Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%
Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.
Add Inter Partes Re-Examination to Your Patent Infringement Defense
Inter partes re-examination can stop patent litigations dead in their tracks. The procedure often leads to narrowing or even cancellation of the patent claims. Practitioners may shy away from inter partes re-examination because it is considered an unsatisfactory substitute for the courtroom when seeking to prove invalidity. However, many may be overlooking that when it comes to proving noninfringement, inter partes re-examination has tremendous value.
Re-examination allows a patent challenger to present prior art patents or publications to the USPTO to challenge the patentability of any or all claims of a patent. If a substantial, new question of patentability is raised, the USPTO conducts an examination of the patent as if it were a patent application. There are two types of re-examination: ex parte and inter partes. In ex parte re-examinations, a third-party requester can initiate the procedure with a request, and may respond to a patent owner's statement, if any is filed. After that the re-examination is handled only by the USPTO and the patent owner. The third-party requester has no further right to participate.
The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year Later
The DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.
The DOJ's New Parameters for Evaluating Corporate Compliance Programs
The parameters set forth in the DOJ's memorandum have implications not only for the government's evaluation of compliance programs in the context of criminal charging decisions, but also for how defense counsel structure their conference-room advocacy seeking declinations or lesser sanctions in both criminal and civil investigations.
Use of Deferred Prosecution Agreements In White Collar Investigations
This article discusses the practical and policy reasons for the use of DPAs and NPAs in white-collar criminal investigations, and considers the NDAA's new reporting provision and its relationship with other efforts to enhance transparency in DOJ decision-making.
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough
There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.
Compliance Officers: Recent Regulatory Guidance and Enforcement Actions and Mitigating the Risk of Personal Liability
This article explores legal developments over the past year that may impact compliance officer personal liability.