Federal Circuit Heightens Standard for Inequitable Conduct By Marina Shvarts – Edited by Dorothy Du Therasense, Inc. v. Becton, Dickinson and Co., 2008-1511, -1512, -1513, -1514, -1595 (Fed. Cir. May 25, 2011) (en banc) Slip Opinion The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit vacated and remanded the decision of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, which found U.S. Patent No. 5,820,551 (“the ’551 patent”) unenforceable due to inequitable conduct. The Federal Circuit heightened the ... Read More...

Federal Circuit Provides Guidance for Obviousness Determinations by the PTO and the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences By Abby Lauer – Edited by Dorothy Du In re Kao, 2010-1307 (Fed. Cir. May 13, 2011) Slip Opinion The Federal Circuit vacated and remanded a decision of the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (“Board”), which had rejected patent application 11/680,432 (“the ‘432 application”) for obviousness. The Federal Circuit also affirmed findings of obviousness by the Board regarding patent applications 12/167,859 ... Read More...

Federal Circuit Ruling in Favor of TiVo Against EchoStar Changes Test for Reviewing Contempt Orders By Dorothy Du – Edited by Matt Gelfand TiVo Inc. v. EchoStar Corp., 2009-1374 (Fed. Cir. April 20, 2011) (en banc) Slip Opinion The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed in part and vacated in part the decision of the District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, which had found the appellants (collectively “EchoStar”) in contempt of two provisions of the court’s ... Read More...

Sony Settles Lawsuit with PlayStation 3 Hacker By Vivian Tao – Edited by Chinh Vo Sony Computer Entm’t Am. v. Hotz, No. CV11-0167 (N.D. Cal. Apr. 11, 2011) Final Judgment hosted by Electronic Frontier Foundation On April 11, 2011, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California entered a final judgment for plaintiff Sony Computer Entertainment America (“Sony”), granting Sony a permanent injunction against defendant George Hotz. The injunction prevents Hotz, a notorious hacker, from engaging in any ... Read More...

Second Circuit Holds that Submission of Entire Copyrighted Work in Judicial Proceedings Constitutes Fair Use By Kaethin Prizer – Edited by Esther Kang Hollander v. Steinberg, No. 10-1140-cv (2d Cir. Apr. 5, 2011) Summary Order hosted by Scribd.com The Second Circuit affirmed the decision of the District Court for the Eastern District of New York, which had granted summary judgment in favor of the defendant in a copyright infringement suit. The Second Circuit applied the traditional four-factor fair use test, ... Read More...