Azernews.Az

By Bloomberg

Lawyers representing Symantec Corp. in a patent suit in Delaware federal court brought by Bellevue, Washington-based Intellectual Ventures LLC were told there are some words they can’t use to describe their litigation opponent.

In a Jan. 6 order, U.S. District Judge Leonard Stark told counsel for Mountain View, California’s Symantec they were barred from calling Intellectual Ventures a “patent troll” or making allegations about a kind of impermissible coaching of witnesses that is known as “woodshedding.”

He said such disparagement is irrelevant. The judge did say that Symantec would be able to present evidence and arguments that Intellectual Ventures doesn’t make products or provide services covered by the patents that are at issue.

Closely held Intellectual Ventures, founded in 2000, is headed by former Microsoft Corp. Chief Technology Officer Nathan Myhrvold, who characterizes IV as an “invention company.” The company is one of the largest U.S. holders of patents and began in 2010 to assert some of those patents, suing a wide range of companies for patent infringement.

One of IV’s co-founders is Peter Detkin, a former vice president and assistant general counsel at Intel Corp., where he managed patent acquisition, licensing and litigation. He’s credited with being the first to use the term “patent troll” to describe those who use their patents not to make products or provide services but to threaten patent litigation and sue those they claim infringe their patents.

Disparaging Arguments

In the Jan. 6 court order, Symantec is also barred from making references to re-examination proceedings of one of the disputed patents at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The judge also granted Intellectual Ventures’ request that Symantec not be permitted to submit arguments and evidence “disparaging or criticizing the patent office.”

Judge Stark gave Symantec permission to argue that the patent office “is not perfect, sometimes makes mistakes” and that sometimes it doesn’t review earlier inventions that may invalidate the patents it’s examining.

The case began in 2010 when Intellectual Ventures sued Symantec and several other technology companies, claiming they violated 12 patents related to computer software.

The case is Intellectual Ventures I LLC v. Symantec Corp., 1:10-cv-01067, U.S. District Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington).

Tech Companies Remain the Biggest Targets as Patent Suits Drop

Technology companies like Google Inc. and Apple Inc. remain the biggest targets of patent lawsuits even as the overall litigation totals dropped last year, according to a study released yesterday by Unified Patents.

The number of patent lawsuits fell 17 percent, to 5,002 from 6,030. Of those, 63 percent involved hardware, software and networking companies, according to Unified Patents, a group of technology companies that pool resources to fend off patent claims.

In the high-tech sector, 83 percent of lawsuits were filed by companies that depend on licensing patents for most of their revenue. That compares with 18 percent of suits in the health- care field and 27 percent of cases in other industries.

“Almost all of them are companies whose business model is to do patent licensing” or assert patent rights in court, said Shawn Ambwani, chief operating officer of Los Gatos, California- based Unified Patents.

The number of lawsuits has become a focal point as Congress considers legislation creating new rules for patent litigation just four years after passing the most sweeping overhaul of the U.S. patent system in five decades.

Proponents like Google and Cisco Systems Inc. point to the high number of suits to back their argument in favor of rules to halt what they consider abusive litigation practices, such as one to make the losers in suits pay the winner’s legal fees.

Companies like Qualcomm Inc., which gets much of its profit from licensing patents for mobile-phone chips, and a group of large companies that include General Electric Co., warn that legislation may do more harm than good. The changes passed in 2011 need time to take effect before anything else is done, they say.

For more patent news, click here.

Trademark

TCL Acquired HP’s ‘Palm’ Marks, Will Make Products in U.S.

TCL Communications Holdings Ltd., a Chinese maker of mobile handsets, has acquired the Palm trademarks from Hewlett Packard Corp., the company said in a statement issued at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed in the statement.

The mark will be used by a new Palm Inc., which will be based in California’s Silicon Valley. HP acquired Palm Inc. in April 2010 for $1.2 billion, according to a statement from the Palo Alto, California-based company.

The database of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office indicates that one of the Palm trademarks was transferred to a holding company based in the British Virgin Islands on Nov. 14.

That same holding company filed two new applications to register the Palm trademark for use with consumer electronic products on Dec. 23. Sometimes shell companies are used to acquire intellectual property before the acquiring company is ready to go public.

In its statement, TCL said it’s operating globally under both the Alcatel Onetouch and TCL brands. In addition to smartphones, the company also makes tablets, wearables, mobile routers and other devices.

For more trademark news, click here.

Copyright

Microsoft, Alibaba Sign Accord to Fight Sale of Pirated Software

Microsoft Corp., the world’s biggest software company, and Alibaba Group Holding SP signed an agreement aimed at fighting the sale of pirated versions of the Redmond, Washington-based company’s products on several e-commerce websites, China Daily’s Global Times reported.

When it receives complaints from Microsoft, Hangzhou, China-based Alibaba will delete or block pages selling fake or unauthorized versions of the software company’s products, according to Global Times.

The two websites that will be the focus of Alibaba’s enforcement efforts are taobao.com and tmall.com, Global Times reported.

In addition to blocking access to pages where pirated Microsoft software is sold, Alibaba will also help get compensation for consumers if they’re tricked into buying fake products on those two websites, according to the newspaper.

For more copyright news, click here.

Trade Secrets/Industrial Espionage

Blue Cross Sets Up Website For Consumers Shopping For Coverage

Although it had previously said that such data was confidential and should be protected as a trade secret, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of North Carolina has set up an informational website through which consumers can learn price differences for various procedures among the state’s health-care providers, the NewsObserver reported.

Blue Cross Chief Medical Officer Susan Weaver said that disclosing what had been deemed closely held trade secrets will help solve the health-care cost problem, according to the newspaper.

The cost calculator was revealed several days after the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services began making public hospital cost data required under the 2013 HealthCare Cost Reduction and Transparency Act, according to the NewsObserver.

Blue Cross claims its online cost calculator is more competitive and consumer-friendly than the data provided by the state, the newspaper reported.