The multitude of multiple defendants in patent infringement suits continue to increase on a daily basis. But some district courts are putting a stop to the practice, at least in certain circumstances, by severing defendants that are misjoined. In a recent case in the Central District of California, the court…
The Federal Circuit’s recent decisions on the assignment of future inventions have drawn a sharp distinction in what would appear to be minor difference in language that have major consequences and significance to ownership. The language turns on the difference in the phrase “agree to assign” and the phrase “do…
On April 7, 2011, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin denied plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment of direct infringement. Plaintiff’s patent, focused on graphics cutting, contained method claims that the district court concluded were not directly infringed. The district court concluded that even if defendant’s…
On April 20, 2011, the Federal Circuit sitting en banc vacated a $110 million damage award against Dish Network Corp. and EchoStar Corp. The Court rejected its two-step test that had been used to determine infringement of a redesigned product in a contempt hearing and instead adopted a single-step test…
Due diligence is an important part of acquiring patents and intellectual property, but community property laws are often overlooked in this process. Companies, when acquiring inventions from inventors or from small, closely-held companies, should carefully review the ownership of the patents to determine whether a spouse or former spouse of…
On March 31, 2011, the United District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (Judge Ward) entered a judgment against Johnson & Johnson and Cordis Corporation in the amount of $583 million. The judgment stems from a patent infringement action filed by Bruce Saffran, M.D., Ph.D. against Johnson & Johnson…
On April 12, 2011, the Federal Circuit rejected McKesson Technologies Inc.’s suit for patent infringement against Epic Systems Corporation. McKesson Technologies Inc. v. Epic Systems. Corp., Case No. 2010-1291 (Fed. Cir. April 12, 2011). The Federal Circuit rejected McKesson’s claim for patent infringement because McKesson could not prove that one…
The assignment provisions in employment agreements have taken on added importance with recent case law from the Federal Circuit. The Federal Circuit’s decision in Stanford University v. Roche, 583 F.3d 832 (Fed. Cir. 2009), drew a sharp distinction between language in assignment provisions focusing on the difference between “agree to…
On April 4, 2011, the District Court for the Eastern District of Texas set aside a jury verdict of $625 million in favor of Mirror Worlds and against Apple, Inc. Mirror Worlds, LLC v. Apple, Inc., Case No. 6-08-CV-88 (E.D. Tex. April 4, 2011) (Judge Davis). The Court set aside…
On April 1, 2011, the Federal Circuit issued another decision regarding the written description requirement. In Crown Packaging v. Ball Metal, No. 2010-1020 (Fed. Cir. April 1, 2011), the Federal Circuit analyzed a district court’s decision holding that certain claims of the Crown patent were invalid for violating the written…