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Federal Circuit: Prosecution Laches Applies to Patent Claiming 1987 Priority Date
On Jan. 20, 2023, a Federal Circuit panel of Judges Reyna, Chen, and Stark issued an opinion, authored by Judge Reyna, with Judge Stark dissenting, in Personalized Media Communications, LLC v. Apple Inc., 57 F.4th 1346 (Fed. Cir. 2023). The panel affirmed the Eastern District of Texas's final judgment that U.S. Patent No. 8,191,091 (the '091 patent) "is unenforceable based on prosecution laches." Id. at 1350.
Personalized Media Communications (PMC) sued Apple for infringement of the '091 patent by Apple's "FairPlay" digital rights management product. Id. After "a jury returned a unanimous verdict, finding that Apple infringed," it "awarded PMC over $308 million in reasonable-royalty damages." Id. The district court then held a bench trial on remaining issues and "found the '091 patent unenforceable based on prosecution laches." Id. The district court explained that "laches required a challenger to prove that the applicant's delay was unreasonable and inexcusable under the totality of the circumstances and that there was prejudice attributable to the delay." Id. Applying that "framework, the court found that PMC engaged in an unreasonable and unexplained delay amounting to an egregious abuse of the statutory patent system." Id.
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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.
Judge Rules Shaquille O'Neal Will Face Securities Lawsuit for Promotion, Sale of NFTs
A federal district court in Miami, FL, has ruled that former National Basketball Association star Shaquille O'Neal will have to face a lawsuit over his promotion of unregistered securities in the form of cryptocurrency tokens and that he was a "seller" of these unregistered securities.
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.
Coverage Issues Stemming from Dry Cleaner Contamination Suits
In recent years, there has been a growing number of dry cleaners claiming to be "organic," "green," or "eco-friendly." While that may be true with respect to some, many dry cleaners continue to use a cleaning method involving the use of a solvent called perchloroethylene, commonly known as perc. And, there seems to be an increasing number of lawsuits stemming from environmental problems associated with historic dry cleaning operations utilizing this chemical.
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?