Archive for the 'From the court' Category
July 22nd, 2010 by admin
Online auctioneer EBay Inc. (EBAY: News ) has been sued for at least $3.8 billion by Connecticut-based XPRT Ventures LLC, which has accused the e-commerce giant of infringing six patents to develop online payment systems such as PayPal.
According to the lawsuit filed by by XPRT in theU.S. District Court
in Delaware, eBay unfairly stole information shared in confidence by the inventors of XPRT’s own patents and incorporated it into features in PayPal and similar electronic payment systems.
XPRT, based in Greenwich, Connecticut, asserted that eBay infringed six patents and stole trade secrets. The lawsuit also names eBay subsidiaries PayPal Inc., Bill Me Later Inc., Shopping.com, Inc., and StubHub Inc. as defendants in the lawsuit.
“Through PayPal, eBay has become the pre-eminent leader in the online payment arena and significant portions of eBay’s PayPal activities, both past and present, read directly on XPRT’s patents claims,” XPRT said in the lawsuit.
XPRT said in the lawsuit that the inventors of one of its patents contacted eBay in 2001 to gauge the company’s interest in using the patent-pending technology and offered a preview of their patent applications. The inventors told the online retailer that systems such as PayPal, which eBay did not own at the time, could be modified to use the concept.
However, the inventors failed to get a response to a follow-up letter, which asked eBay’s lawyer if the company was interested in the technology. Shortly thereafter, eBay announced its intention to buy PayPal and acquired PayPal for $1.5 billion in 2002.
“EBay’s familiarity with the confidential information provided by the Inventors allowed eBay to recognize the advantages it would realize by acquiring, modifying and integrating PayPal’s payment platform with eBay’s own e-commerce payment platform. EBay also knew or should have known that such modification and combination would violate Inventors’ patent application claims should they issue as patents,” XPRT said.
The lawsuit says that when eBay filed a patent application on April 30, 2003, titled “Method and System to Automate Payment for a Commerce Transaction,” it failed to tell the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that it knew of XPRT’s own patent applications. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has rejected eBay’s application four times, citing XPRT’s patents, the suit says.
By filing for a similar patent, eBay “admitted the patentability of the inventors’ claims,” the complaint said.
XPRT noted that prior to the fourth quarter of 2002, eBay’s revenue from payment activities was not separately reported in its financial statements. From the fourth quarter of 2002, when eBay acquired Paypal, through 2009, eBay has publicly reported in excess of 4.4 billion transactions successfully completed in the eBay-PayPal payment system, resulting in direct transaction payment revenues in excess of $10 billion, according to XPRT.
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July 19th, 2010 by admin
Security Finjan claims that its competitors,McAfee, Sophos, Symantec, Webroot Software Websense and violates two patents. This should be addressed to the District Court of Delaware Monday has submitted an application.
It is therefore necessary to Finjan damages and order five companies should prohibit the sale of allegedly infringing software copyright Finjan.
Source
June 12th, 2010 by admin
In a Friday statement, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) revealed that it intends investigating the complaint filed by HTC, in which the Taiwanese phone maker has accused Apple of infringing on five of its patents pertaining to handset technology. The ITC said that it will investigate whether HTC’s request, seeking a ban on the import and sale of iPhones, iPods, and iPads, is justifiable.
The agency is already probing Apple’s own patent infringement complaint against HTC. Apple has alleged that HTC makes use of patents linked to the user interface of its popular iPhone, along with an array of other software and hardware technologies.
HTC, which manufactures handsets running the Google Android OS as well as Windows Mobile, requested ITC last month to block the import of the leading Apple devices in the US, claiming that the device violate HTC’s handset hardware and software patents, which the company has not yet publicly stated.
According to ITC, the products related to its investigations will include “portable electronic devices that utilize certain power management methods and may incorporate hardware andsoftware for telephone directories within mobile telephone systems.”
An evidential hearing to ascertain the essential grounds of the HTC complaint will be held by anadministrative law judge for the agency, which has 45 days to announce a target date for finishing the investigation.
Source: Top News; Sat, 06/12/2010 – 08:54
June 12th, 2010 by admin
NEW ZEALAND screen and monitor technology company PureDepth is seeking an injunction to enforce its patents against the Asian giants of the television and monitor market, including Korean giant LG.
PureDepth, whose majority 52% owner is Warehouse founder Stephen Tindall’s investment vehicle K1W1, is taking on a company called NCP Trading in the High Court at Auckland.
While NCP, a small local importer of Konka-branded televisions, is a relative minnow, LG has joined the proceedings and it is possible others, such as Samsung, will too.
That’s because if PureDepth wins the case, the precedent could have global implications and affect a much broader range of television manufacturers, perhaps forcing them to license PureDepth’s technology.
According to a judgement of the High Court at Auckland, PureDepth disassembled a Konka TV expecting to find componentry from a Taiwanese company CMO, with which it had previously tried to negotiate a licensing agreement. Instead it found componentry from LG which it also felt breached its patent. Another television contained similar componentry from Samsung.
According to affidavits filed with the court, LG intends to file a counterclaim for revocation of the patent concerned. It appears as if that counterclaim will be based on a claim of “prior art”, or that the invention patented by PureDepth already existed, under a Japanese patent.
PureDepth says it holds an identical patent for the technology in the US, meaning a result in New Zealand could have much broader implications for television manufacturers and component makers.
“If this contention is true, and if PureDepth is successful in obtaining a finding of infringement of the New Zealand patent by way of the Konka television sets having LG backlighting display units, then such a judgement may well have considerable commercial ramifications in the US marketplace, being one of vastly greater size than that of New Zealand,” Justice Fogarty writes in allowing LG to join the case and placing it on a fast track for further hearing.
PureDepth chief executive officer Andy Wood was not prepared to comment on the case.
The company, which holds 86 patents and has a further 64 pending according to Wood, is in the process of deregistering from the US OTC Bulletin Board, a subsidiary trading system of the Nasdaq high technology stock exchange.
Bleeding cash, it has slashed staff worldwide and refocused on two core markets: providing technology for Japan’s massive Pachinko and Pachislot gaming market and a new mobile platform Wood was not prepared to discuss, apart from saying he was in discussions with several well-known companies to evaluate PureDepth’s systems.
Wood says most of the remaining staff in Auckland are focused on research and development. The company has sufficient capital to continue operations through revenue from a licensing agreement with New York-listed International Game Technologies. It also licences to Sanyo.
PureDepth was founded in 1999 as Deep Video Imaging by Power Beat founder Peter Witehira and Gabriel Engel. Witehira was the inventor of a “never go flat” car battery. Witehira settled a long-running disagreement with Tindall in 2004, selling his stake in the Deep Video Imaging for $520,000.
Tindall’s Warehouse does not sell Konka televisions. Dick Smith does.
Source: Sunday Star Times; 05:00 13/06/2010
April 23rd, 2010 by admin
SmartMetric, Inc. announced today that both defendants, namely MasterCard Inc. and Visa Inc., have contacted SmartMetric concerning its patent infringement lawsuit. Both defendants have requested time to respond. By agreement responses will be made by both credit card companies in May 2010.
SmartMetric filed on March 15th, 2010 a lawsuit against Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc., Case No. CV10-1864 alleging patent infringement against the SmartMetric issued U.S. Patent No. 6,792,464.
Mr. Hendrick, the President & CEO of SmartMetric, said that MasterCard alone admits in a press release on its corporate website that it has issued more than 50 million cards that use a technology that SmartMetric claims breaches its patent.
Safe Harbor Statement Certain of the above statements contained in this press release are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements are within the meaning of that term in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Readers are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors.
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April 8th, 2010 by admin
Whirlpool Corp (WHR.N), the world’s top appliance maker, lost a round in a patent fight with LG Electronics Inc (066570.KS) as the companies battle for the premium U.S. appliance market.
The International Trade Commission, which hears patent cases that involve imports, said on Tuesday that it would not reconsider its February decision that LG Electronics did not infringe a Whirlpool patent for storing ice in the doors of side-by-side refrigerators.
Whirlpool had initially accused LG of infringing five patents, but four were subsequently withdrawn.
Appliance makers such as Whirlpool and Sweden’s Electrolux AB (ELUXb.ST) are facing competition from rivals such as LG and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) of South Korea.
The ITC case is Investigation No. 337-632. (Reporting by Diane Bartz, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)
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February 5th, 2010 by admin
Research In Motion, maker of the BlackBerry, has beaten Motorola in a dispute over patent infringement.
A British court has ruled that RIM did not infringe on a Motorola patent pertaining to e-mail – the same patent that Motorola is challenging with the International Trade Commission in the U.S. Legally, this ruling has no bearing on the case in the States, but whether the influence of the decision has any impact remains to be seen.
In a statement, RIM basically says that Motorola’s claims against the Canada-based phone maker are just sour grapes.
“Motorola has been trying to compensate for its losses in the marketplace and its inability to sell its mobile division by resorting to court actions that are designed to help negotiate unreasonable royalty rates. RIM has always been willing to pay a reasonable royalty rate for any required license and today’s court ruling is consistent with RIM’s longstanding view that Motorola has simply been acting unreasonably.”
The two companies have been at it for a couple of years now, both citing patent infringement by the other. Motorola says RIM is illegally profiting from five of its patents and has asked for a ban on the marketing and demonstration of BlackBerrys in the U.S. Motorola will continue to defend what it says its intellectual property.
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February 2nd, 2010 by admin
Johnson & Johnson said Monday Boston Scientific Corp. will pay the company $1.73 billion to settle two suits related to patents for stents.
Boston Scientific will pay Johnson & Johnson’s Cordis unit $1 billion today and $725 million next January.
Johnson & Johnson, based in New Brunswick, N.J., said it expects to post the majority of the payment on Monday.
The lawsuits had been pending in U.S. District Court in Delaware.
Other litigation between the companies remains, including the Cordis lawsuits against Natick, Mass.-based Boston Scientific’s Promus stent products.
Stents are mesh-wire tubes used to hold arteries open after they are surgically cleared of blockages.
Source
January 29th, 2010 by admin
Updates
Generic giant Teva (Israel) has announced that the U.S. District Court of Delaware has issued a verdict in its favour by finding U.S. Patent No 5,260,291 unenforceable due to “inequitable conduct”. The indicated patent belongs to Merck &Co (U.S.) and protects the intellectual property rights on brain tumor drug Temodar (temozolomide). Merck has revealed that it will appeal the decision, reports thePhiladelphia Inquirer. The drug generated US$369 million in the United States (source: IMS, reported by Teva).
Significance:The district court’s decision brings Teva a step closer to entering the temozolomide market in the United States, however it will have to gain a favourable decision in the Appeals court and other higher courts given Merck’s decision not to give up easily. Teva currently has a tentative approval on the drugs and will gain final approval either after patent expiry in 2014, or upon final patent invalidation. The news follows a previous favourable verdict for Teva, also from the U.S. District Court of Delaware, that invalidated the patent on Takeda (Japan)’s acid reflux drug, Prevacid Solutab (lansoprazole; orally disintegrating tablets).
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January 27th, 2010 by admin
Japan-based Furukawa Electric on January 25 filed with Taiwan’s Intellectual Property Court charging Chaun-Choung Technology (CCI) with infringement of its Taiwan patent No.121526 in heat pipes for notebook-use thermal modules made by CCI’s China subsidiary. In response, CCI has denied the claims, saying it uses its own patented technologies.
Furuwaka demands that CCI stop making and selling the heat pipes, destroy all existing products, and compensate Furukawa for losses due to the alleged patent infringement.
Source
January 27th, 2010 by admin
Drug major Merck & Co said Tuesday that the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware ruled against the company in a patent infringement suit against Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. The suit is related to Merck’s chemotherapeutic agent Temodar’s patent.
The company said that in the ruling, Judge Sue Robinson said that Merck’s patent on Temodar was unenforceable due to prosecution latches and/or inequitable conduct.
Commenting on the decision, Bruce Kuhlik, executive vice president and general counsel at Merck said, “We are very disappointed with the court’s ruling, and we continue to believe the patent for TEMODAR in the U.S. is valid and enforceable.”
“Today’s decision reflects a step in the lengthy patent litigation process, and we plan to appeal this decision,” Kuhlik added.
Temodar is a chemotherapeutic agent approved for the treatment of adult patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme and for refractory anaplastic astrocytoma, two forms of brain cancer.
Source
January 27th, 2010 by admin
HOUSTON -(Dow Jones)- DuPont (DD) and BASF have settled a legal battle involving the patent rights to pieces of technology that allow the genetic modification of seeds to make them more resistant to herbicides, both sides announced Wednesday.
The companies agreed Tuesday night to cross-license patents and dismiss all claims, said Bridget Anderson, a spokeswoman for Pioneer, the seed business of DuPont.
Terms of the agreement weren’t disclosed.
In June, BASF Plant Science, a North American affiliate of Germany’s BASF SE ( BAS.XE, BASFY), filed a patent-infringement suit against DuPont in the U.S. District Court in Delaware.
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January 23rd, 2010 by admin
Motorola today said that it has filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) against Research in Motion (RIM).
The complaint says that RIM has “engaged in unfair trade practices by the importation and sale of RIM products that infringe on five of Motorola’s patents.” The patents involve WiFi technologies, application management, user interfaces, and power management controls. Motorola says these patents help it create better products for users at lower costs.
The complaint comes amid another lawsuit against RIM by Kodak, which also said RIM infringed on its patents. It is worth noting that Kodak has also sued Apple, LG, and Samsung.
Source
January 23rd, 2010 by admin
Updates from PR Newswire
HP Spartacote announced today that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Premier Garage Systems, LLC, Shorr Technologies, LLC and In & Out Garage Floors, LLC in the US District Court of Arizona.
In its complaint filed December 29th, 2009, HP Spartacote, in conjunction with the inventors and other associated parties, asserts that products manufactured and sold by the named defendants have infringed upon on US Patents 6,833,424 and 7,169,876. The complaint seeks unspecified damages and a court ordered injunction against future infringement by Premier Garage, Shorr Technologies and In & Out Garage Floors.
“We filed this case for a very simple reason. HP Spartacote’s property is being knowingly and unfairly abused,” said Sean Shiers, president of HP Spartacote. “We are a leader in the development and manufacturing of high performance polyasratic coating products and the patented technology employed within our manufacturing process is a fundamental component to the superior performance of our offerings. HP Spartacote intends to aggressively protect and enforce those patent rights. This action is the first visible step in that process.”
About HP Spartacote:
HP Spartacote manufactures and sells a wide range of patented polyaspartic coating products for concrete and steel. Its products cater to commercial and industrial coating contractors as well as to residential garage floor coating companies. The company is dedicated to producing cutting edge high performance polyaspartic coatings with a rigorous focus on new product development, comprehensive technical support and the advancement of polyaspartic technology within the coatings industry.
Source
January 23rd, 2010 by admin
Update from Reuters
Infineon said that Volterra’s voltage regulators and pulse width modulation controllers infringe four of its U.S. patents.
Infineon filed the lawsuit against Volterra in the U.S. District Court for Delaware on Thursday, the company said in a statement.
Volterra had previously sued Infineon in November 2008 for patent infringement in the U.S. Court for the Northern District of California.
In July 2009, Volterra filed a motion in that matter for a preliminary injunction, which was later denied by the district court, Infineon said.
Shares of Infineon were down 3 percent at 1713 GMT Friday, while those of Volterra were trading down 1 percent at $17.78 in afternoon trade on Nasdaq.
