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…
Blog Posts
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…
Smartphones, Diapers, and Design Patents
by Josh Landau • • 1 Comment
Apple v. Samsung is obviously about high tech smartphones. Other recent design patent cases have focused on high tech products as well—both the Nikola v. Tesla case Patent Progress covered recently and the Microsoft v. Corel case that Prof. Sarah Burstein described over on Patently-O deal with high tech products. But the basic issue with…
Icon Patents Shouldn’t Entitle The Patent Owner To Profits On The Whole Device
by Josh Landau • • 2 Comments
An important part of the Apple v. Samsung trial is about the exterior casing design patents. But those aren’t the only design patents at issue—the other design patent in the case covers a colorful grid of icons with particular characteristics like rounded corners and variable icons: As a reminder, a design patent covers a “new,…
Did You Buy Your Car Just Because Of The Cup Holder?
by Josh Landau • • 2 Comments
Opening arguments in Apple v. Samsung started this morning. While round six of the long-running case deals with smartphone patents, the potential impacts range much further. As I noted in my post yesterday, a rule of design patent damages that allows patentees to receive the total profits on the entire product even though the design…
Apple v. Samsung, Round Six
by Josh Landau • • 4 Comments
A district court trial. A retrial, after part of the verdict was vacated. An appeal to the Federal Circuit. A Supreme Court opinion with a remand to the Federal Circuit. A remand from the Federal Circuit back to the district court. Seven years after Apple originally filed suit against Samsung, we’re right back in Judge…
Nikola v. Tesla Illustrates Danger Of Overreaching With Design Patents
by Josh Landau • • 2 Comments
Last week, Nikola sued Tesla over advanced technology trucks. But it isn’t about the technology. It’s not AC vs. DC or Edison vs. Tesla. It isn’t even about electric vehicles (or hydrogen-electric trucks, Nikola’s chosen technology). It’s about the shapes of windshields and doors. It’s about design patents. And Nikola got it all wrong. A…