Today, staff from Senators Tillis and Coons will sit in a room with a group of stakeholders—primarily patent lawyers and lawyers from the pharmaceutical industry—and discuss their recently released draft for a § 101 bill. That draft bill reflects little of the careful input that has been provided to the Senators over the course of the…
Blog Posts
Judge Koh: Qualcomm’s Licensing Practices Destroyed Competition, Harmed Consumers
by Josh Landau •
Late yesterday evening, Judge Koh issued her anxiously-awaited ruling in the FTC v. Qualcomm litigation. The 233-page opinion extensively describes Qualcomm’s anti-competitive conduct, how it has harmed both existing and potential competitors as well as consumers, and how that conduct has ultimately harmed competition in the LTE and 5G markets. It would normally be hard…
The Federal Circuit On The Public Notice Function Of Patents
by Josh Landau •
On Wednesday, the Federal Circuit issued its decision in Amgen, Inc. v. Sandoz, Inc. The decision—mostly focused on the specifics of certain biosimilar production claims—also includes a brief discussion that illustrates one of the reasons that many of the patents issued by the USPTO create a chilling effect on public innovation.
Massachusetts Re-Introduces Bad Faith Demand Letter Bill
by Josh Landau •
Across the United States, two-thirds of all states have introduced legislation that targets bad faith patent assertion by entities like MPHJ and Shipping and Transit. Massachusetts State Sen. Eric Lesser and State Rep. Lori Ehrlich are trying to make Massachusetts the most recent state to join this club.
Anything Qualcomm Can Do, Huawei Can Do (Better?)
by Josh Landau •
With the settlement of the Apple-Qualcomm litigation, the fate of the FTC’s litigation against Qualcomm has become the next topic of interest in the standard-essential patent (SEP) sphere. There are a host of reasons why the FTC shouldn’t settle that relate to concerns about Qualcomm’s behavior and its impact on competition and consumers. But beyond…
The Federal Circuit Goes Through The Looking Glass
by Josh Landau •
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.”
Apple, Qualcomm Settle—But That Doesn’t Mean The FTC Should
by Josh Landau •
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 •
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 •
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 •
Thomas Jefferson neatly summarized the core of the debate on at least one aspect of patentable subject matter, over 200 years ago.