Bankrupt Kodak Will Sell Some Imaging Businesses As It Seeks To Sell Patents

August 24, 2012, by Mandour & Associates, APC

Eastman Kodak Co. plans to sell off its personal imaging and document imaging businesses, which include consumer film and scanners, as part of its efforts to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy while iconic photo company’s attempts to auction off its digital imaging patent portfolio remain ongoing, the company said Thursday.

Kodak is seeking to shift its primary focus to commercial, packaging and functional printing solutions and enterprise services, the company said.

The sale of the imaging businesses will work in concert with continued cost-reduction initiatives, curtailment of Kodak’s legacy liabilities, and the monetization of the company’s digital imaging patent portfolio to hasten the company’s exit from bankruptcy, Kodak said.

“The initiation of a process to sell the personalized imaging and document imaging businesses is an important step in our company’s reorganization to focus our business on the commercial markets and enable Kodak to accelerate its momentum toward emergence,” Kodak Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Antonio M. Perez said. “In addition, we continue our initiatives to reduce our cost structure and streamline our operating models in an effort to return the company to profitability.”

“We are reshaping Kodak,” he said. “We continue to rebalance our company toward commercial, packaging and functional printing – in which we have the broadest portfolio solutions – and enterprise services. These businesses have substantial long-term growth prospects worldwide and are core to the future of Kodak.”

Kodak’s efforts to auction off the digital imaging patents have yet to produce a sale. The auction is most notable for bringing together unlikely allies like Google Inc., Apple Inc., Samsung Electronics Co., LG Electronics Inc. and HTC Corp., as the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

“In accordance with its prior announcement, the company is continuing discussions with parties with respect to the potential sale of its digital imaging patent portfolio,” Kodak said Thursday. “The company reiterates that it has made no decision to sell the portfolio and Kodak may, in consultation with creditors, retain the portfolio as an alternative source of recovery for creditors.”

Posted in: Patent License

Google’s Motorola Takes Aim At Apple In New Patent Actions

August 20, 2012, by Mandour & Associates, APC

San Diego – Google Inc. subsidiary Motorola Mobility LLC fired off two new salvos in its patent war with Apple Inc. over the weekend in the U.S. International Trade Commission and Delaware federal court, claiming Apple’s wide range of computers and mobile devices are based on patented Motorola technology and must be stopped from entering the U.S.

The complaint filed Friday in the ITC accuses Apple of infringing seven Motorola patents for mobile phone features such as the iPhone’s Siri voice assistant feature, location reminders, video players and email notifications.

“We would like to settle these patent matters, but Apple’s unwillingness to work out a license leaves us little choice but to defend ourselves and our engineers’ innovations,” a Motorola representative said Monday.

Apple representatives were not available for comment.

The products at issue include the iPod Touch, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPad 2 and the new iPad, as well as the Mac Pro, iMac, Mac mini, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air.

The specific patents Motorola cites in the complaint include U.S. Patent Numbers 5,883,580, 5,922,047, 6,425,002, 6,983,370, 6,493,673, 7,007,064 and 7,383,983.

The ’580 patent generally relates to messaging devices, the ’047 patent relates to communication and control systems for multimedia, the ’002 patent and ’673 patent relate to communication devices, and the ’370 patent relates to communications systems for messaging clients. The ’064 patent relates to wireless communications systems providing content to wireless communication devices, while the ’983 patent relates to managing content between devices.

Motorola is asking the ITC for a permanent exclusion order prohibiting the entry of the allegedly infringing products into the United States, as well as an order to bar Apple from importing or selling the products. Motorola requested that the ITC set a target date of no more than 15 months for the requested Section 337 investigation.

Google, which acquired Motorola in May, and Apple have been duking it out on multiple fronts over their patent portfolios for years. The latest actions, though, come on the heels of surprising reports that the two have joined forces in a consortium to purchase Eastman Kodak’s patent holdings at bankruptcy auction, as the Wall Street Journal detailed last week. The consortium is willing to pay over $500 million for Kodak’s patents, the Journal reported.

San Diego Patent Battle: Carl Zeiss Lawsuit Against Signet Armorlite Ends In Triple Damages

August 10, 2012, by Mandour & Associates, APC

San Diego -After five years of contentious litigation and three separate jury verdicts, Carl Zeiss Vision International’s patent infringement lawsuit against Signet Armorlite finally ended in an award of triple damages. Filed in U.S. District Court, Southern District of California in San Diego, the case involved a patent (6,089,713) owned by Carl Zeiss which covers “spectacle lens with spherical front side and multifocal back side and process for production”. Most notably, the Judge tripled the damages after he determined that Signet had been infringing on Zeiss’ patent for six years and that the infringement continued even after Signet knew that the infringement was willful.

The battle between Carl Zeiss and Signet Armorlite started in 2007 when Zeiss claimed that its San Diego, California based competitor was copying its patent without authorization. In its court documents, Zeiss claimed that the Signet products, including the Kodak Unique line of products, copied its patented technology. Signet fired back, seeking a declaratory judgment that it did not infringe upon the Zeiss patent, as well as a declaration that the patent was invalid and unenforceable. Additionally, Signet went a few steps further by claiming that its German rival was causing “unfair competition, interference with contractual relationships, interference with prospective advantage and antitrust violations.”

The verdict, handed down by Judge Dana M. Sabraw, awarded triple damages to Zeiss and granted a permanent injunction for removal of all infringing Signet products from retail shelves. Judge Sabraw affirmed the verdict that Signet had willfully infringed upon a spherical optical lens patent held by Zeiss, after it was discovered that numerous employees had warned the company that infringement issues existed. The court determined that a reasonable person in the same position “would have considered there to be a high likelihood of infringement of a valid patent”. Damages were increased from $684,964 to $2.05 million, and attorney’s fees were granted, after Judge Sabraw noted that public interest in patent protection was paramount to competition between products offered in the marketplace.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Wins Patent After 6-Year Wait

July 31, 2012, by Mandour & Associates, APC

San Diego – Six years may seem like a long time to wait for the award of a patent. However, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg patiently waited for approval on an application governing certain privacy settings for six long years. There was definitely cause for celebration by Zucks when it was announced last week that he had been granted his first patent. Patent number 8,225,376 is listed as “a system and method for dynamically generating privacy summary” and was awarded to inventors Zuckerberg and Facebook’s former Chief of Privacy Officer, Chris Kelly.

In layman’s terms, the patent was designed to create a display for a person’s profile on Facebook. The profile is affected by certain privacy settings that are chosen by the user, displayed to the user, and are viewable by other people using the same social networking website. Essentially, the technology would let Facebook users customize the way their profile appears to other users. The patent was originally rejected by the USPTO because examiners thought it was too obvious. However, when Facebook went public, Zuckerberg’s team redoubled their efforts and pushed the patent through. And after numerous interviews with the Examiner the USPTO finally granted the patent.

Even to the most basic of computer networking users, the patent seems awfully simplistic. Some experts are going as far as to say that it is no more than a fancy accessory. But these days it seems that the larger the patent portfolio the better. Last month Facebook bought hundreds of patents from IBM and Microsoft to provide a better defense against the threat of ongoing litigation, including its lawsuit against Yahoo. The Yahoo lawsuit was later settled, but the patents should serve the company well into the future.

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.

Green Mountain Coffee Roaster’s Patent Expiration Could Create Glut Of K-Cup Copies

July 18, 2012, by Mandour & Associates, APC

San Diego – In a scenario akin to a science-fiction movie script, the coffee filtration system marketplace could soon be flooded with clones. Fortunately, it is anticipated that the clones won’t be dangerous to anyone except perhaps those folks attempting to brew the perfect cup of coffee. For the connoisseur of that perfect cup of freshly brewed joe, there will be an anxious watch on the grocery store isle very soon, since Green Mountain Coffee Roaster’s (GMCR) patents 5,325,765 and 5,840,189 will either partially or completely expire in September 2012.

When the initial patents for K-Cup’s expire, industry experts are predicting a glut of cheap K-Cup knock-offs. As a result, company shares were down and investors appear worried. However, GMCR insists that there is no reason for investors or consumers to fret. It points to evidence provided by Keurig, the original creator of the K-Cup coffee filter system. Upon hearing of concerns, Keurig acknowledged that the method initially utilized by the K-Cup coffee filter is mediocre at best and has since been replaced by a better cartridge (patent 6,645,537) which will not expire until 2020. However, even its most recent patents did not completely satisfy Research and Development at GMCR.

Pending patent application 20050051478 is intended to protect the superior coffee filtration system utilized in the most recent version of the K-Cup, which is currently in the marketplace. Moreover, the filter design covered in the two expiring patents has not been used since the inception of the K-Cup. The coffee company anticipates that research on the demographic for Keurig buyers indicates that its customers would not likely sacrifice quality for a few pennies per cartridge. Consequently, GMCR insists that consumers educate themselves and be aware that clones of the products covered in original K-Cup patents may reap cost savings, but will brew a lower quality cup of coffee.

GMCR has developed a reputation for guarding its patents very carefully and lists all applicable patent information on its product packing, including those patents still pending. Additionally, the coffee company has been known to vigorously defend itself using patent infringement litigation (several cases are still ongoing) whenever necessary.

Facebook And Yahoo Agree To Patent Infringement Settlement

July 10, 2012, by Mandour & Associates, APC

San Diego – After a long and vicious battle over competing patent infringement claims, two of the Internet’s most popular destinations – Facebook.com and Yahoo.com – have agreed to drop respective lawsuits and license patents to each other. The original Yahoo lawsuit was initiated in March 2012, during the short-lived leadership of its controversial CEO, Scott Thompson. Facebook fought back by filing its own patent infringement lawsuit in April.

Thompson was subsequently let go as a result of a resume scandal, but the parties were already knee deep in litigation. Yahoo’s patent infringement complaint was premised on the allegation that Facebook was profiting from Yahoo’s ideas and claimed that Facebook infringed on 10 critical Yahoo Internet technology patents. Two additional patents were later added to the case. The patents covered Internet advertising, privacy controls, social networking and other important Yahoo technology. However, before the two combatants could step into the courtroom, both Facebook and Yahoo issued statements indicating that both companies had agreed to settle their disputes outside of court.

Despite the fact that no money will change hands, the new patent alliance will allow Facebook and Yahoo to share advertising and content. Experts further anticipate that the new agreement will help Yahoo recover some of the revenue it recently lost when large marketers decided to spend less on Yahoo advertising and increase spending on Facebook.

In anticipation of the partnership, both parties have already begun work on ads for the other’s website and Yahoo has agreed to feed coverage of major news events through the social networking website. In addition to saving countless dollars in litigation expenses, Facebook will now have a greater opportunity to tailor ads to fit the more specific interests of its over 900 million users in heavily trafficked Yahoo owned areas. It is anticipated that the new partnership will also help the flagging financial status at Yahoo and assist Facebook in winning over skeptical investors. Experts hope that the new agreement between Facebook and Yahoo will set a positive example for corporate America and encourage creative compromise, rather than settling disputes with litigation.

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.

Intel Buys $375 Million Worth of InterDigital Patents

June 26, 2012, by Mandour & Associates, APC

San Diego – Intel recently acquired 1,700 patents from InterDigital’s wireless technology intellectual property portfolio. The purchase essentially saved InterDigital as it had been rumored to closing its doors altogether. In February InterDigital had stated that it was eager to sell the bulk of its patents and it was on the lookout for a buyer.

While many electronics companies have jumped on the bandwagon of creating smartphones and tablets, Intel has watched from afar. Until this year that is when it introduced the first Intel-based smartphone to the market in India which has been widely successful. According to reports, with the acquisition of InterDigital’s patents and patent applications Intel may now begin to transition into the U.S. smartphone market.

Doug Melamed, Intel senior vice president and general counsel, recently made a statement regarding the patent purchase stating, “These patents will support Intel’s strategic investments in the mobile segment. The addition of these patents expands our already large, strong and diverse portfolio of intellectual property.”

As Melamed stated, Intel is continuing its success in making successful transitions as it is preparing for the release of the new Microsoft operating system, Windows 8. Just as Intel’s intellectual property portfolio has continued to expand so has its relationship with Windows. We can expect to see more of ‘Wintel’ as the new Windows 8 operating system is expected to be released later this year.

As for InterDigital, its senior executive vice president of strategy and finance Scott McQuilkin stated of the purchase, “the acquisition of this portfolio of InterDigital’s technologies by a global technology leader like Intel affirms the efforts of our research and development team which actively shares our innovations with the worldwide standards bodies, defining technologies that are central to the world’s major wireless systems and devices” and “this transaction, which involves a small portion of our overall patent portfolio, marks an important milestone of InterDigital’s stated strategy of expanding the monetization of its large and growing intellectual property portfolio. By executing on our business plan, which has been broadened to include patent sales, licensing partnerships and other possibilities, we see tremendous potential to expand revenue and build shareholder value.”

Merck Loses Patent Infringement Lawsuit Against Canadian Competitor

June 19, 2012, by Mandour & Associates, APC

San Diego – Merck announced today that it was not successful in its recent patent infringement lawsuit to protect the patent for its best selling drug Nasonex. The lawsuit, filed in 2009, was intended to stop Canadian drug manufacturer Apotex from selling a generic version of its popular nasal allergy drug.

Apotex, popular for selling less-expensive versions of many U.S. prescription medications, had been accused of selling a generic version of Nasonex before the Merck patent had expired. The Merck patent for Nasonex is not due to expire until 2018, but Apotex took an offensive stance and challenged the validity of the patent. The decision handed down in the New Jersey court was both positive and negative for the well-known drug company. The district court ruled that the Nasonex patent was valid, but the Apotex product did not infringe on Merck’s chemical composition. A patent attorney for Merck said that although the drug manufacturer is relieved that its patent was reaffirmed, it is reviewing its options and is likely to appeal the decision.

With many generic options, today’s brand name drug manufacturers often have tremendous competition in the prescription drug market. In addition to its increased research and development for new drugs, Merck has recently cut many of its prescription costs in an effort to compete with the growing number of generic drug options. Further contributing to its struggles, the patent for its popular drug Singular is set to expire in August and Pfizer’s version of its anti-cholesterol drug Vytorin, is doing much better than it had anticipated. However, despite its financial concerns, Merck’s first quarter earnings rose 67%, and the pharmaceutical giant appears poised for continued growth in the upcoming year.

Located in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, Merck is one of the largest pharmaceutical manufacturers in the world. Although it was established in 1891, it did not officially become a major U.S. drug company until after World War I. Currently Merck’s name is well known, not only because of its popular prescription medication commercials, but because its revenue and product sales have propelled it into the top seven pharmaceutical makers in the world.

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