Tuesday marked one milestone—utility patent number 10,000,000. But it also marked a far more important milestone—the 4-year anniversary of the Alice decision. Looking back on those 4 years, Alice has been a clear success in eliminating patents that never should have issued. It’s had a very limited impact on patent prosecution, with most applications entirely…
Joshua Landau
Joshua Landau is the Patent Counsel at the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), where he represents and advises the association regarding patent issues. Mr. Landau joined CCIA from WilmerHale in 2017, where he represented clients in patent litigation, counseling, and prosecution, including trials in both district courts and before the PTAB.
Prior to his time at WilmerHale, Mr. Landau was a Legal Fellow on Senator Al Franken’s Judiciary staff, focusing on privacy and technology issues. Mr. Landau received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and his B.S.E.E. from the University of Michigan. Before law school, he spent several years as an automotive engineer, during which time he co-invented technology leading to U.S. Patent No. 6,934,140.
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Posts by Josh Landau
To Promote The Progress
by Josh Landau • • 0 Comments
Today, the ten millionth utility patent issued.1 The patent relates to one way of providing coherent LADAR detection. As we look back at 180 years of Patent Office history and look forward to the next ten million patents, it’s worth remembering that what makes the U.S. patent system unique is the explicit dedication of the…
Using A Trade Court To Avoid Antitrust And FRAND: Qualcomm At The ITC
by Josh Landau • • 0 Comments
The first Apple/Qualcomm International Trade Commission (ITC) case is about to kick into high gear, with the prehearing conference scheduled for Friday and the hearing (essentially the equivalent of a trial in the ITC) opening next week. Qualcomm has already dropped several patents from this case and in a companion European case admitted that some…
‘Gold Into Lead’ Article Focuses On Pyrite Patents
by Josh Landau • • 0 Comments
I’m out at IPBC Global this week, and one of the hot topics of conversation here is patent eligibility under § 101. In fact, Director Iancu’s remarks focused heavily on § 101, and the panel I spoke on debated the relative importance of patent quality and patent eligibility. (I argued that patent quality is more…
CAFC Determines No Requirement To Reopen Non-Instituted Claims Post-SAS
by Josh Landau • • 0 Comments
While the Supreme Court continues to consider WesternGeco, that’s not the only oil services patent case to read up on.1 A little over a month ago, the Supreme Court’s SAS opinion determined that the PTAB can’t pick and choose which claims to consider in an inter partes review (IPR). Today, the Federal Circuit released its…
Comments from Samsung Jurors Drive Home The Flaws In Design Patents
by Josh Landau • • 0 Comments
A few weeks back, I outlined some of the problems created when design patent law is interpreted in negative ways. One particular issue? The negative incentives created if the article of manufacture to which icon patents are applied is the entire device. When I wrote that post, these were still hypotheticals. A sole juror is…
CCIA Releases White Paper On Standard Essential Patents
by Josh Landau • • 0 Comments
Yesterday, the Computer & Communications Industry Association, joined by five other trade associations representing industries ranging from retail to automotive to smartphone apps, released a white paper describing how certain views on antitrust policy as it relates to standard essential patents (SEPs) are contrary to both established legal precedent and to economic policy. The white…
Jury Decides Icon Patents Should Award Profits On Entire Phone
by Josh Landau • • 0 Comments
Yesterday, after almost four days of deliberation, the Apple v. Samsung jury decided Samsung owed Apple over $500 million of Samsung’s profits. Faced with an artificial and unsound test, the jurors struggled to understand just what they were supposed to do. Ultimately, the jurors awarded Apple profits on the entire Samsung device for Apple’s…
Sovereign Immunity, Upper Skagit, and Patents
by Josh Landau • • 0 Comments
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court released their decision in Upper Skagit Indian Tribe v. Lundgren. The opinion effectively held that the simple fact of in rem jurisdiction does not always bar claims of tribal sovereign immunity. In rem jurisdiction is one argument that might bar the new practice of renting tribal sovereign immunity to…
Chabot, Johnson Introduce House Fee-Setting Reauthorization Bill
by Josh Landau • • 0 Comments
Back in March, Senator Coons and Senator Hatch introduced a bill to renew the USPTO’s authorization to set its own fees, the “BIG Data for IP” Act (S. 2601). This week, Reps. Chabot (OH) and Johnson (GA) introduced a House companion bill (H.R. 5887). As I wrote back in March, fee-setting authority is critical…