Inter Partes Review: Five Years, Over $2 Billion Saved

This Saturday, September 15, 2017, marks the five-year anniversary of the first filing of an inter partes review. We’ve seen nearly 7,000 post-grant reviews filed since then, a Supreme Court…

Granted In 19 Hours

Patent examiners have an extremely hard job. They’re given a patent application—which could be anywhere from a page long up to hundreds of pages, with patent claims ranging from a…

Chamber of Commerce Patent System Ranking Is Built On A Shaky Foundation

The Chamber of Commerce produces a yearly ranking of intellectual property systems around the world. This year, they dropped the U.S. patent system to 12th. If I thought their rankings…

The Cost Of Bad Patents: It’s Not Just The Lawsuit

The cost of bad patents is not just the cost of lawsuits. This may seem obvious, but apparently it isn’t. I’ve recently noticed a trend from the anti-reform lobby:…

Latest Blog Post

The Federal Circuit Goes Through The Looking Glass

by Josh Landau • April 18, 2019

The process of claim construction—interpreting the meaning of the words used in a patent claim—can be confusing at the best of times. At its worst, as in the Federal Circuit’s Dupont v. Unifrax decision this week, it most closely resembles an exchange from Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking Glass.”

Recent posts

Apple, Qualcomm Settle—But That Doesn’t Mean The FTC Should

by Josh Landau • April 16, 2019

Apple and Qualcomm have reached a global settlement to the wide-ranging dispute between the two companies. Stretching from China to the UK to the US, in a range of forums in various countries, Apple had accused Qualcomm of anti-competitive conduct in patent licensing, while Qualcomm brought a grab-bag of counterclaims. All of that is over.…

SCOTUS Won’t Review Tribal Immunity To Inter Partes Review

by Josh Landau • April 16, 2019

On Monday, the Supreme Court denied certiorari in the Saint Regis Mohawk v. Mylan case, bringing to a close a nearly 18-month-long attempt to sell tribal sovereign immunity as a shield against the inter partes review (IPR) process.

Delrahim Out Of Step With FTC, Industry, Academics On FRAND/SEP

by Jacqueline Yin • April 11, 2019

Jacqueline Yin is a Legal Fellow at the Computer & Communications Industry Association. This post is also online at Project DisCo. In the U.S., antitrust laws are typically enforced by both the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). For example, the DOJ and FTC share the authority to enforce the…

Jefferson on Abstract Ideas

by Josh Landau • April 8, 2019

Thomas Jefferson neatly summarized the core of the debate on at least one aspect of patentable subject matter, over 200 years ago.