Kodak has been buying up patents for a technology that competes with its old film technology in order to keep its dying film market alive. However, its impending bankruptcy most likely means that only the patents it holds can save it.

Recent publications and findings regarding China’s intellectual property rights regime indicates a trend toward greater protection.

Barnes & Noble has found a new and interesting way to challenge Microsoft’s patent infringement claims: arguing that Microsoft’s patent infringement claims are baseless because Microsoft’s patents are not valid. For proof, Barnes & Noble offers a significant list of prior art publications and patents to test Microsoft’s inventions’ novelty and non-obviousness.

On November 7, Groupon and Yelp were sued by patent troll Mobile Commerce Framework for infringement of a business method patent that its mobile device apps allegedly violate. The case presents a fascinating insight into the war over mobile device patents.

Pay-for-delay lives on.  According to the Blog of Legal Times, ethically questionable settlement agreements between generic and brand-name pharmaceutical companies, or “pay-for-delay” settlements, are alive and well.  What is fascinating is that these deals would …

In Ultramercial v. Hulu, the Federal Circuit fit a square patent peg into a round cyberspace hole, reversing a decision of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and holding that a process for monetizing the transmission of data over the web using advertisements does not qualify for the abstract idea exception to patentability.

The media have covered Barnes & Noble’s rebellion against Microsoft’s aggressive litigation to enforce Microsoft’s patent rights. Yet it is uncertain whether Microsoft is violating antitrust laws and it seems equally uncertain how courts may delimit the difference between the rightful protection of one’s rights and the unlawful abuse of one’s dominant position in the marketplace.

Recent patent suits by Motiva and ThinkOptics against video game giant Nintendo Co. exemplify two distinct problems in patent law today: the availability of double litigation through the ITC loophole and the lack of an independent creation defense for inventors not first-to-file.

Apple has been granted a patent on its “slide to unlock” feature. The granting of this patent has raised questions about its validity based on how it could have passed the novelty and nonobviousness requirements for patent protection. This patent is representative of how the patent system works today.

“Few have questioned the wisdom of [§ 101 subject matter challenges], despite the metaphysical gauntlets it has visited upon the learned members of the courts, and the sometimes eccentric results of its application.”
The Supreme Court …