IP & Technology Law Trends
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Supreme Court Makes Recovery of Treble Damages Easier in Patent Cases: Halo Electronics, Inc. v. Pulse Electronics, Inc.
In what is becoming a trend, the United States Supreme Court on Monday overturned longstanding Federal Circuit precedent, with the result that it should now be easier for a successful litigant to recover treble damages for pursuing patent infringemen...
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What is "Actual Notice"? The Federal Circuit Weighs in for Purposes of Pre-Issuance Patent Damages Under 35 U.S.C. 154(d)
Since 1999, U.S. patent law provides for pre-issuance patent damages of a reasonable royalty measured as far back as the date of the patent publication date (of the issued patent) if: (1) the published patent claims are substantially identical to the...
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Justice Scalia and the Court's Patent Case Docket
The weekend's news about Justice Antonin Scalia's passing was a shocker. Justice Scalia always appeared so vigorous that he seemed much younger than his 79 years. His high level of legal scholarship was always on display. Justice Scalia was nothing i...
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The Tortoise and the Hare: New USPTO Pilot Program Aims to Give the Tortoise a Little Boost
The U.S. patent system presents an interesting "tortoise and hare" dichotomy in which the pace of innovation and market forces continues to accelerate, thanks in part to the AIA switchover to a “first-to-file” system, while the USPTO struggles to kee...
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Suspicious Solicitations: Give “USPTO” Notices a Proper Sniff Test
Intellectual property is a valuable asset for any company or individual, and getting a patent or trademark application on file, and eventually granted, can be an exciting time. It is a paperwork-intensive process (notwithstanding that most U.S. filin...
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Patent Licenses (Still) Cannot Extend Beyond the Term of a Patent's Expiration. But Look at What You Can Do in Tech Licenses.
The hard and fast rule in patent licensing is that demanding patent royalties for a patent that has expired is void against public policy. That was the rule established a half a century ago in Brulotte v. Thys Co. And that is still the rule after the...
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