Category Archives: Developing Law

Chief Judge Rader’s NY Times Op-Ed Piece on Patent Trolls

Chief Judge Rader of the Federal Circuit has written an op-ed piece (available here) in The NY Times titled “Make Patent Trolls Pay in Court.” While I don’t agree with everything in the article, it’s certainly a worthwhile read to … Continue reading

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Supreme Court Issues Its Bowman v. Monsanto Decision

On May 13, 2013, the Supreme Court decide Bowman v. Monsanto (decision available here). The Supreme Court unanimously held that an authorized sale of a patented seed does not authorize the buyer of the seed to reproduce the seeds through … Continue reading

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Supreme Court Rules Legal Malpractice Cases Involving Patent Cases Belong In State Court

On February 20, 2013, the Supreme Court issued its decision (available here) in Gunn v. Minton. The long and the short of the decision is that legal malpractice cases involving allegations that attorneys botched patent infringement proceedings will have to … Continue reading

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Judge Ferguson Issues Order Requiring Additional Expert Damages Analysis In Patent Infringement Lawsuit

On January 25, 2013, Judge Ferguson issued an Order (available here) in Axcess International v. Savi Technologies. As background for the Order, Judge Ferguson noted: After the pretrial hearing on Friday, January 4, 2012, the Court considered the issues relating … Continue reading

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Chief Judge Davis Issues Groundbreaking Patent Infringement Post-AIA Opinion Dealing with Joinder, Severance, and Transfer Issues

On August 10, 2012, Chief Judge Davis of the Eastern District of Texas, as first reported by Michael Smith, issued a groundbreaking opinion in the patent case Norman IP Holdings v. Lexmark International (available here) that should be read by … Continue reading

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Posner on Too Many Patents

Judge Posner, of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, has written an article in The Atlantic titled “Why There Are Too Many Patents in America.”  We disagree with much of his opinions expressed in the article, but it is an … Continue reading

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Patent Infringement Litigation: Can You Keep A Case In The Eastern District of Texas?

In the old days, once you rounded up patent infringers, you could (in nearly all cases) file a lawsuit in the Eastern District of Texas without much fear that it would be transferred out of the District.  After all, cases … Continue reading

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Patent Infringement Litigation: Proving Reasonable Royalty Damages Gets Much Harder

“Upon finding for the [patent holder] the court shall award the [patent holder] damages adequate to compensate for the infringement, but in no event less than a reasonable royalty for the use made of the invention by the infringer[.]”  35 … Continue reading

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Patent Infringement Litigation: Obtaining an Injunction Gets Much Harder

In the old days, if you proved that a defendant infringed your patent, you were nearly always entitled to an injunction prohibiting the defendant from continuing to infringe.  According to the Federal Circuit, “[b]ecause the ‘right to exclude recognized in … Continue reading

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Patent Infringement Litigation: Obviousness Gets Much Easier to Prove

An inventor cannot obtain a patent “if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was … Continue reading

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