Standard essential patents (SEPs) are in the news today in a couple ways. First, the EU antitrust authorities fined Qualcomm $1.2 billion over conduct that involved locking Apple into an exclusive supplier arrangement in order to harm competing baseband chipset makers. The EU investigation isn’t the only place Qualcomm’s anti-competitive conduct is being challenged; they’ve…
Tag Archive for FTC
IPR Successes: Scan-To-Email Defeated By Scanner Makers
by Josh Landau •
In the pantheon of infamous patent trolls, MPHJ is near the top. MPHJ drew attention for their habit of mailing demand letters to anyone they thought might possibly have infringed their scan-to-email patent. This drew so much attention that, ultimately, they were sued by Vermont’s State Attorney General. MPHJ’s tactics were also one of the…
Leaping Dismissal With A Single Order, It’s FTC v. Qualcomm!
by Josh Landau •
Monday, Judge Koh issued an order denying Qualcomm’s motion to dismiss in the FTC v. Qualcomm lawsuit. This is just the first step in the lawsuit, but there are some pretty important signals buried in this order. Motions To Dismiss A motion to dismiss is a request, filed by one side or the other and…
Apple v. Qualcomm – Double Dipping and Breaking Promises
by Josh Landau •
Back in January, Patent Progress wrote about lawsuits filed against Qualcomm by the FTC and by Apple. Today, Apple filed an amended complaint against Qualcomm, based in part on new law resulting from the Supreme Court’s Lexmark decision on patent exhaustion. A High Water Lexmark In Patent Exhaustion The Lexmark case, while important, is actually…
Why No One Should Listen to Qualcomm About Patents
by Matt Levy •
Qualcomm is a major opponent, perhaps the strongest opponent, of patent litigation reform. It’s becoming pretty obvious why. A few weeks ago, the Korean Fair Trade Commission went after Qualcomm for its anti-competitive licensing practices. This time, it’s the U.S. Federal Trade Commission going after Qualcomm for its licensing practices. I wrote about the KFTC…
David Balto on Why the FTC Should Release an Interim Report on Patent Trolls
by Matt Levy •
David Balto (a regular contributor here at Patent Progress) has a great piece at The Hill’s website. It’s definitely a must read.
FTC Commissioner Brill Says, Don’t Wait to Do Patent Reform
by Matt Levy •
Today, CCIA and AAI co-sponsored a great event at the National Press Club, “Scrutinizing Patent Trolls: What Competition Enforcers Are Doing.” If you missed it, you can watch the webcast. FTC Commissioner Julie Brill gave a terrific keynote address, highlighting the fact that the FTC was founded 100 years ago and giving a fascinating history…
FTC 6(b) Study on Patent Trolls Cleared by OMB, It’s Time to Serve Subpoenas
by Matt Levy •
This past Friday, the FTC received OMB approval to go ahead with the 6(b) study on patent assertion entities. It’s been a long time coming, but the FTC did a thorough job of gathering feedback from everyone with an interest in the study. The questionnaires are solid. Now that the last hurdle has been cleared, the FTC should move…
FTC Streamlines Patent Troll Study
by David Balto •
Yesterday the FTC announced that it has updated its proposed study on patent trolls and is sending the proposed study to OMB for approval. Not surprisingly the public overwhelmingly supported the study and no commenter opposed it. However, some commenters expressed concerns about the volume of information requested and the burden on businesses that would…
MPHJ Aims at FTC, Shoots Foot?
by Matt Levy •
MPHJ is probably the most notorious bottom feeder troll, threatening thousands of small businesses who might own scanners that scan documents and email them. It’s been so active that it’s drawn fire from the attorneys general in Vermont, Minnesota, and Nebraska. New York recently joined the fray, negotiating a settlement with MPHJ that requires the…