Guest Post
Using the Full Powers of the FTC to Combat Patent Trolls
A century ago there was a lively debate in Congress over the enforcement of the antitrust laws. Much of the 1912 presidential campaign had focused on the lack of effective antitrust enforcement by t...
Actavis Case Shows Weak Patents Are System-Wide
Last week the Supreme Court heard arguments in FTC v. Actavis (transcript here). This case concerns a topic not normally covered on Patent Progress – pharmaceutical patents. Pharmaceutical patents a...
Mobile-Related Patents Are Increasing: One in Four Patents Issued Last Year Pertain to the Smartphone
(Cross Post on DisCo)
A few months ago, I pointed out that approximately ⅙ of all active patents (roughly 250,000) read on the smartphone. If you estimate that each patent has 20 claims, that is...
Edith Ramirez is a Fantastic Choice for FTC Chairman
On February 28th the White House announced that President Obama has selected current Commissioner Edith Ramirez as the new Chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission. Chairwoman Ramirez is an excell...
Judge Koh Cuts Apple’s Award Nearly in Half
Despite agreeing with Apple that a court is required “to give great deference to jury awards, and to uphold them where they are supportable by evidence in the record” Judge Koh found that the jury...
Five Employees, Six Lawyers: The Problem with Software Patents
It’s the tech startup dream: coming up with a great idea, raising funding to make it a reality, gaining users, hiring a first, second, and third employee. Hiring just as many lawyers.
When a startu...
Patent Trolls Stifle Innovation
Over the last several months, we have been vocal in our calls for software patent reform to put an end to the threat of lawsuits on behalf of patent assertion entities (PAEs), more commonly known as p...
Patent Troll Panel Important for Competition Policy
CCIA is hosting an important event on Thursday, February 28th entitled “How Patent Trolls are Harming Innovation.” The event will take place in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, and will featu...
“The Black Box is Never Described”: CLS Tries to Teach the Federal Circuit the Difference Between Methods Claims and Systems Claims, and about Abstract Ideas
For those who are interested, a reader has shared a transcript of the oral arguments in CLS Bank v. Alice en banc at the Federal Circuit. As we have written, a lot is at stake in this case as it tak...