Category Archives: Developing Law

Dallas Court of Appeals Rules That Texas Does Not Recognize Patent Agent Privilege

Posted on September 28, 2016 by Steven Callahan

On August 17, 2016, the Dallas Court of Appeals, in In re Silver, 05-16-00774-CV, 2016 WL 4386004 (Tex. App.—Dallas Aug. 17, 2016, no. pet. h.), found that the State of Texas does not recognize a patent-agent privilege, because “[n]o Texas … Continue reading →

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Supreme Court Clarifies When An Award Of Attorney’s Fees Is Proper Under The Copyright Act

Posted on August 27, 2016 by Steven Callahan

On June 16, 2016, the Supreme Court issued its unanimous opinion in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (available here). Section 505 of the Copyright Act states that a district court “may . . . award a reasonable attorney’s … Continue reading →

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Supreme Court Upholds “Broadest Reasonable Construction” Standard in Inter Partes Reviews

Posted on July 26, 2016 by Steven Callahan

On June 20, 2016, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Cuozzo Speed Technologies, LLC v. Lee (available here). The decision had two notable holdings. First, the Supreme Court held that the Patent Office could properly implement its regulation that, … Continue reading →

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Federal Defend Trade Secrets Act Now In Effect

Posted on July 26, 2016 by Steven Callahan

Effective May 11, 2016, the United States enacted the Defend Trade Secrets Act, which provided, for the first time, a federal cause of action for trade secret misappropriation. Notable provisions of the Act include those: Providing for a private civil … Continue reading →

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Supreme Court Unanimously Rejects Federal Circuit’s Enhanced Damages Standard For Patent Infringement

Posted on June 15, 2016 by Steven Callahan

On June 13, 2016, the Supreme Court issued its unanimous opinion in Halo Electronics v. Pulse Electronics (available here). Halo rejected the Federal Circuit’s Seagate test for enhanced damages. The Patent Act specifies that, in cases of infringement, “the court … Continue reading →

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Federal Circuit Says Laches Defense Still Applicable To Patent Cases

Posted on September 21, 2015 by Steven Callahan

On Friday, a fractured Federal Circuit issued its decision in SCA Hygiene v. First Quality Baby Products (available here). The Federal Circuit sat en banc and held that, notwithstanding the Supreme Court’s Petrella decision (which I discussed here), laches is … Continue reading →

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Rutherford Federal Rules Amendments CLE (Part 3)

Posted on July 21, 2015 by Steven Callahan

This post concludes our discussion of Rebecca Rutherford’s CLE on the amended federal rules, presented on June 2, 2015. Our first post, covering the changes to Rule 26, can be found here. Our second post, addressing the changes to Rule … Continue reading →

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Rutherford Federal Rules Amendments CLE (Part 2)

Posted on June 17, 2015 by Steven Callahan

This post continues our discussion of Rebecca Rutherford’s excellent CLE on the amended federal rules, presented on June 2, 2015. Our first post, covering the changes to Rule 26, can be found here. This post addresses the second portion of … Continue reading →

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Supreme Court Rules Belief Of Invalidity Is Not A Defense To An Induced Infringement Claim

Posted on May 27, 2015 by Steven Callahan

Yesterday, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Commil v. Cisco (available here). The Court reversed the Federal Circuit, and held that a defendant’s belief regarding patent validity is not a defense to a claim of induced infringement. This is … Continue reading →

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Alice: The Death of Software-Related Patents?

Posted on May 1, 2015 by Steven Callahan

In June 2014, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Alice Corp. Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank Int’l, 134 S. Ct. 2347 (2014) (available here). At issue was whether the patents-in-suit—which disclosed a computer-implemented scheme for mitigating “settlement risk” (the … Continue reading →

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