Patents

By: K. Olinga Mitchell Yes. It is certainly possible to obtain patent protection for applications written for mobile devices. Patent protection extends to software in the United States of America. Whether or not you should attempt to acquire patent protection is a business decision.  A patent will protect your idea from potential competitors however this […]

Judges preceding over patent infringement cases, have a very difficult job to do.  They must define the scope of the patent protection over an invention and determine whether a company or individual violated that patent.  This is easier said than done.  Patent language is not cut and dry.  The language leaves much room for interpretation.  […]

By: Mark R. Malek As has often been the case with some of my articles in the past, I like to introduce little practice tips as something interesting happens in my day to day life of prosecuting patent applications here at Widerman & Malek.  I recently received a call from an Examiner on a case […]

By: Mark R. Malek You may recall that my last article was directed to the requirement to pay maintenance fees in order to keep your patent alive.  As was discussed in that article, maintenance fees must be paid at 3.5 years, 7.5 years and 11.5 years after the patent has issued. When someone has not paid […]

Pleading Inequitable Conduct

By: Tyler Hampy   Rule 9(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure specifies that: “In alleging fraud or mistake, a party must state with particularity the circumstances constituting fraud or mistake. Malice, intent, knowledge, and other conditions of a person’s mind may be alleged generally.” The court in Exergen Corp. v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., […]

By: Mark R. Malek If you haven’t noticed, many of my posts lately have revolved around the questions that I get from various clients.  This one was a tough one. Not necessarily from the perspective of not knowing what to do, but having to hear the horror story from this client.  Unfortunately, it is a […]

By: Mark R. Malek So you have just received your Notice of Allowance for your patent application.  In the Notice of Allowance, there is a requirement for you to pay an issue fee and a publication fee.  You may have paid the publication fee early pursuant to a request for early publication.  Section 1129 of […]

Irreparable Injury: Lost Market Share

  By: Tyler Hampy Pursuant to the well-established principles of equity, a patentee seeking an injunction against an infringer must satisfy a four-factor test before a court may grant such relief. The patentee must demonstrate: (1) that it has suffered an irreparable injury; (2) that remedies available at law, such as monetary damages, are inadequate […]

AMERICA INVENTS ACT – Limiting Joinder

By: Tyler Hampy   Prior to the implementation of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA), Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 20 governed permissive joinder of defendants in patent infringement suits. However, prior to the AIA, district courts were split on how they interpreted Rule 20 in patent infringement litigation. A few district courts interpreted Rule 20 […]

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