Charles Duan is Director of Technology & Innovation Policy for the R Street Institute. We are pleased to republish this post, first published on the ITC Policy Blog. This morning, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit heard an oral argument in the case Comcast v. International Trade Commission. Though the case itself involves niche matters of patent law, the argument revealed to me a concerning lack…
Blog Posts
No More Bites At The Apple In The Eastern District
by Josh Landau •
Last week, it was widely reported that Apple plans to close its retail stores in the Eastern District of Texas in order to avoid facing patent lawsuits in the district. Given that a single patent lawsuit can easily cost just as much as opening an Apple store (estimated at $8-10 million per store), even if…
Blackbird Grounded—For Now
by Josh Landau •
Almost two years ago, I wrote about a new non-practicing entity (NPE)—Blackbird Technologies. It claimed to be helping innovators, but the main innovation it helped promote was its own—having the lawyers own the patents on which Blackbird was suing. When I first wrote about Blackbird, it had just sued Cloudflare over the ‘335 patent, which…
NPEs Continue To Leave Their (Land)mark On Small Businesses
by Josh Landau •
The reports of the death of the patent troll are greatly exaggerated. Alive and well, they continue to have a real impact on small and medium-sized U.S. businesses (SMEs). Azure Standard Pretend you run an organic farm. You start selling your products online, and people like them. You can expand a bit, hiring more people.…
Qualcomm’s Patent Scheme Is On Its Heels
by Josh Landau •
It hasn’t been a week full of good news for Qualcomm. Qualcomm is losing battles on three different fronts, putting serious pressure on its global campaign to maintain the patent licensing scheme that regulators in many countries have found to have anti-competitive effects. FTC v. Qualcomm The FTC v. Qualcomm case, in which the FTC…
“On Sale” Means What It Says: Helsinn v. Teva
by Josh Landau •
Today, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Helsinn v. Teva. In a unanimous decision, the Court upheld the Federal Circuit’s determination that “on sale” means “on sale”, not “on sale, unless it’s under NDA or we didn’t tell the public about the sale.”
Congress Weighs In On Qualcomm and Apple At The ITC
by Josh Landau •
The big Qualcomm news this week was the start of the FTC v. Qualcomm antitrust trial in front of Judge Koh.1 But Qualcomm’s first ITC case against Apple has also had significant developments—even though the ITC is shut down and the case is on hold. In particular, a number of members of Congress have…
Comparable Licenses Often Aren’t
by Josh Landau •
One of the more complicated issues in patent law is the issue of damages—the determination of how much money a patent owner receives when they prove infringement and validity. A patent owner, under 35 U.S.C. § 284, will be awarded “damages adequate to compensate for the infringement, but in no event less than a reasonable…
Patent Links and Articles To Read By The Fire
by Josh Landau •
While it might not be as cold this New Year’s as it was last year, that doesn’t mean you can’t settle in to read by the fire. And what better to read about than patents? Here’s what I’ll be taking a look at over New Year’s. Time and the Patent Office First, Professors Michael Frakes…
Don’t Buy Into Qualcomm’s Attempts To Distract From Its Anti-Competitive Behavior
by Josh Landau •
There’s been a lot of discussion about Qualcomm’s recent Chinese injunction against Apple. But that’s a distraction—the real story is, and remains, the trio of lawsuits against Qualcomm for anti-competitive practices that will be conducted over the first half of 2019. First, in January, the Federal Trade Commission’s lawsuit. Next, in April, Apple’s lawsuit. And…