As we previously reported, the Senate Judiciary Committee has postponed a vote on proposed patent litigation reform legislation several times. Now, the Senate is tabling the issue altogether due to an apparent lack of bi-partisan support for the provisions in the bill. On Wednesday, Senator Leahy, the bill’s sponsor, announced that “there has
Non-Practicing Entities
FTC revises and seeks comment on proposed “Patent Assertion Entity” study
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) recently published a Federal Register notice seeking additional public comments on the FTC’s proposed collection of information about Patent Assertion Entities (“PAEs”) (see our Sep. 27, 2013 post about the FTC’s first notice about the PAE study). Public comments are due by June 18, 2014.
Generally. In this notice,…
Patent Case Alert: Supreme Court adopts more flexible, deferential test for attorney fee shifting in patent cases (Octane Fitness and Highmark)
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued two opinions (Octane Fitness and Highmark) that create a more flexible, deferential standard for determining what constitutes an “exceptional” patent case in which a district court has discretion to award reasonable attorney’s fees to the prevailing party. The Court rejected the Federal Circuit’s rigid test that required…
Back to state court: Vermont’s unfair competition suit premised solely on state law
After being removed to federal district court last May, the Vermont Attorney General’s suit against non-practicing entity MPHJ is being sent back to state court. The decision holds that the AG’s unfair competition claims arising from MPHJ’s patent enforcement efforts belong in state court and raises the question of whether other patent demand letter jurisprudence …
Senate postpones vote on patent reform bill until after recess
The Senate Judiciary Committee was scheduled to mark-up and vote on the Patent Transparency and Improvements Act of 2013 last Thursday but again postponed the vote until after the Senate recess. The mark-up and vote have been postponed several times before. As we discussed in a prior post, the bill, if passed would require…
Update on patent litigation reform legislation
Hopefully the current patent reform effort to address perceived patent litigation abuse problems will result in carefully targeted tweaks to–without harming–our otherwise thriving U.S. patent system, the greatest system for innovation that the world has ever known (see our Patent Forest post). The Senate is currently considering this balance. The Senate Judiciary Committee was…
Senate Judiciary Committee to Debate Bipartisan Patent Reform Legislation
As we discussed in a prior post, the U.S. Senate is currently debating a patent reform bill (“the Innovation Act”) passed by the House of Representatives late last year directed to perceived patent litigation abuse by certain patent assertion entities (what some characterize as “patent trolls”). The Senate is also debating a competing bill…
SanDisk sues PAE Round Rock for antitrust violations, breach of contract involving enforcement of former Micron patents
SanDisk brought suit against Round Rock Research in the District of Delaware last week, alleging that the patent assertion entity’s acquisition and enforcement of standard essential patents previously held by Micron Technology has violated federal and state antitrust laws and breached contractual commitments to license the patents on RAND terms. The action, Sandisk Corporation v.
Wisconsin Passes Bill Targeting Bad Faith Assertions of Patent Infringement
Last week, the Wisconsin state Assembly voted to approve a bill designed to rein in abusive assertions of patent infringement against companies doing business in Wisconsin and their customers. The bill was approved by the Wisconsin state Senate earlier this month, and will now be presented to the governor for signature.
As we discusssed in…
FTC moves to dismiss patent assertion entity MPHJ’s complaint in W.D. Tex.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) moved to dismiss patent monetization entity MPHJ’s W.D. Tex. complaint on Monday, alleging that the court lacks jurisdiction over the matter. Back in January 2014, MPHJ filed a complaint against the FTC in W.D. Tex., preemptively seeking to prevent an enforcement action threatened by the FTC. The FTC’s enforcement…