1 and 32) and “software” claims (claims 31 and 61) of US Patent No. 6,233,389. The jury found there was willful infringement and the district court entered an injunction ordering EchoStar to cease infringing. It is this injunction that now is at the root of the dispute to be heard by the Federal Circuit. TiVo did not believe EchoStar lived up to the Order of the district court. The district court, seemingly out of an abundance of caution, decided not to utilize its summary contempt powers but held a year long proceeding to determine if infringement was ongoing. The district court found EchoStar was violating the injunction Order and acted accordingly. EchoStar appealed and argued that only a full patent infringement trial would suffice. The panel sided with TiVo over a strong dissent by Judge Rader, now Chief Judge of the Federal Circuit, who felt the summary proceedings were inadequate. For more see Looking Ahead to TiVo v. Dish at the Federal Circuit. So as the full Federal Circuit hears this case it is anticipated that the inherent powers of a district court to enforce their own Orders and administer justice will be front and center.

On September 10, 2010, TiVo, by and through their attorneys at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr, filed their Brief for Rehearing En Banc with the Federal Circuit. The opening paragraph of the Introduction sets an ominous tone: (more…)