Yesterday Judge Whyte issued an Order with tentative rulings on motion’s in limine and Daubert motions for the upcoming Realtek v. LSI trial where the jury will determine (1) a RAND rate, (2) damages based on the court’s prior ruling that LSI breached its RAND obligations by seeking an exclusion order at the ITC before
Ericsson asks ITC Administrative Law Judge David P. Shaw for an express FRAND determination in Samsung cellular/WiFi patent dispute (Inv. No. 337-TA-862)
Ericsson is a company that holds a significant number of standard-essential patents, and often seeks to monetize and enforce them. (They were just awarded infringement damages in Texas, and they’re engaged in an SEP duel with Samsung in the ITC and in Texas). It wasn’t surprising, then, when Ericsson last week suggested a framework for
ITC releases public versions of Initial and Recommended Determinations in Realtek-LSI Section 337 case (Inv. No. 337-TA-837); SEP issues abound
Last month, the ITC issued a Notice of ALJ David P. Shaw’s Final Initial Determination on Violation in In the Matter of Certain Audiovisual Components and Products Containing the Same (Inv. No. 337-TA-837), the investigation into LSI/Agere’s allegations that Realtek and Funai infringed 802.11-essential and H.264-essential patents (as well as one non-SEP). The ITC found
ITC issues public version of recommended determination on remedy and bonding in InterDigital 3G patent case (Inv. No. 337-TA-800)
Earlier this week, the ITC issued the public version of ALJ David P. Shaw’s Initial Determination finding no violation of Section 337 in in In the Matter of Certain Wireless Devices with 3G Capabilities and Components Thereof, Inv. No. 337-TA-800 — the ITC’s investigation into InterDigital’s accusations that Huawei, Nokia, and ZTE infringed several
ITC releases public version of ALJ’s Initial Determination in InterDigital 3G patent case (Inv. No. 337-TA-800)
A month ago, we alerted you to ALJ David P. Shaw’s Initial Determination finding no violation of Section 337 in In the Matter of Certain Wireless Devices with 3G Capabilities and Components Thereof, Inv. No. 337-TA-800 — the ITC’s investigation into InterDigital’s accusations that Huawei, Nokia, and ZTE infringed several 3G-essential InterDigital patents. Yesterday, the ITC finally released the public version of the ~450 page Initial Determination.
[337-TA-800 Initial Determination (PUBLIC)]
As we noted in our post on the parties’ respective petitions for review, while the ALJ found no infringement of any valid patent claims (and therefore no violation of Section 337), he did address the Respondents’ FRAND-related defenses — and made some interesting findings. After the jump, we’ll take a quick look at these findings, which begin on page 417 of the Initial Determination.Continue Reading ITC releases public version of ALJ’s Initial Determination in InterDigital 3G patent case (Inv. No. 337-TA-800)
ITC rules against InterDigital’s claims of 3G-essential patent infringement in preliminary finding
On Friday, U.S. International Trade Commission Administrative Law Judge David P. Shaw issued a Notice of Initial Determination in In the Matter of Certain Wireless Devices with 3G Capabilities and Components Thereof, Inv. No. 337-TA-800. This investigation was originally instituted nearly two years ago based on a complaint filed by InterDigital against Huawei, Nokia, ZTE, and LG, in which InterDigital accused the companies of infringing several InterDigital patents alleged to be essential to various 3G cellular communications standards. The evidentiary hearing was held in January 2013, and the case involves the intersection of a two issues that have drawn a lot of attention lately — the assertion of standard-essential patents at the ITC (and what if any relevance FRAND licensing obligations have to the proceedings), as well as patent infringement cases brought by non-practicing entities (InterDigital is an NPE that has been deemed a “patent troll” by some, while others take a more favorable view of the company’s activities).
So far, it appears that InterDigital’s SEP infringement assertions have failed (at least for now). While the public version of ALJ Shaw’s Initial Determination won’t become available for at least a few weeks, Friday’s Notice indicates that ALJ Shaw found no violations of Section 337 with respect to any of the seven remaining asserted patents.
Continue Reading ITC rules against InterDigital’s claims of 3G-essential patent infringement in preliminary finding
Federal Circuit reverses ITC decision to terminate LG Electronics from InterDigital 3G patent case (337-TA-800)
Later this month, Adminstrative Law Judge David P. Shaw is expected to issue an Initial Determination in In the Matter of Certain Wireless Devices with 3G Capabilities and Components Thereof (Inv. No. 337-TA-800), which is the ITC’s Section 337 investigation into InterDigital’s allegations of 3G-essential patent infringement by Huawei, LG Electronics, Nokia, and ZTE. The upcoming ID, though, will only relate to infringement accusations against Huawei, Nokia, and ZTE — as LG had previously been terminated from the case in July 2012. LG had been dismissed from the ITC case because LG claimed that InterDigital’s infringement allegations were an “arbitrable dispute” covered by a license agreement between the parties, and that an arbitrator — not the ITC — should decide the infringement issues. Once the ITC terminated LG from the case, InterDigital appealed this ruling to the Federal Circuit.
Today, in a 2-1 opinion [LINK] written by Judge Sharon Prost (joined by Judge William Bryson, with Judge Alan Lourie dissenting), the Federal Circuit reversed the ITC’s decision and remanded the case to the ITC for further proceedings. The court held that the ITC erred in terminating LG from the investigation, because the ITC failed to analyze the text of the license agreement to determine whether LG’s arguments regarding the arbitrability of the infringement dispute were “wholly groundless.” Furthermore, the court found that when the text of the agreement was actually considered, LG’s assertions were indeed “wholly groundless,” and the infringement claims were not subject to arbitration.
Continue Reading Federal Circuit reverses ITC decision to terminate LG Electronics from InterDigital 3G patent case (337-TA-800)
Realtek draws ITC’s attention to recent N.D. Cal. order & preliminary injunction (Inv. No. 337-TA-837) — and Apple does too
Earlier this week, we discussed N.D. Cal. Judge Ronald Whyte’s order granting partial summary judgment and issuing a preliminary injunction in a Realtek v. LSI district court case. As we explained in our post, while the district court found that LSI had breached its contractual RAND obligations by filing an ITC complaint without first making
InterDigital, Nokia ordered to produced FRAND-related and licensing documents in ITC case (337-TA-800)
As we noted earlier this week, the ITC is currently holding the evidentiary hearing in its investigation surrounding InterDigital’s 3G standard-essential patent infringement complaint against Nokia, Huawei, and ZTE (Inv. No. 337-TA-800). As with many ITC hearings, much of the information is kept out of the public record (and that’s particularly true for FRAND-related issues, where sensitive licensing data is often discussed). But today, the ITC just released the public version of Order No. 70, the confidential version of which originally issued way back in September 2012. In this order, ALJ David P. Shaw ordered InterDigital and Nokia to both produce various information relating to the FRAND affirmative defenses raised by Nokia in the case, including license agreements, license negotiation documents, and other documents relating to FRAND.
Continue Reading InterDigital, Nokia ordered to produced FRAND-related and licensing documents in ITC case (337-TA-800)
Samsung responds to Ericsson’s ITC complaint, accuses Ericsson of violating F/RAND obligations (337-TA-862)
We’ve previously covered the bilateral standard-essential patent battle brewing between Ericsson and Samsung in the U.S. International Trade Commission (as well as the Eastern District of Texas). The ITC has instituted two investigations surrounding the parties’ claims: Inv. No. 337-TA-862 (based on Ericsson’s complaint) and Inv. No. 337-TA-866 (based on Samsung’s complaint). Yesterday, Samsung filed the public version of its Response to the Complaint and Notice of Investigation (essentially, an answer to Ericsson’s complaint) in the -862 investigation. Below is an overview of this filing, in which (surprise!) F/RAND-related issues and defenses have a starring role.
Continue Reading Samsung responds to Ericsson’s ITC complaint, accuses Ericsson of violating F/RAND obligations (337-TA-862)