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How to Avoid BlackBerry Brinkmanship: Patent Re-examination Practice As a Parallel Track to Defend Patent Litigation
In NTP Inc. v. Research In Motion Ltd., 270 F. Supp. 2d 751 (E.D. Va. 2003), the jury found that Research in Motion's ('RIM's') BlackBerry' e-mail system infringes several valid claims of NTP's patents in suit. RIM did not request re-examination of the patents in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ('USPTO') until after the jury verdict was entered, and after the Director of the USPTO himself started re-examinations of five relevant patents. After the jury had finished and the USPTO had acted alone, RIM filed 14 additional re-examination requests. Several requests were filed for each relevant patent.
While all those re-examinations were pending, the Federal Circuit affirmed that some of the relevant patents were valid and infringed. NTP Inc. v. Research In Motion Ltd., 418 F.3d 1282, 1290-1291 (Fed. Cir. 2005). The Supreme Court denied certiorari, thus ending the litigation except for the decision on what relief to grant NTP. Finally, when RIM was on the brink of being enjoined, even though the re-examinations had led to several final rejections, it settled with NTP in March of this year to save its business from the disruption that would likely attend the injunction. Re-examinations, however, cannot be settled, so the RIM re-examinations are proceeding today. If NTP is unable to save its pertinent patent claims they ultimately will be canceled, even though the courts did not find them invalid. Future cancellation of claims will not help RIM, however, as it has already paid the full price of its license.
Why So Many Great Lawyers Stink at Business Development and What Law Firms Are Doing About It
Why is it that those who are best skilled at advocating for others are ill-equipped at advocating for their own skills and what to do about it?
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.
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.
A Lawyer's System for Active Reading
Active reading comprises many daily tasks lawyers engage in, including highlighting, annotating, note taking, comparing and searching texts. It demands more than flipping or turning pages.
Blockchain Domains: New Developments for Brand Owners
Blockchain domain names offer decentralized alternatives to traditional DNS-based domain names, promising enhanced security, privacy and censorship resistance. However, these benefits come with significant challenges, particularly for brand owners seeking to protect their trademarks in these new digital spaces.