Last Friday, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in WesternGeco v. ION Geophysical. Essentially, the case asks whether, when components for a patented process or machine are manufactured in the U.S. and combined or used abroad, the profits lost due to the foreign activities can be considered lost profits and awarded as damages under U.S. patent…
Tag Archive for Supreme Court
A Big Day For The PTO—And A Good Day
by Josh Landau •
On Monday, the Supreme Court heard arguments in two separate cases regarding inter partes review (IPR)—Oil States v. Greene’s Energy and SAS Institute v. Matal. In both Oil States and SAS, the Court appears to be sympathetic to the Patent Office’s arguments—and that’s good for everyone. Oil States The Oil States case focuses on whether…
The Special Nature Of Venue In Patent Law
by Josh Landau •
TC Heartland continues to impact the world of patent litigation. I haven’t run the numbers yet on what’s happened since the decision came down, but just having read through the list of cases filed, the Eastern District of Texas certainly has seen a reduction in cases filed. Tomorrow morning, the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on…
Guest Post: How TC Heartland May Affect District Court Filings: A Quantitative Assessment
by Unified Patents •
This guest post was authored by Shawn Ambwani and Robert Jain. Shawn Ambwani is the COO and co-founder of Unified Patents. Robert Jain is an attorney at Unified Patents. This post provides a quantitative prediction of how TC Heartland may impact where patent litigation is filed, a topic I recently wrote about. Summary TC Heartland…
TC Heartland Attacks The Heart Of Patent Forum Shopping
by Josh Landau •
The Supreme Court decided TC Heartland v. Kraft on Monday. The decision addresses a procedural point with huge effects on patent litigation. The Problem The basic problem before this case was that it was very easy to pick the court you wanted to sue someone in; it’s called “forum shopping.” And (if you’re a…
SCOTUS Taking Case On Partial Institution Of IPRs
by Josh Landau •
One of the biggest changes coming out of the 2011 America Invents Act (AIA) was the creation of the inter partes review (IPR) procedure, which allows people to challenge the validity of patents after they’ve issued. Today, the Supreme Court granted certiorari to determine whether an IPR can be “instituted” on only some of the…
Samsung v. Apple: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Court
by Matt Levy •
(Cross-posted at Huffington Post) A funny thing happened on the way to the Supreme Court in yesterday’s Samsung v. Apple design patent dispute. The high court was expected to review the lower court’s award of the entire profits made for 11 different smartphone models — just under $400 million. Coming into the argument, it looked…
A Quick Update on Commil v. Cisco
by Matt Levy •
Oral argument in Commil v. Cisco was held this morning. You can get the transcript here, and read all of the briefs here. I’m speaking on a panel about the case this afternoon at American University. Here’s a quick summary: Commil is a patent troll that sued Cisco for inducing infringement of its patent that…
Alice Corp. Oral Argument Goes to the Dogs
by Matt Levy •
This video was inspired by John Oliver’s Real Animals, Fake Paws project. You can hear the full audio of the oral argument here.
Supreme Court Helps Rein In Patent Trolls, Legislation Still Needed
by Matt Levy •
It’s another big day in patent law, as the Supreme Court issued decisions in two fee-shifting cases: Octane Fitness and Highmark. The Federal Circuit’s opinions were unanimously rejected in both cases, continuing a pattern I noted a few weeks ago. But most importantly, the Supreme Court recognized the importance of fee-shifting in curbing abusive litigation.…