In defense of Bayh-Dole
In The Atlantic, Sen. Birch Bayh, who represented Indiana from 1962 to 1980, and Joseph P. Allen, president of Allen and Associates responded to that part of the new Start Up Visa Act, a bill that would change the landscape of university technology transfer created and nurtured since 1980’s passing of the Bayh-Dole Act. Bookmark [...]
Federal Circuit allows discovery of patent infringement settlement negotiations
In MTSG V ATT, the Federal Circuit found that settlement negotiations related to reasonable royalty and damage calculations are not protected by a settlement negotiation privilege. Bookmark on DeliciousDigg this postRecommend on Facebookshare via RedditShare with StumblersTweet about itSubscribe to the comments on this post
AOL patent sale chooses a winner among dueling IP valuation analysts
Lost in the lay press coverage of Microsoft’s purchase of 800 AOL patents is the PR battle that waged between valuation shops with widely disparate conclusions of value. Early on, at the request of a major shareholder, IPNav determined that AOL might realize up to $1.3M per patent for the package. (For perspective, recall that [...]
AOL agrees to sell over 800 patents to Microsoft
The Wall Street Journal reports AOL has agreed to sell 800+ patents to Microsoft for $1.1B. Microsoft also gets a nonexclusive license to AOL’s remaining patent portfolio. AOL spokespersons said the agreement was the result of an auction process. $1.1B is considerably more than the value some analysts had put on the patents just last [...]
Use of patents to cover industry-standard technology under U.S. review
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is examining the legality of companies seeking to prevent rivals from using patents that cover industry-standard technology, the agency’s chairman Jon Leibowitz recently said, but did not specify which industry’s technology is under review, www.businessweek.com reported. The Justice Department previously disclosed a similar review related to the smartphone market. [...]
Small businesses hurt in international patent arena
A recent USPTO report, International Patent Protections for Small Businesses, found that small companies often face daunting financial challenges when it comes to protecting intellectual property overseas. However, when done early in the life of the company, “international patenting can provide a platform for tapping new markets later in life,” the report, prepared with the [...]
Microsoft, TiVo dismiss patent lawsuits
After two years of duking it out in court, TiVo recently filed a regulatory statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, saying that it has reached an agreement with Microsoft to dismiss all pending patent litigation and has agreed to drop its counterclaim against Microsoft. While no reason was given for dropping the lawsuits, it [...]
Senate Judiciary members warn against anti-competitive patent use
Two ranking members of the Senate Judiciary Committee recently sent a letter to the Department of Justice expressing their concern that some patents and actions taken to enforce them are stifling competition. Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman Herb Kohl (D-Wi.) expressed their fears about how patent fights are playing out [...]
U.S. Supreme Court: Laws of nature are not patentable
In one corner was the might of the intellectual property bar … and in the other corner were Mayo, AARP, and a host of consumer advocates. At issue was whether medical diagnostic processes (instructions for observing changes in a patient relative to a drug’s dosages) are eligible for patent protection. Last week the U.S. Supreme [...]
USPTO, AUTM join forces to educate examiners
So USPTO examiners have the very best knowledge possible about the technologies universities are working on to submit for patent consideration, the USPTO and AUTM announced a new program whereby AUTM will provide technical speakers to speak with USPTO examiners wherever and whenever they want, David Kappos, head of the USPTO announced at the plenary [...]
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