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Strategic Considerations for Inter Partes Re-examination
The cost of patent litigation is enormous, and continues to increase. According to the 2003 AIPLA survey, the median cost for a patent litigation with less than $25 million at stake was close to $2 million. Furthermore, many large companies are increasingly coming under attack from small patent holders or patent holding companies. Because of these developments, the inter partes re-examination procedure is becoming an increasingly attractive alternative for patent defendants. However, the inter partes re-examination procedure carries its own risks. As discussed further below, the advantages and disadvantages should be carefully weighed prior to instigating an inter partes re-examination.
Brief Overview
Inter partes re-examination may be best understood in contrast to ex parte re-examination. In the ex parte re-examination process, a patentee or a patent challenger may seek re-examination of a patent by submitting patents or printed publications to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”). The requesting party, whether the patentee or the challenger, submits a request for re-examination to the PTO. The PTO determines whether the submitted art presents a substantial new question of patentability. If the PTO determines that there is no substantial new question of patentability, the rejection of the request is final and unappealable.
Major Differences In UK, U.S. Copyright Laws
This article highlights how copyright law in the United Kingdom differs from U.S. copyright law, and points out differences that may be crucial to entertainment and media businesses familiar with U.S law that are interested in operating in the United Kingdom or under UK law. The article also briefly addresses contrasts in UK and U.S. trademark law.
The Article 8 Opt In
The Article 8 opt-in election adds an additional layer of complexity to the already labyrinthine rules governing perfection of security interests under the UCC. A lender that is unaware of the nuances created by the opt in (may find its security interest vulnerable to being primed by another party that has taken steps to perfect in a superior manner under the circumstances.
Strategy vs. Tactics: Two Sides of a Difficult Coin
With each successive large-scale cyber attack, it is slowly becoming clear that ransomware attacks are targeting the critical infrastructure of the most powerful country on the planet. Understanding the strategy, and tactics of our opponents, as well as the strategy and the tactics we implement as a response are vital to victory.
Legal Possession: What Does It Mean?
Possession of real property is a matter of physical fact. Having the right or legal entitlement to possession is not "possession," possession is "the fact of having or holding property in one's power." That power means having physical dominion and control over the property.
The Stranger to the Deed Rule
In 1987, a unanimous Court of Appeals reaffirmed the vitality of the "stranger to the deed" rule, which holds that if a grantor executes a deed to a grantee purporting to create an easement in a third party, the easement is invalid. Daniello v. Wagner, decided by the Second Department on November 29th, makes it clear that not all grantors (or their lawyers) have received the Court of Appeals' message, suggesting that the rule needs re-examination.