Patent Law

WiFi Patent Lawsuit Against Southwest Airlines On Hold For Re-Examination

April 12, 2013, by Mandour & Associates, APC

San Diego – On Monday U.S. District Judge Gary Allen Feess announced a stay in a patent infringement lawsuit against Southwest Airlines Co. until the USPTO finalizes its re-examination of the patents cited in the Complaint.  Feess ruled that it doesn’t make sense to continue the case until the patent re-examination is complete.

Advanced Media Networks LLC originally filed the lawsuit against Southwest Airlines in California federal court last December.  The lawsuit concerns Southwest’s in-flight Internet service provider, Row 44 Inc. which is also named in the lawsuit.

Advanced Media believes that Southwest and Row 44 infringed on its patents, which involve technology for providing mobile telecommunications networks on commercial airline flights.  The two patents in suit, U.S. Patent No. 5,960,074 entitled “Mobile tele-computer network for motion picture, television and TV advertising production,” and U.S. Patent No. 6,445,777 entitled “Mobile tele-computer network” were approved for registration in 1999 and 2002, respectively.

Now however, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office is re-examining the validity of the patents due to issues introduced by a third party who the USPTO felt “raised substantial new questions of patentability.”  This is the second re-examination of these two patents, which were also reviewed in 2010, and then affirmed.

Judge Feess compared this case to the recent federal court case between Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co.  In the Apple v. Samsung case, the judge allowed the case to proceed to a jury decision even though a patent re-examination was still pending.   After the jury decided in favor of Apple, the USPTO made its decision that one of Apple’s patents in the case was invalid.

One of the attorneys for Row 44 agreed with Judge Feess that delaying the outcome of the trial would help everyone “avoid all this work” should the patents be deemed invalid.

Advanced Media argued that the case should move forward based on the fact that the patents may expire before the case goes to trial.

Judge Feess stated he would also delay a ruling on a Motion to Dismiss presented by Southwest and Row 44 at this time as well.

Tagged as: Advanced Media Networks, Row 44, Southwest Airlines

Qualcomm, Microsoft Say Google Isn’t Upholding FTC Patent Agreement

February 28, 2013, by Mandour & Associates, APC

San Diego – Qualcomm, Inc. and Microsoft Corp. told the Federal Trade Commission that Google is seeking injunctions to prevent competitors from selling goods that infringe its stand-essential patents, even though Google made an agreement with the FTC that it would not seek injunctions against companies that are willing to license the patented technology.

Qualcomm, Microsoft, Ericsson and  Apple all made public comments last week saying that Google is not living up to the promises it made in its deal with the FTC regarding how it handles the standard-essential patents it obtained when it bought Motorola Mobility Inc.

Google’s settlement with the FTC included a provision that prohibits Google from pursuing injunctions against companies that are willing to license the patents.  Apple and Microsoft, both of which have been in patent licensing wars with Google, said that Google is still seeking injunctions against them and using the threat of injunctions as a tool in negotiating past licensing fees.

“Google continues to pursue injunctive relief against Apple in federal court and seeks to exploit the injunction it obtained and enforced against Apple in Germany,” Apple said.

Microsoft requested the FTC clarify the pending consent decree to demand Google to abandon all injunctive relief actions that have already been filed.

“We assume that Google’s refusal to withdraw its pending claims for injunctive relief means that it interprets the proposed order to permit it to continue its existing claims for injunctive relief, notwithstanding the commission’s public statement to the contrary,” Microsoft said.  “Clarification of the decree in this regard would be appropriate.”

The companies expressed concern that if the consent decree were to be adopted for all standard-essential patent owners there would be far-reaching consequences and the companies urged the FTC to limit the proposed consent decree just to Google’s case.

“Ericsson believes that the specific procedures described in the order, if widely adopted, may cause unintended and undesirable consequences,” Ericsson said.  “Unnecessary restrictions on the availability of injunctive relief against unwilling licensees may discourage companies such as Ericsson from contributing to open standards.”

Trade groups such as the American Intellectual Property Law Association and the Intellectual Property Owners Association also opposed the consent decree.  The groups expressed concern that the consent decree limits the patent owners’ First Amendment right to seek injunctive relief from the courts in the case of infringement.

Tagged as: Apple, Ericsson, Microsoft, Qualcomm

Google’s FTC Deal Could Alter Landscape of Patent Wars

January 9, 2013, by Mandour & Associates, APC

San Diego – The deal Google struck with the Federal Trade Commission last week has received a lot of attention and many are hoping it will curtail the ongoing technology patent wars, which most agree have gotten out of control.

In the deal struck between the two entities, the FTC ruled that Google has not violated antitrust law, much to the disappointment of many of the company’s critics.  The decision came after a two-year investigation of the way Google handles licensing of its industry-standard patents to its competitors.  Google had to agree to allow its competitors access to its industry standard patents, something it had previously fought hard to prevent.

FTC chairman Jon Leibowitz said during a press conference that the patent agreement could serve as a model for other patent disputes and it could reduce patent litigation, at least in the technology sector.

As Google and Apple, two of the largest players in the technology world, spent more money on acquiring and protecting their intellectual property last year than they did on research and development, anything that can decrease those costs may benefit the companies and their customers.

At the center of the deal between the FTC and Google is the technology giant’s purchase of Motorola Mobility, which Google bought in part for Motorola’s 17,000 tech patents.  Many of these patents are standard-essential patents, which Google is required to license to its competitors on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms.

The FTC’s investigation began when Motorola reneged on its agreement to license its patents according to FRAND terms.  When Google acquired Motorola, it continued to refuse licensing of industry-standard patents and began seeking injunctions to prohibit competitive products that contained its patented technology from entering the country.  Conduct like this may decrease competition and increase prices, which could hurt consumers.

Google senior vice president and chief legal officer David Drummond said, “We will seek to resolve standard-essential patent disputes through a neutral third-party before seeking injunctions.  This agreement establishes clear rules of the road for standard-essential patents going forward.”

Though the FTC’s deal with Google is not binding on any other company, it is speculated that other technology companies will use the terms of the agreement as a guide for the licensing of industry-standard patents.

Tagged as: FTC, Google

Apple, LG Electronics did not Infringe Alcatel-Lucent’s Patents

December 14, 2012, by Mandour & Associates, APC

San Diego – A jury in San Diego found that Apple Inc. and LG Electronics Inc. did not infringe patents for electronic devices including phones and computers owned by Multimedia Patent Trust, an Alcatel-Lucent SA subsidiary.  The verdict was issued Thursday after a trial that lasted more than two weeks in the Southern District of the United States District Court. The trial was presided over by U.S. District Judge Marilyn L. Huff.

The Paris-based Multimedia Patent Trust filed the lawsuit in December 2010 and it asked the jurors to award $9.1 million in royalty damages from LG Electronics and $172.3 million in royalty damages from Apple.

The Plaintiff accused LG Electronics of infringing two of its patents and Apple of infringing three of its patents for video-compression technology, which aids in sending data via satellite and over the Internet and allows for increased media storage on DVDs and Blu-Ray disks. The patent trust claimed the patents were infringed by multiple devices including LG Electronics’ Chocolate Touch VX8575, Touch AX8575, Bliss, UX700, Mystique UN610, Samba LG8575, and Lotus Elite LX610 as well as Apple’s MacBook, iMac, iPhone, iPod, and iPad. The patent trust also claimed that at least 33 different companies have paid more than $190 million to license the patents in question and Apple and LG Electronics should have to pay the licensing fees as well.

Apple and LG Electronics argued that they had in fact compensated the Multimedia Patent Trust because they are members of an industry-wide patent pool. The companies also claimed that the trust was attempting to expand the scope of its expired patents to cover technology that it does not own.

Though Apple and LG Electronics have a verdict, the two-year patent war is far from over between the companies. The patent trust has already motioned for mistrial, sighting the behavior of Apple’s counsel during closing arguments as reason to retry the case. Apple received the ruling just hours after losing a separate, unrelated case against MobileMedia, a subsidiary of Sony, MPEG-LA and Nokia. In that case a Delaware jury found Apple had infringed three patents dealing with the operation of the phone’s camera and call handling.

Tagged as: Apple, LG Electronics

Apple and Google Join Together to Purchase Kodak Patents

December 12, 2012, by Mandour & Associates, APC

San Diego – Apple and Google are reportedly working together to offer Eastman Kodak more than $500 million for its imaging patents, which are being sold as part of Kodak’s bankruptcy proceedings.

The two technology giants are bidding on an undisclosed amount of Kodak’s 1,100 patents related to capturing, manipulating and sharing digital images.  Kodak valued the patents at $2.21 billion to $2.57 billion in its court documents, claiming it has made more than $3 billion by licensing the patents to companies such as Samsung Electronics, Google’s Motorola Mobility unit, LG Electronics and other technology companies.

Bidding entities disagreed with the figure Kodak assigned to its patents, as the first round of bids were reported to be in the $150 to $250 million range, likely because the value of the patents has been diluted due to Kodak’s excessive licensing.

Kodak is unwilling to sell its patents for that low of a figure as its $850 million loan offer, which it needs to pull out of bankruptcy, is contingent upon its patents selling for no less than $500 million.

In the first round of bidding, California-based companies Apple and Google were bidding against each other.  Apple is teaming up with Microsoft and Intellectual Ventures while Google is working with RPX Corp. and Asian manufacturers of Google’s Android phones.

Though Apple and Google are major competitors in the smartphone market and have had patent disputes in the past, partnering to purchase the patents allows both companies to not only reduce the cost but also limit the likelihood of patent infringement claims in the future.

This will not be the first time Apple has teamed up with a major competitor to purchase patents.  Apple teamed up with Research in Motion, maker of the Blackberry, to buy 6,000 patents from Nortel Network’s Corp. for $4.5 billion.  The companies were able to out bid Google, who only offered $900 million.  Google and Apple refused to comment on the alleged bid, as each company said it would not comment on rumors.  New York-based company Kodak would not comment on the purchase either, due to a court ordered confidentiality agreement.

Once Kodak secures its exit financing, it plans to shrink the company and move its focus away from photography, as the company was unable to keep up with the switch to digital.  Instead, it plans to focus on commercial, packaging and functional printing services.

Tagged as: Apple, Google

Judge to Decide Reasonable Royalty Rates for Essential, Industry-Standard Patents

November 13, 2012, by Mandour & Associates, APC

San Diego – For the first time, a federal judge will determine what constitutes a reasonable royalty rate for patents that have become an industry standard.  The case, which begins Tuesday in the U.S. District Court in Seattle, started when Microsoft filed a lawsuit against Motorola in November 2012 claiming that Motorola breached its contract to provide use of its patents at a reasonable rate.  The technology relates to online-video viewing and wireless usage.

Private companies that hold industry-standard patents may be required to license them under FRAND or “fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory” terms as part of joining international-standards groups.  Microsoft claims that Motorola Mobility, a subsidiary of Google, demanded excessive royalties for the use of its industry-standard patented technologies.  Microsoft claims that Motorola required 2.25 percent of the sale price of every Xbox and Windows sale, which it claims would amount to Microsoft paying Motorola $4 billion annually.

Motorola disputes the $4 billion figure and claims that the 2.25 percent royalty rate was simply an opening figure for negotiations.  Judge Robart is expected to give an opinion about what constitutes a reasonable royalty fee for all industry-specific patents.  A jury trial, planned for the spring, will then compare the reasonable rate determined by Judge Robart with Motorola’s rate.

The decision will have an impact on other cases between the two companies in Washington, D.C. and in Germany.  Motorola is currently seeking an import ban on Xbox consoles from the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), as they contain some of the industry-standard patents being disputed in the Seattle trial.  Motorola has already won an injunction from a German court that bans the sale of certain Windows and Xbox products in those countries.  Judge Robart has barred Motorola from enforcing the injunction until the Seattle case is settled.

Microsoft has already said that it will pay Motorola whatever the court decides is a reasonable royalty rate.  If Motorola agrees, the cases before the ITC and the injunction in Germany will likely go away.

 

Tagged as: Microsoft, Motorola

Carfax Closer to Insurance Industry Related Patent

July 24, 2012, by Mandour & Associates, APC

San Diego – Carfax is known for its comprehensive vehicle history database which allows customers to verify that new vehicle purchases haven’t been in an undisclosed accident. According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Carfax has embarked upon a foray into the patent world. From the patent it appears that Carfax is moving toward further assistance with the insurance industry. To that end, Carfax announced this week that it received a Notice of Allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office for its patent application for a “system and method for insurance underwriting and rating” identified as Serial number 13/181,736. The USPTO typically issues a Notice of Allowance once it comes to an initial determination that a patent can be granted from a review of a patent application.

A representative from Carfax expressed excitement that it will soon be able to initiate its plans to provide cutting edge services to customers in the insurance industry. Currently, Carfax’ technology systems contain over 10 billion records which cover cars, light trucks and SUV’s in the United States since 1981. In addition to a massive data collection from over 34,000 data sources, Carfax uses a pool of information from state DMVs, police departments, service facilities and collision repair centers. Data is also verified by vigorous quality control analysis that is conducted at regular intervals to weed out irrelevant or inaccurate data.

The new invention would provide greater accuracy and more options for consumers when selection insurance options. If granted, the patent would allow Carfax to use its significant amount of knowledge and experience to assist insurance underwriting companies and offer insurance customers new insurance options. The Carfax patent could lead to more accurate rate options for consumers.

San Diego Based Qualcomm Makes Restructuring Move to Protect Patents

July 3, 2012, by Mandour & Associates, APC

San Diego – The leading cellular phone chipmaker, Qualcomm, has announced its plan to create a subsidiary company in order to protect its patents. In light of increasing cellphone technology patent infringement lawsuits, such as the cases that Samsung and Apple are currently facing, it has been reported that Qualcomm’s move to use two different companies is to avoid similar lawsuits in the future.

The new structure of the organization will include Qualcomm Incorporated, which will consist of Qualcomm Technology Licensing (QTL), Qualcomm’s corporate functions, as well as the majority of its patent portfolio. The newly formed Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. (QTI) will include the semiconductor department, Qualcomm CDMA Technologies (QCT), research and development as well as the product and services division. This transition is said to take effect at the end of the 2013 fiscal year.

Chairman and Chief Executive Paul E. Jacobs stated, “Our internal reorganization will provide even greater protection for our industry-leading intellectual property portfolio as our products and services businesses seek to accelerate innovation and deliver our products to market quickly” and “we are confident that this change to our corporate structure will be accomplished with little to no disruption to employees and customers.”

In a statement released on behalf of the organization the company stated, “QTI and its subsidiaries will have no rights to grant licenses or other rights to patents held by Qualcomm Incorporated. There will be no changes to the intellectual property that is currently owned by Qualcomm Innovation Center, Inc., which works closely with the open source community to accelerate the advancement of the wireless industry as a whole.”

When it comes to patent infringement lawsuits, Qualcomm is no stranger to them. In the past it has been involved in lawsuits with Nokia and Broadcom. In fact, according to a settlement with Broadcom in 2009, Qualcomm is still paying off the millions of dollars. In its settlement to end the patent infringement lawsuit Qualcomm agreed to pay $891 million to Broadcom over a span of four years. The lawsuit was originally filed in 2005.

Qualcomm’s patents are essentially known as the company’s ‘bread and butter’ and so it is understandable as to why the company is willing to go to great lengths in order to protect its intellectual property portfolio.

U.S. Patent Granted to San Diego Pharmaceutical Company

June 5, 2012, by Mandour & Associates, APC

San Diego – La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company, a Biopharmaceutical company based in San Diego, has recently been granted a patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a patent covering compositions of modified pectins. On its website, La Jolla Pharmaceutical states that its company is “dedicated to the development of treatments that significantly improve outcomes in patients with life-threatening diseases” and the issued patent number 8,187,642 gives the company the ability to do just that. Patent ’642, which modifies pectin compositions and molecules, is protected until 2025.

Dr. George F. Tidmarsh, President and CEO of La Jolla Pharmaceutical stated, “We are pleased to receive this patent protection which broadens and further extends our intellectual property position for modified pectins,” and “The issuance of this patent comes at a strategically important time for us as we prepare to move forward with clinical trials of our lead compound, GCS-100, in oncology, kidney disease and organ transplant indications.”

The ability to modify pectin compositions, which this patent provides for, has the potential to “bind and sequester galectin-3″ which has been linked to the responsibility of diseases in humans such as cancer. This patent could possibly help in improved solutions for these diseases.

Patent ’642 is one of three of the pharmaceutical company’s patents that are linked to developing a reduction in cancer’s growth rate. In the technology portion of its website the company states “La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company is leveraging the unique biochemistry of the galectin family of proteins to develop innovate therapies to treat a multitude of human diseases. In particular, over-expression of galectin-3 (one member of the galectin family) has been implicated in cancer and chronic organ failure. Thus, modulation of galectin-3 activity is an attractive therapeutic target. GCS-100, La Jolla’s lead product, is a first-in-class inhibitor designed to sequester and eliminate circulating levels of galectin-3.”

Sony Seeks Patent to Adjust Glasses-Free 3-D Technology

May 24, 2012, by Mandour & Associates, APC

San Diego – According to recent filings with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Sony has applied for a patent for a correction to its existing Glasses-Free 3-D technology.

Industry experts have historically agreed that the success of Autostereoscopic 3-D technology has been dependent on the viewer’s angle and distance from the viewing screen. Sony, one of the leaders in the 3-D television market, was one of the first mainstream companies to release its 3-D technology toward that end in 2010. 3-D television technology that did not require viewing glasses was unveiled not long after that. However, critics quickly noted problems with 3-D display images that included blurring, image distortion and a less than optimal view when the viewer wasn’t lined up to a precise and exact distance and angle.

Past limitations of 3-D technology without glasses were a result of a fixed arrangement of lenses that did not allow for adjustment that would separate the images as needed. Essentially, the viewer was often in the wrong place for viewing the images. In particular, depending on how near or far the viewer was from the screen, the depth of picture could easily be over or under-exaggerated. As a result of these imaging issues, the viewer could end up with headaches or nausea in extreme cases. The new technology proposed by the current Sony patent involves a correction that would enable the device to detect the viewer’s distance from the screen and automatically adjust the separation of images to provide optimal viewing clarity and sharpness of picture.

The new Sony patent includes both the image processing methodology and the corresponding entertainment system for image display. Additionally, Sony’s new technology would shift image elements in either or both the left and right eye images while viewing the Glasses-Free 3-D images. This shift would alter viewing displacements and create a point of intersection of lines of sight between the viewer and his or her image elements. The result would be a depth separation of image elements, creating the same effect as if the viewer had been viewing images at the ideal distance and angle.

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