On Friday July 9, 2010, NTP Inc. filed patent infringement suits against six major smartphone companies.  NTP is suing Apple, Google, HTC, LG Electronics, Microsoft, and Motorola over eight NTP Inc. patents which relate to wireless e-mail delivery.  NTP is a patent holding company or also known as a “non-practicing entity.”  A non-practicing entity does [...]

Filed under: Alive Patents, In the Courts, Patent by brandond
No Comments »

On June 28, 2010, the Supreme Court of the United States released a long-awaited opinion regarding the patentability of business method patents.  The Supreme Court upheld a decision which found a process for hedging commodities was non-patentable subject matter.  In 1997, Bernard Bilski and Rand Warsaw filed a patent application for a procedure for hedging [...]

Filed under: In the Courts, In the USPTO, Patent, Uncategorized by brandond
No Comments »

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USTPO) is requesting comments and input from the general public about a potential multi-track examination initiative.  The proposed “Three Track” initiative will give applicants better control over their examination process while increasing efficiency in the Patent Office.   The proposed “Three Track” initiative would classify examination tracks in three [...]

Filed under: Events, In the USPTO, Miscellaneous, Patent by brandond
No Comments »

On Friday, May 14, 2010, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit announced that it would grant an ‘en banc’ hearing of the TiVo v. Echostar case.  An ‘en banc’ hearing is a decision made by all the judges of a court, where typically only a panel of three judges hear an [...]

Filed under: Alive Patents, Events, In the Courts, Patent by brandond
No Comments »

Recently, U.S. District Court Judge Garrett Brown rejected the argument made by Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. that the patent covering the main ingredient in Merck & Co.’s asthma and allergy treatment drug Singulair® was invalid or unenforceable. The patent that covers Singulair’s® main ingredient is U.S. Patent No. 5,565,473 and can be viewed at Google [...]

Filed under: Alive Patents, In the Courts, Patent by davidi
Comments Off

On August 11, 2009, a United States District Court Judge in the Eastern District of Texas ordered Microsoft to stop selling Microsoft Word.  Judge Leonard Davis ordered the permanent injunction because Microsoft Word is infringing a patent to I4I or Infrastructures for Information Inc., namely,U.S. Patent No. 5,787,449, which is titled “Method and system for [...]

Filed under: In the Courts, Patent by brandond
No Comments »

After the announcement that David Kappos was nominated for the Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), there has been much speculation about possible reform programs that Kappos may enact.  The USTPO faces a few major problems due to the increase in applications and complexity of technology.  The USPTO is backlogged with [...]

Filed under: Dead Patents, In Congress, In the USPTO, International Patent, Miscellaneous, Patent, Trademark by brandond
No Comments »

A technological battle erupted between Palm and Apple.  Apple’s iPhone shook the economy when it was released two years ago with its multi-touch screen and unlimited capabilities.  Palm quickly hired ex-Apple employees in an attempt to compete with the iPhone and cash in on high demand for all-in-one mobile devices.  Palm released the Precentral (Pre) [...]

Filed under: Alive Patents, Patent by brandond
No Comments »

On July 16, 2009, the Global Intellectual Property Center (“the GIPC”) released a comprehensive study on the importance of intellectual property and innovation in America. The GIPC is an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The GIPC’s mission is to “champion intellectual property as vital to creating jobs, saving lives, advancing global economic growth, [...]

Filed under: Alive Patents, Dead Patents, Patent by davidi
Comments Off

On July 6, 2009, the U.S. Patent and Trademark office will establish a Patent Prosecution Highway (“PPH”) pilot program with the National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland. A PPH agreement between two countries’ patent offices allows an applicant to request accelerated processing of their patent application at one Patent Office when the second [...]

Filed under: In the USPTO, International Patent, Patent by davidi
Comments Off