The AIA changes the USPTO standard for initiating inter partes patent reexamination; this change will take effect upon enactment, tomorrow. A second important date provision is the one year anniversary of enactment as it may foreclose inter partes options altogether for defendants currently involved in suits pertaining to newer patents (i.e., patents that matured from… Continue reading Patents Post-Grant: Older Patents Soon Subject to USPTO Inter Partes Review

Three major authors’ groups and eight individual authors filed suit against a partnership of research libraries and five universities on Monday, arguing that their initiative to digitize millions of books constitutes copyright infringement. The lawsuit, filed in United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, contends that, “by digitizing, archiving, copying and… Continue reading Lawsuit Seeks the Removal of a Digital Book Collection

The Second Annual Cost of Cyber Crime Study by the Ponemon Institute makes plain that cyber attacks are not going away and are financially painful for victim companies. Indeed, the median annualized cost of cyber crime for a company is $5.9 million, with a range of between $1.5 million $36.5 million per company. This represents… Continue reading Cyber Crime Costs Companies Millions Every Year

Senate Vote Sends Patent Reform Legislation to White House In a bipartisan 89–9 vote, the Senate has passed H.R. 1249 without amendment.  The Smith-Leahy America Invents Act will become law once signed by President Obama within the next week or so. Voting 89-9, the Senate on September 8, 2011, passed H.R. 1249 without amendment, sending… Continue reading Smith-Leahy America Invents Act to Become Law

Bartz Fired; Morse Named Interim CEO; Yahoo Board Creates Circle Of Elders To Decide Company Fate Carol Bartz, the former Yahoo chief executive who was ousted from her position Tuesday, has given her first post-firing interview to Fortune — and it’s a doozy. Using her characteristically salty language, Bartz described how she felt about being fired from… Continue reading Carol Bartz fired by Yahoo

Suven Life Sciences (Suven) announced the grant of four product patents, which included three from Australia and one from New Zealand corresponding to the new chemical entities (NCEs) for the treatment of disorders associated with Neurodegenerative diseases and these patents are valid through 2027. The granted claims of the patents include the class of selective… Continue reading Suven Life Sciences Secures Patents for NCEs in Australia, New Zealand

German-based business software company SAP has won a reversal of a $1.3 billion copyright infringement ruling that Oracle received in a November 2010 trial. US District Judge of California Phyllis Hamilton granted SAP's motion to throw out the award, finding it "grossly excessive" and reduced it to $272 million. She ruled if Oracle was to… Continue reading Oracle’s $1.3 Billion Infringement Bid Rejected

In an unexpected decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued an amended opinion in the closely watched case Fleischer Studios, Inc. v. A.V.E.L.A., Inc., No. 09-56317 (9th Cir. Aug. 19, 2011) involving trademark and copyright infringement of the cartoon character Betty Boop. This new opinion supersedes the original February 23, 2011… Continue reading Ninth Circuit Withdraws Holding That Characters Do Not Function as Trademarks

The Justice Department sued on Wednesday to block AT&T’s proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile, a deal that would create the largest carrier in the country and reshape the industry. “The department filed its lawsuit because we believe the combination of AT&T and T-Mobile would result in tens of millions of consumers all across the… Continue reading U.S. Moves to Block AT&T Merger with T-Mobile