Patent Law Bits and Bytes: Holiday Cheer

  • Attorney Marketing professional Robert Denney publishes an annual year-end report entitled "What's Hot and What's Not in the Legal Profession." First on his list for What's Hot: Intellectual Property. Not only litigation. Patent prosecution is heating up again. [LINK]
  • One of the more interesting aspects of the recent i4i decision involved the Federal Circuit's interpretation of the first eBay factor: that the patentee "has suffered an irreparable injury." The court held that evidence of past irreparable harm is sufficient to satisfy the requirement of the first factor since the term "has suffered" indicates a past event. [Link] This is only odd because a primary purpose of equitable relief is to prevent future harm.
  • Judge Rader will be riding circuit next year. He is scheduled to preside over the patent infringement trials for three Eastern District of Texas Cases. (Based on pacer documents and a preliminary report by Michael Smith.)
  • Widevine v. Merimatrix, Case No. 07–cv-0321; Patent No. 7,165,175.
  • Performance Pricing v. Google, Case No. 07–cv-0432; Patent No. 6,978,253.
  • IP Innovation v. Red Hat & Novell, Case No. 07–cv-0447; Patent Nos. 5,072,412 and 5,394,521.

47 thoughts on “Patent Law Bits and Bytes: Holiday Cheer

  1. 45

    HelloPropagandaFighter,

    This may be abstract thinking, but do you think our IP industry and its problems are a microcosm of our nation’s political and financial turmoil?, and/or the continued corruption of our Constitution?

  2. 44

    Thank you Terry Cole for your contribution.

    Colin Powell, now he’s a real Presidential candidate!

  3. 43

    The Colin Powell story above is true in its essential points. See Snopes.

    I’m not a United Statesian, but it’s clear there are some complexities which render most of the criticisms moot. For example, Powell did not actually use the words “beyond our borders”; he spoke of hard power “beyond our shores”, ie. Overseas, which the Mexican-American war was not.

    Whether the US or the Mexicans started that is a matter for debate, but certainly when the US Congress declared war they believed that the Mexicans had invaded the US (and killed several US troopers doing it). Which is not to say that the US didn’t grab lots of land afterwards.

  4. 41

    Hi Again PropagandaFighter,

    Oops, my sentence structure above was lacking something — here is an inprovement:

    Had you followed my dialogue will Lionel, wherein [he made it clear he thought it was “real American,” and he was proud of] his insensitivity and inability to empathize with New Yorkers’ and others’ horrified reaction to Obama having announced that the terrorists will be tried in lower Manhattan next to where our Twin Towers stood, perhaps you’d have appreciated my perspective.

    Lionel was only concerned with the “fairness” to the phuckin’ terrorists. What a dolt!

  5. 40

    Hi PropagandaFighter,

    Thanks for your additional comment.

    Had you followed my dialogue will Lionel, wherein his insensitivity and inability to empathize with New Yorkers’ and others’ horrified reaction to Obama having announced that the terrorists will be tried in lower Manhattan next to where our Twin Towers stood, perhaps you’d have appreciated my perspective.

    Asswhole Lionel was only concerned with the “fairness” to the phuckin’ terrorists.

  6. 39

    JAOI,

    Nope not Lionel. Just a concerned US citizen. By the way, can you respond with reasoned argument or just ad hominems? Why does criticizing your posts mean i don’t have a life?

    I respect and appreciate your perspective on many of your IP-related comments, but wish you use some other and more appropriate forum for your political views.

    Thanks.

  7. 38

    Lionel,

    I smell a rat — is that you signing as PropagandaFighter?

    Be that as it may, whoever wrote the above is forbidden from reading any more of my posts, jingoistic or not.

    Problem solved. And, by the way, get a life — you’ll thank me in the morning.

  8. 37

    JAOI,

    Please keep your jingoistic posts to yourself. They are inappropriate for this blog and are not welcomed.

    Regarding Mr. Powell’s statement, empire building can take many more forms than simple land grabbing, which went out of fashion a century ago. The US simply opens a country’s markets to US companies.

    In any event, the amount of land “to bury those that did not return” would be nowhere near enough to bury the innocent victims killed by US military operations in Cambodia, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc…

    We have not fought a war for “freedom beyond our borders” since WWII (as most of your stories reference). Any rational person can see the disconnect between the US supporting Hussein in the 80s and toppling him in 00s. Only the blissfully ignorant view the Iraq occupation as a freedom building operation.

    In your second post criticizing Mr. Hutz, you never offer any factual information, but rather resort to ad hominem attacks and a false dichotomy: america, love it or leave it!

    “What would you do with those who have
    (i)“taken credit” for the cruelest attack
    on our nation, in the name of God no less”

    if US foreign policy quit meddling in the middle east before those attacks, they probably would not have happened to begin with.

    I dare you to listen to or watch any program by John Pilger or read Pirates and Emperors or Manufacturing Consent by Chomsky.

    Or just live contently with your “america is the greatest” information filter.

  9. 35

    “Patent prosecution is hot again? Someone has failed to inform my clients.”

    I went to the website and ordered the report. I hope that, after reading the report, I will see more cause for optimism than I currently see.

  10. 34

    “Patent prosecution is hot again? Someone has failed to inform my clients.”

    Agree completely. Moreover, I do not think patent prosecution will ever be as “hot” as it was even a couple years ago. Too many (patent) lawyers these days with nothing to do.

  11. 33

    “Patent prosecution is hot again”
    Are the rest of Mr. Denney’s observations of similar value? Seriously – here we are, closing out a decade in just a few days. How many of you believe that patents are perceived to be as worth getting at the close of 2009 as they were at the end of 1999? Dennis, lots of us would love to be mistaken in our pessimism. Please help us out if you can.

  12. 32

    “Patent prosecution is hot again? Someone has failed to inform my clients.”

    co-sign

    my worst year in many decades

  13. 29

    Hell-o
    Lion-el:

    Re: Your two consecutive posts:

    “More Jingoistic posts from JAOI. Apparently, he’s never been to France.”
    and:
    “Yeah, the USA is so superior to France! Well, except for their healthcare system, educational system, economic mobility…
    Whys is it that the ignorant feel the need to display their ignorance so often.”

    Lionel, are you under the impression that:
    (a) I wouldn’t show you to be an ignorant fool yet again, and
    (b) that I wouldn’t challenge your comment regarding France’s superiority to the USA ??

    Wow, what a dope you are! How can you live in such shame?, I’ll never know.

  14. 25

    Hell-o
    Lionel,

    Re:
    “Whys is it that the ignorant feel the need to display their ignorance so often.”

    You my ex-fiend, are a glutton for abuse … Please enjoy one of my past posts:

    Re:
    “To answer your specific question JAOI, i think NYC is probably a hostile venue, so yes the terrorists should probably be tried elsewhere to obtain a fair trial. Is that what you were looking for? The fact that I believe most of these guys haven’t confesses so much as taken credit, mitigates my concern on that front.”

    I have had it with you —
    you are no longer my friend you son of a witch.
    You Just do not get it!

    What would you do with those who have
    (i)“taken credit” for the cruelest attack
    on our nation, in the name of God no less, and
    (ii) others who sympathize with the phucking terrorists?

    You may consider yourself a “real American,”
    but, with all due disrespect,
    I consider you a good-for-nothing bum.

    O’ Lord, hear my prayer.
    link to youtube.com

    God Bless America!
    God Bless America!
    God Bless America!

    Posted by: Just an ordinary inventor(TM) | Nov 22, 2009 at 11:20 AM

  15. 22

    Yeah, the USA is so superior to France! Well, except for their healthcare system, educational system, economic mobility…

    Whys is it that the ignorant feel the need to display their ignorance so often.

  16. 19

    “…he job market for IP lawyers certainly does not seem to reflect that.”

    With all due respect Robert, maybe its just you. And please note that the piece said “patent prosecution is heating up again.” This does not necessarily equate to “IP” lawyers.

  17. 17

    “teabaggers”

    Mooney, please keep your bizzare practice preferences to yourself.

  18. 16

    I’m not sure that I buy the notion that IP is “hot” again. The job market for IP lawyers certainly does not seem to reflect that.

  19. 15

    Bless you, every one, irrespective of race, gender, spiritual belief system or political affiliation

    Judge not lest ye be yourself judged, and do unto others as ye would have others do unto ye

    Love is the Law
    Love Under Will
    Peace
    Harmony

  20. 14

    such dichotomy from Robin – jaded at seeing “enough of [these]”, yet clamoring to go back to the first day of law school and asking us to enjoy the festive period at the same time hinting of sardonic easy money trolling.

    How do you really feel Robin?

  21. 13

    You know, when you see enough of those viral things, the shine comes off them a bit.
    Interesting to see that a few of our number have taken these ‘quotes’ at face value without first validating their authenticity. If I could just ask them to cast their minds back to their very first day at law school…

    Given the current state of the global economy, is it such a surprise that patent prosecution is ‘heating up again’? I mean, it’s easy money, isn’t it? [spot the holiday troll]

    Enjoy the festive period.

  22. 12

    The above are apparently too far gone into their spiked egg nogg to remember that this is a patent law blog.

    On point, if the injunction in the i4i decision was self-evidently from the other articulated findings the only way i4i could get those who want their sofware to ever buy it from THEM again, i do not 4 see any reason for the CAFC to have to spell that out as “future irreparable harm” in those exact words?

  23. 11

    “Foreign language capability plays a critical role in the Intelligence Community’s ability to protect national security.” link to intelligence.gov

    Ignorance, and the promotion thereof, is a national security risk.

  24. 7

    “i will second the bravo to Just an ordinary inventor and give a rasperry to the schmuck BigGuy – he’s probably french.”

    Or possibly Mexican? Or maybe just an anonymous defender of truth and justice – the real American way?

    Merry Christmas, JAOI!

  25. 4

    i will second the bravo to Just an ordinary inventor and give a rasperry to the schmuck BigGuy – he’s probably french.

    we should have all of our government service workers recognize what service means like our military does.

  26. 3

    “The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.”

    Well, if you don’t count the Mexican-American War, in return for which we asked for (and received) California, Nevada, and new Mexico. But it’s a nice story, nonetheless.

  27. 1

    You could have heard a pin drop.

    When in England , at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by
    the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example
    of empire building’ by George Bush.

    He answered by saying, ‘Over the years, the United
    States has sent many of its fine young men and women
    into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders.
    The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return
    is enough to bury those that did not return.’
    You could have heard a pin drop.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    There was a conference in France where a number of
    international engineers were taking part, including French
    and American. During a break, one of theFrench engineers
    came back into the room saying ‘Have you heard the latest
    dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft
    carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What
    does he intended to do, bomb them?’
    A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly: ‘Our
    carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat several
    hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply
    emergency electrica l power to shore facilities; they
    have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000
    people three meals a day, they can produce several
    thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each
    day, and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in
    transporting victims and injured to and from their flight
    deck. We have eleven such ships; how many does
    France have?’

    You could have heard a pin drop.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference
    that included Admirals from the U.S. , English, Canadian,
    Australian and French Navies. At a cocktail reception,
    he found himself standing with a large group of Officers
    that included personnel from most of those countries.
    Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped
    their drinks but a French admiral suddenly complained that,
    whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans learn
    only English.’ He then asked, ‘Why is it that we always have
    to speak English in these conferences rather than speaking
    French?’
    Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied ‘Maybe
    it’s because the Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans
    arranged it so you wouldn’t have to speak German.’

    You could have heard a pin drop.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in
    Paris by plane. At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his
    passport in his carry on.
    ‘You have been to France before, monsieur?’ the customs officer
    asked sarcastically.
    Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France
    previously .
    Then you should know enough to have your passport ready.’
    The American said, ”The last time I was here, I didn’t have to
    show it.
    ‘Impossible. Americans always have to show your passports
    on arrival in France !’
    The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard
    look. Then he quietly explained, ”Well, when I came ashore
    at Omaha Beach on D-Day in 1944 to help liberate this country,
    I couldn’t find a single Frenchmen to show a passport to.’

    You could have heard a pin drop.

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