SAFFRAN v. JOHNSON & JOHNSON AN AUSTIN PATENT ATTORNEY’S OVERVIEW: In this case Johnson & Johnson and Cordis (collectively referred to as Cordis) appeal the final judgment of the district court that was in favor of Saffran holding Cordis liable for infringing Saffrans U.S. patent 5,653,760 on the theory that the district court erred in [...]
PATENT ATTORNEY OVERVIEW: This case discusses when it is timely to raise an issue on the board of patent appeals during re-examination. Responsive to a patent infringement suit against Rexnord filed by Habasit, Rexnord requested reexamination of Habasit’s 6,523,680 patent. The technology in the ‘680 patent was directed towards a mechanical conveyor belt with rows [...]
AUSTIN PATENT ATTORNEY’S OVERVIEW OF CHECKPOINT VS. ALL TAG The subject matter in this lawsuit relates to security tags that are attached to merchandise in retail stores to limit/prevent shoplifting. If the tags are not deactivated by a salesperson of the retail store, then an alarm will be triggered if the tags move past sensors [...]
Intellectual property rights are not vested in response to filing a patent application. By filing a patent application, a start-up company will receiving a filing date not patent rights. The filing date sets a cutoff date which any disclosures after cannot be used as prior art against the start-up during the process to be granted [...]
A common question (or variation)I get asked is “I have an idea that is based on that is based on a product that was patented at one point, how can I tell if the product is still patented so I don’t infringe?” Start-ups ask this question to 1) try to limit their liability even if [...]
A question I get asked often is, “I have an idea, I think it is new, but I do not totally understand the technology I am working with or how to code my invention, what level of description do I need to know when writing a patent?” First, the law on this subject is governed [...]
AN AUSTIN PATENT ATTORNEY’S OVERVIEW: The technology in this case relates to electrical circuits, and specifically placement of components within circuits to measure time intervals of the circuits. In this case, GuideTech, appeals the district courts grant of summary judgment that Brilliant Instruments did not infringe on three of GuideTech’s Patents (U.S. Patent Number 6,226,231; [...]
AN AUSTIN PATENT ATTORNEY’S OVERVIEW: Function Media (FM) sued Google for infringement of three patents, 6,446,045; 7,240,025; and 7,249,059. These patents were directed for ways to facilitate advertisements on media outlet that do not have the same requirements. Such as, one media outlet may publish advertisements in a square box while a second media outlet [...]
There are several key dates associated with obtaining a patent. The American Invents Act will be implemented March 16, 2013. The main change of this Act is making the US a first-to-file patent system where the first inventor to file a patent gets a priority claim to the invention. This is contrary to the current [...]
A question I commonly get from inventors and start-up managers is “Why should I hire a patent attorney to draft an application instead of writing it myself?” For smaller companies, it is paramount that they protect their intellectual property assets because larger companies will more than likely have better distribution streams, be able to undercut [...]