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July 2008
July 1, 2008 - Germany's SAP AG has agreed to pay Dallas, TX-based i2 Technologies Inc. $83.3 million to settle a patent infringement lawsuit. i2 filed a lawsuit against SAP's US subsidiary, SAP America Inc., in September 2006 alleging that SAP had infringed seven patents covering software programs related to supply-chain planning, electronic negotiation, collaboration and available-to-promise product management.
i2 expects to receive the cash payment from the settlement in the third quarter. i2 and SAP agreed to license certain patents to each other and dismiss all existing lawsuits with prejudice, meaning that other suits cannot be brought on the same matter.
June 2008
June 30, 2008 - Typhoon Touch Technologies and its licensee Nova Mobility Systems have filed an amended complaint in their lawsuit against Dell and Xplore Technologies. The new complaint adds 12 more defendants to the lawsuit - including Apple - and claims that nearly every company making a touchscreen phone or tablet PC infringes on its two patents, 5,379,057 and 5,675,362, both titled "Portable computer with touch screen and computing system employing same."
The lawsuit names Fujitsu, Toshiba, Panasonic, Apple, HTC, Palm, Samsung, Nokia, LG, Xplore Technologies, Sand Dune Ventures, Lenovo, and Dell as defendants. The new complaint makes specific mention of Apple's iPhone, HTC's Touch, Nokia's N810, and Palm's Treo 700.
May 2008
Microsoft Loses in Suit with Alcatel-Lucent
May 21, 2008 - In the latest installment in a
long-running patent battle between Microsoft and Lucent, the US International Trade Commission
(ITC) ruled that Alcatel-Lucent has not violated
Microsoft's patents related to unified communications.
The ITC had previously ruled that Alcatel-Lucent
infringed one of four Microsoft patents-in-suit,
but overturned that decision in their ruling on
Monday (May 19), deciding that many of the
contested patent claims were invalid.
This latest ITC ruling follows on the heels of
another Microsoft defeat: in April, a San Diego
jury ordered Microsoft to pay Alcatel-Lucent
$367.4 million for patent infringement on two
patents related to user interface technology.
Apple Sues Maker of iPod Accessories
May 18, 2008 - Apple has filed a lawsuit against Atico International USA, alleging patent and trademark infringement resulting from Atico's sales of various unauthorized iPod accessories.
Atico's iPod accessories are marketed under the name "Living Solutions" and are sold online and in stores such as Walgreen's drug stores.
Apple charges manufacturers a royalty on all official iPod accessories.
Eastman Kodak Settles Patent Dispute with St. Clair
May 16, 2008 - Eastman Kodak announced that it has settled its patent dispute with St. Clair Intellectual Property Consultants, Inc., which had filed a complaint against Eastman Kodak with the US International Trade Commission in January 2007. The complaint alleged that Kodak infringed St. Clair's patents pertaining to certain digital cameras and component parts.
The parties entered into a settlement agreement on May 14, 2008, ending the litigation and granting Kodak a full release and license to the patents. St. Clair will also grant patent licenses to two other companies of Kodak's choosing.
Nintendo Ordered to Pay $21M to Anascape
May 15, 2008 - A federal judge has ordered Nintendo of America to pay $21 million to Anascape, a Texas company that owns a portfolio of patents related to game controllers.
Anascape sued Nintendo in 2006, claiming that Nintendo's Gamecube controller, the Wavebird wireless pad and the Wii Classic add-on infringed several of Anascape's patents.
Microsoft was also sued by Anascape in 2006, but settled with them earlier this month for an undisclosed amount.
Crocs Subsidiary Wins $56M in Lawsuit
May 13, 2008 - Jibbitz LLC, the maker of ornamental charms for Crocs shoes, won a $56 million default judgment against a Chinese company that was found to infringe on 179 of Jibbetz's copyrighted designs, had 33 additional designs that were "identical or deceptively similar" to Jibbetz designs and even used the Jibbetz name and logo on their website.
The defendants - Jeffrey Ye, Yuanhui Chen, Jinjiang Huakai Shoes & Garments Co. Ltd. and Xiamen Unibest Import & Export Co. Ltd. - did not respond to the complaint and failed to appear at a March hearing for a preliminary injunction.
The default judgment was signed April 29, and Las Vegas police seized shoe charms the defendants had for sale at the World Shoe Association trade show in Las Vegas.
Last May, Jibbitz won a $1.8 million judgment after the federal court in Nevada found Joinworld Industrial & Trading Ltd. had infringed on more than 60 of Jibbitz designs.
April 2008
US court throws out USPTO's new rules on patent application size
April 1, 2008 - A U.S. court has thrown out the new U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rules designed to limit the size of patent applications, a ruling that pleased GlaxoSmithKline Plc.
The company, Europe's largest drugmaker, had been concerned that many of their patent applications would exceed the maximum application size and need to be refiled.
As the patent office takes an average of 32 months to approve or reject a patent, having to refile would deal a major blow to Glaxo and other large pharmaceutical companies with large patent portfolios.
Judge James Cacheris of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, issued a temporary injunction against the rules on October 31, the day before they were to have taken effect. Cacheris' more recent ruling found that the rules "exceed the scope of the USPTO's rulemaking authority."
March 2008
Zap Media files lawsuit against Apple over the concept of iTunes and iPod
March 30, 2008 - Zap Media, an Atlanta-based media services company, is suing Apple for patent infringement. Zap's patent, U.S. patent no. 7020704, covers a "system and method for distributing media assets to user devices via a portal synchronized by said user devices."
The company claims that its patent is infringed by iPod and iTunes.
US Court rules in favor of Rambus over Hynix
March 28, 2008 - In a lawsuit filed by Hynix Semiconductor and two other firms (Micron, a U.S. company, and Nanya, a Taiwanese company), a court in San Jose, California decided that Rambus did not violate an anti-trust law with its patent on DRAM manufacturing technology.
However, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission accepted the opinion of the global chip industry and had recently made a tentative decision that Rambus violated anti-trust laws. It's quite possible that all chipmakers use Rambus' patented technology, so the industry has been watching the Rambus v. Hynix case carefully.
Nortel settles patent suit with Australian company Ipernica for $13.3 million
March 25, 2008 - Nortel has agreed to pay Ipernica, a tech-incubator company in Perth, Australia, $13.3 million as part of a settlement. Ipernica earlier settled with Juniper Networks, Cisco and Alcatel Lucent.
Ipernica claimed in its suit that Nortel and the other companies were using its Statistical Multiplexing (Stat Mux) technology without permission. Ipernica is currently suing seven more companies - including Ericsson and Nokia - for patent infringement in a lawsuit known as "Stat Mux II."
Typhoon Touch Technologies and Nova Mobility Systems Expand Lawsuit against Dell
March 25, 2008 - Typhoon announced that it had expanded its touch screen patent infringement case against Dell, Inc. (originally filed in December 2007) by adding more defendants via an amended complaint. The new defendants include Xplore Technologies Corporation of America, Electrovaya, Inc. and Sand Dune Ventures, Inc. aka TabletKiosk.
On February 22, 2008 Typhoon Touch Technologies and its licensee and co-plaintiff, Nova Mobility Systems, Inc, reached an out-of-court settlement with defendant Motion Computing, Inc, for an undisclosed sum. Dell was not part of the settlement, and filed its response to Typhoon Touch's patent infringement Complaint on January 31, 2008.
The patents-in-suit are U.S. Patent No. 5,379,057 (“the ‘057 patent”) issued January 3, 1995 and entitled “Portable Computer with Touch Screen and Computer System Employing Same,” and U.S. Patent No. 5,675,362 (“the ‘362 patent”) issued October 7, 1997 and entitled “Portable Computer with Touch Screen and Computing System Employing Same.”
Typhoon claims that these patents are infringed by the defendants' products including tablet PCs, slate PCs, handheld PCs, personal digital assistants (PDAs), ultra mobile PCs (UMPCs), smart phones, and/or other products covered by the patents-in-suit.
Continental Airlines Settles with Ronald A Katz Technology Licensing
March 20, 2008 - Continental Airlines Inc. has settled a patent lawsuit with Ronald A. Katz Technology Licensing LP for an undisclosed sum.
Under the settlement, Continental will receive a nonexclusive license on a patent for interactive voice applications, including services offered by Continental in customer service provided by automated systems and live agents.
Finjan Wins Patent Infringement Suit Against Secure Computing
March 13, 2008 - IT Security vendor Finjan Inc. won a patent infringement lawsuit against Secure Computing Corp., but Secure Computing is appealing the verdict because it doesn't believe it infringed the patents and contends that the patents are invalid.
Yuval Ben-Itzhak, Finjan's chief technology officer, said the patents in question all have to do with proactive, real-time malware detection and mitigation capabilities that are built into his company's Web security products.
GraphOn Sues Five Big Web Businesses over Database Patents
March 10, 2008 - GraphOn Corp., a publishing software developer, said Monday it is suing five big Web businesses for patent infringement: CareerBuilder, Classified Ventures, Yahoo, eHarmony.com, and IAC/InterActive Corp. GraphOn settled a lawsuit with AutoTrader in January 2008 and has also sued Juniper Networks.
Classified Ventures is a joint venture of five major newspaper publishers. The suit, filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, alleges that the companies infringed on four GraphOn patents related to "maintaining an automated and network- accessible database."
February 2008
Procter & Gamble Wins Generic-Drug Suit Against Teva
February 28, 2008 - Procter & Gamble Co. won a patent infringement lawsuit against Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. over a generic version of P&G's osteoporosis drug Actonel that the Israel-based Teva wanted to market in the US.
P&G filed the lawsuit against Teva to enforce P&G's patent for risedronate, the active ingredient in Actonel. Teva had claimed P&G's Actonel patent was not valid due to the obviousness of the invention.
EBay Settles Lawsuit with MercExchange
February 28, 2008 - EBay Inc. has agreed to settle its historic lawsuit with MercExchange over EBay's "Buy it Now" feature. Financial terms were not disclosed, but EBay will buy three patents from MercExchange related to fixed-price sales and related technology.
The lawsuit had a significant impact on patent law because the US Supreme Court, on EBay's appeal, ruled that EBay did not have to stop using the patented technology, thereby ending the precedent of patent owners automatically having the right to block the use of infringing products.
The lawsuit had been ongoing since September 2001, when MercExchange sued EBay. "We thought it was best to put it behind us, so we wrapped it up," said MercExchange founder Tom Woolston.
December 2007
Vonage to Pay AT&T $39M to Settle Patent Lawsuit
December 31, 2007 - Following the settlement the two companies entered into on November 7 of this year, Vonage announced today that it will pay AT&T $39 million over five years. AT&T had sued Vonage in October alleging that Vonage infringed its U.S. Patent No. 6,487,200, titled "Packet Telephone System."
AT&T has granted Vonage non-exclusive rights to AT&T patents related to VoIP and dual-mode wireless services, but without granting Vonage any rights or license to operate a wireless network or to provide any wireless service.
The lawsuit was the latest in a string of lawsuits against Vonage since it went public in May 2006.
Qwest Communications Settles Patent Suit with Ronald Katz Technology Licensing L.P.
December 27, 2007 - Telecommunications company Qwest Communications International Inc. announced that it has settled a patent lawsuit with Ronald Katz Technology Licensing L.P. related to interactive voice applications. As part of the settlement, Qwest agreed to pay for a nonexclusive license to use Katz's patents. The purchase price of the license was not disclosed.
The patents cover a range of interactive technology including automated prescription refill services, home shopping and telephone conferences.
eBay and PayPal Win in Lawsuit with Netcraft Corp.
December 20, 2007 - A Wisconsin court has granted a motion for summary judgment of non- infringment on Netcraft Corp's patents to eBay and PayPal.
The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin said eBay's and PayPal's online billing methods did not infringe on patents assigned to Netcraft, eBay said.
Judge rejects eBay's request to overturn 2003 MercExchange verdict
Dec. 12, 2007 - U.S. District judge Jerome Friedman, in Norfolk, VA, rejected EBay's request to overturn a jury's 2003 finding of willful infringement in the patent lawsuit brought by MercExchange LLC. The patent in suit was allegedly infringed by EBay's "Buy it Now" feature.
MercExchange said it estimates Buy It Now sales account for 39 percent of EBay's revenue.In July, Friedman decided that EBay could continue to use the Buy It Now feature despite the jury's verdict that it violated MercExchange's patent. MercExchange wasn't harmed by the decision because it made money licensing patents, Friedman said.
EBay intends to appeal Friedman's decision, which would award about $30 million to MercExchange.
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