Last week, House Judiciary Committee Chariman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) reintroduced the Innovation Act, a bill that attempts to address perceived patent litigation abuse.  This current bill as introduced is identical to the bill that was passed by the House in December of 2013 by a vote of 325-91.  Discussed below are some of the Act’s provisions as well as judicial developments since the 2013 House vote that may impact those provisions. Heightened Pleading Requirements The proposed Innovation…

The Western District of Texas recently held that patent holder Innovative Wireless Solutions (IWS) acted as its own lexicographer by expressly referencing the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.3 Ethernet standard’s definition of a disputed claim term in the patents-in-suit.  Therefore, the disputed claim was construed to incorporate the standard’s definition. Background.  Cisco and Ruckus Wireless both filed complaints against IWS seeking declarations of non-infringement and invalidity of three of IWS’ patents allegedly…

The Northern District of California recently granted judgment on the pleadings in favor of patent-plaintiff ChriMar Systems, Inc. on antitrust and state law unfair competition counterclaims filed by accused infringers Cisco and Hewlett-Packard (HP).  According to the court, the crux of Cisco’s and HP’s counterclaims alleged that ChriMar failed to disclose and commit to license one of its patents on reasonable and non-discriminatory (RAND) terms during a standard-setting process and, subsequent to the standard being adopted,…

Following an investigation of alleged deceptive patent-assertion practices, the FTC has reached settlement with non-practicing entity MPHJ (the so-called “scanner troll”) and its counsel, Farney Daniels PC. The resolution has resulted in an agreement and consent order that would bar MPHJ and the Farney Daniels firm from making misrepresentations — including deceptive claims concerning the results of licensing, sales, settlement, or litigation regarding particular patents, claims that a particular patent has been licensed to a…

Judge Andrews has entered an order allowing InterDigital and ZTE to proceed with FRAND and damages discovery, following last week’s jury verdict finding that ZTE’s accused handset devices infringe the patents asserted by InterDigital. As we previously mentioned, ZTE asserted a number of FRAND-related affirmative defenses and counterclaims in the litigation, all of which were bifurcated from the infringement liability issues on trial last week. With respect to the SSO-related portion of the case, the order…

Yesterday, InterDigital prevailed in its Delaware jury trial against ZTE where the jury found that ZTE’s accused phones infringe each asserted claims of InterDigital’s U.S. Patent Nos. 7,190,966, 7,286,847, and 8,380,244. The verdict form also shows that the jury found none of the asserted claims to be invalid as obvious. The jury was not asked to make any finding on issues related to damages, ZTE’s FRAND-related affirmative defenses, and ZTE’s FRAND-related counterclaims, all of which were bifurcated…

The European Commission’s Directorate-General (“DG”) for Enterprise and Industry has initiated a “Public Consultation on Patents and Standards“, seeking to gather public input on the relationship between the standardization of technical specifications and related intellectual property rights. The comment period is open now through January 31, 2015 . The public consultation seeks comment from any interested party, particularly those having direct experience with standardization involving IPR, patent transfers, patent pools, and patent dispute resolution, and…