Federal Circuit Refuses to Review the PTAB's Decision to Institute IPR
In its first-ever ruling in an appeal from a final decision in an <i>inter partes</i> review (IPR) under the America Invents Act, the Federal Circuit affirmed the PTAB's rulemaking for conducting IPR proceedings. The Federal Circuit's decision leaves in place IPR rules that increase the likelihood of invalidating patents and solidifies IPR as an attractive alternative to district court litigation.
Castle Defense
In Part One, last month, the authors examined the Federal Circuit's <i>VirnetX</i> decision affirming lower courts' role as gatekeepers for expert testimony. The discussion continues herein.
ABI Bankruptcy Reform
The ABI Commission recently recommended decimating the concept of adequate protection for cash flow lenders and protecting their interest only to the extent of foreclosure value. According to the authors, this recommendation has no regard for the fact that cash flow loans are predicated on a sale of the business as a going concern or the practical difficulty in attempting to choose a value based on a hypothetical sale.
Federal Circuit Clarifies the Limits Of Patent Exhaustion
The Federal Circuit recently clarified the limits of patent exhaustion as it applies to "authorized acquirers" and "complementary goods," holding that authorized sales to persons practicing handset claims did not exhaust a patent owner's rights to enforce distinct but related content claims against defendant content providers who manage and deliver content to handset users.
The Case for the GC
In a time of increasing regulatory risk, global complexity and shareholder activism, the role of the corporate general counsel in the boardroom has never been more important. Yet, companies have been slow to recruit general counsels or seasoned attorneys to serve as independent directors.
IP News
Supreme Court: Findings on Likelihood of Confusion by TTAB <br>Federal Circuit: Actual Delay Not Required For Reducing Patent Term Adjustment<br>Federal Circuit: No Lost Profits for Related Unpatented Products
Castle Defense
The battle over expert testimony on patent damages harkens back to the middle ages when would-be attackers developed new strategies for laying siege to a castle, defensive counter-measures were developed to thwart those siege tactics. As plaintiffs have introduced expert testimony based on novel patent damages theories, defendants have asked courts to fulfill their gatekeeping role by preventing certain types of expert testimony from reaching the jury.
With Highly Anticipated Copyright Decision, The AutoHop Litigation Is Coming to a Close
In 2012, DISH Network announced two novel product offerings that would result in considerable backlash from the four major broadcast television networks and set in motion a three-year, wide-ranging, multi-front battle with the networks. As the dust now begins to settle, the copyright litigation has resulted in important precedents that will help define the boundaries under the Copyright Act for the multi-channel programming distribution industry.
IP News
Federal Circuit: Application by PTAB of Broadest Reasonable Interpretation Standard in Claim Construction Upheld Under the AIA
