Patent cases are very discovery intensive, and many courts now have “patent local rules” that provide regulated process by which plaintiffs disclose their infringement contentions (i.e., explanations of why the defendant’s acts infringe the plaintiff’s patent) and by which defendants disclose their
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When drafting patent claims for a device, it is often desirable to describe the device based on how it works instead of how it is structured. Describing a device based on how it works is often referred to as “functional claiming.” Claims
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On May 26, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in Commil USA, LLC v. Cisco Systems, Inc., (Case No. 13-896, May 26, 2015). A copy of the slip opinion may be found here. Active Inducement of Infringement: A Good Faith
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Last month, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion that could have a significant impact on patent owners who seek International Trade Commission (ITC) exclusion orders to block the importation of goods used to infringe their patents. In a 2-1
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On July 2, 2013 the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion in Fresenius USA v. Baxter International, Inc., Case. No. 2012-1334, 1335 (Fed. Cir. July 2, 2013), which enhances the ability of patent infringement defendants to invalidate patents via the
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Patent holders can prove infringement by showing that each element of a claim is literally present in an accused infringer’s product or that those elements which are missing have an “equivalent.” The latter approach is permitted under what is known as the
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When patent holders want to let someone know that they are infringing their patent(s), they often send what is known as a “cease and desist” letter. The letter usually mentions the patent number and the product the patent holder thinks is
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It is well-established that patent holders may not simply file patent infringement lawsuits in order to determine if a company may be infringing their patents. As interpreted by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Rule 11 of the Federal Rules
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On August 31, 2012, a sharply divided en banc Federal Circuit Court of Appeals issued its opinion in Akami Technologies v. Limelight Networks. The case is significant in that it rewrites the rules for finding a party liable for inducing patent infringement.
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When I talk to lawyers who do not practice patent law, they often speak of the complexity of patent cases in terms of the scientific or technological issues involved. What many of them fail to understand is that quite apart from the
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