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Patent News - Patent Infringement - Patent Litigation – Patent Enforcement



An important white paper has been published on how the America Invents Act will affect inventors and innovators. For important information on what you need to know and do in regards to the America Invents Act:

White Paper - America Invents Act

What Inventors and Innovators need to know about the new America Invents Act (www.aminn.org)



HP Wins Inkjet Patent Infringement Case

The U.S. Custom Service has been ordered to stop inkjet print heads from entering the U.S .relating to the patent infringement suit filed by HP against Asia Pacific Microsystems. The U.S. International Trade Commission ruled that the HP inkjet patents were not only infringed upon by APM but that APM is liable for inducing patent infringement by other companies who also supplied inkjet print heads.

HP originally filed the complaint in June of 2010 alleging that the importation of these inkjet print heads infringed HP’s intellectual property. HP actively pursues those manufacturers who violate its inkjet cartridge patents through patent litigation.



Noven Files Patent Infringement Lawsuit Against Watson Pharmaceuticals

October 13, 2011 - Noven Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that it has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of New Jersey against Watson Pharmaceuticals ("Watson") for patent infringement of certain Noven patents by Watson.

The lawsuit was filed as a result of an Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) submission by Watson seeking FDA approval to market and sell a generic version of Daytrana® (methylphenidate transdermal system) prior to the scheduled expiration of the Patents in 2018. The lawsuit reflects Noven’s commitment to vigorously defending its intellectual property rights against infringement.

Because Noven filed this patent infringement lawsuit within 45 days of receiving a Paragraph IV notification letter from Watson, the FDA cannot approve Watson’s ANDA for 30 months (until March 2014), unless the district court finds the Patents invalid or not infringed before the 30 months pass.



Allstate Insurance Company and Progressive Insurance Company reach Patent Litigation Settlement

Allstate Insurance Company, Allstate Fire & Casualty Insurance Company and Progressive Casualty Insurance Company have agreed to settle litigation involving usage-based insurance and online insurance policy-servicing patents and certain trademarks. The parties have also agreed to settle related counterclaims.

Allstate is pleased to have reached a resolution with Progressive and will continue to introduce Allstate's Drive Wise® telematics usage-based insurance program. As part of the settlement, the parties have cross-licensed certain patent rights to each other, including a license flowing from Allstate to Progressive regarding a usage-based insurance patent. Both parties have also agreed to enter into a trademark coexistence agreement involving the Drive® and Drive Wise® trademarks.

Other terms of the settlement remain subject to the parties' agreement to confidentiality.

Although confident in the merits of its case, Allstate is pleased to be able to leverage its patent portfolio in this settlement by providing a license to Progressive and to eliminate the distraction from this litigation.



General Patent Corporation Reaches Settlements with Last Two Defendants in Advanced Video Technologies Patent Infringement Lawsuit

VistaQuest Corporation and Aiptek, Inc. Agree to Settle Lawsuit

Suffern, N.Y., September 15, 2011 - General Patent Corporation (GPC), a leading patent licensing and enforcement firm, announced today on behalf of its subsidiary, Advanced Video Technologies LLC (AVT), that it reached settlements with the last two out of seven defendants in a patent infringement lawsuit filed last year. VistaQuest Corporation of Woodland Hills, Calif., took a license under the AVT patent, paying AVT's standard $.25-per-unit royalty for past and future sales of camcorder products. The last defendant, Aiptek, Inc. of Irvine, Calif., agreed to settle the lawsuit.

AVT owns U.S. Patent No. 5,781,788 (the "'788 Patent") titled "Full Duplex Single Chip Video Codec." In December of 2010, AVT filed a patent infringement lawsuit (Case No. 10-cv-9013) in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against seven camcorder vendors. VistaQuest and Aiptek join Imation Corporation, Isonic Corporation, Mustek, Inc., and Sakar International, Inc. that all previously agreed to settle the lawsuit or take a license

"We are very pleased to have now reached agreements with all seven defendants and resolved this lawsuit," says Alexander Poltorak, founder and CEO of General Patent Corporation. "The '788 Patent is available for licensing on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms to other camcorder vendors," he added.



General Patent Corporation Reaches Settlement in Patent Infringement Lawsuit with Sakar International, Inc.

General Patent Corporation (GPC), a leading patent licensing and enforcement firm, announced on behalf of its subsidiary, Advanced Video Technologies LLC (AVT), that it reached a settlement with Sakar International, Inc. of Edison, N.J. in a patent infringement lawsuit it filed against Sakar and six other video camera suppliers.

AVT owns U.S. Patent No. 5,781,788 (the "'788 Patent") titled "Full Duplex Single Chip Video Codec." In December of 2010, AVT filed a patent infringement lawsuit (Case No. 10-cv-9013) in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against seven video camera vendors. Thus far, Sakar is the fifth defendant to settle this lawsuit. Other companies, including Casio Computer Co., Ltd. and Casio America Inc., Electro Flip LLC and Audiovox Electronics Corporation, had previously licensed the '788 Patent.

"We are pleased to have now reached an agreement with five of the seven defendants in the AVT patent litigation," said Paul J. Lerner, GPC's Sr. Vice President and General Counsel. "The '788 Patent is available for licensing on non-discriminatory terms to other video manufacturers, importers and suppliers," he added.



New Technology Makes Credit Cards Safe from Online Fraud

Patent Brokerage Firm, ICAP Patent Brokerage, a division of ICAP plc, the world’s largest intellectual property brokerage and patent auction firm, and 3M Future LLC have just signed an exclusive marketing cooperation over a patent providing revolutionary credit card security. The invention enables a mobile smart phone to act as a secure and advanced credit card. In addition the technology allows for toll-taking on card payments from these phones. This patent portfolio will allow the owner to move into and sustainably play in the field of payments.



United States Patent and Trademark Office Issues 8 Millionth Patent

The Department of Commerce’s United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued its 8 millionth patent to Second Sight Medical Products, Inc., for a visual prosthesis apparatus that enhances visual perception for people who have gone blind due to outer retinal degeneration. The invention uses electrical stimulation of the retina to produce the visual perception of patterns of light. The product – the Argus® II – is currently in U.S. clinical trials and has received marketing approval in Europe. “This kind of innovation is a driver of our nation’s economic growth and job creation,” said Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO David Kappos. “The USPTO plays a major role in serving America’s innovators by granting the intellectual property rights they need to secure investment capital, build companies and bring their products and services to the global marketplace.”

Second Sight has 90 issued U.S. patents surrounding technology associated with sight restoration for the blind and treatment of a variety of other medical conditions,” said Robert Greenberg, president and CEO of Second Sight. “This patent protection and significant federal support for innovation have already played key roles in creating nearly 100 U.S. jobs at our company. Once the Argus II has FDA approval in the United States, we expect to create hundreds of more jobs over the next several years, while delivering a breakthrough treatment for a previously untreatable medical condition.”

It took 75 years to get to patent 1 million in August 1911, yet just under six years to get from patent 7 million to today’s 8 millionth patent.



General Patent Corporation Reaches Settlement in Patent Infringement Lawsuit with Mustek, Inc.

General Patent Corporation (GPC), a leading patent licensing and enforcement firm, announced on behalf of its subsidiary, Advanced Video Technologies LLC (AVT), that it settled a patent infringement lawsuit with Mustek, Inc. of Tustin, Calif. As part of the settlement, Mustek took a non-exclusive license under the patent-in-suit at the AVT's standard royalty rate of $0.25 per unit, and is paying for past acts of infringement of the patent.

AVT owns U.S. Patent No. 5,781,788 (the "'788 Patent") titled "Full Duplex Single Chip Video Codec." In December of 2010, AVT filed a patent infringement lawsuit (Case No. 10-cv-9013) in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against seven video camera manufacturers. Thus far, Mustek is the fourth defendant to settle the suit. Prior licensees of the '788 Patent include Casio Computer Co., Ltd., Casio America Inc., Pure Digital Technologies, Inc., Electro Flip LLC and Audiovox Electronics Corporation.

"We are pleased to have now reached an agreement with four of the seven defendants in the AVT patent litigation," said Paul J. Lerner, GPC's Sr. Vice President and General Counsel. "The '788 Patent is available for licensing on non-discriminatory terms to other manufacturers," he added.



Nortel Completes Sale Of Patents And Patent Applications

Nortel Networks Corporation [OTC: NRTLQ] announced that it, its subsidiary Nortel Networks Limited (NNL), and certain of its other subsidiaries, including Nortel Networks Inc. and Nortel Networks UK Limited (in administration), have completed the sale of all of Nortel's remaining patents and patent applications to a consortium consisting of Apple, EMC, Ericsson, Microsoft, Research In Motion and Sony, for a cash purchase price of US$4.5 billion.

As previously announced, the sale includes more than 6,000 patents and patent applications spanning wireless, wireless 4G, data networking, optical, voice, internet, service provider, semiconductors and other patents. The extensive patent portfolio touches nearly every aspect of telecommunications and additional markets as well, including Internet search and social networking.

As previously announced, Nortel does not expect that the Company's common shareholders or the NNL preferred shareholders will receive any value from Nortel's creditor protection proceedings and expects that the proceedings will result in the cancellation of these equity interests.



Apple Facing More Patent Litigation and a U.S. Trade Commission Investigation

Apple will be dealing with another patent infringement lawsuit filed by Personal Audio in the U.S. District Court for the East District of Texas. Personal Audio, previously awarded $8 million in damages for patent infringement says that additional Apple Products are infringing on the same intellectual property. Their filing states that “the Court instructed the Jury to disregard any evidence that Personal Audio was entitled to damages relating to products not accused in that litigation” and that “the damages awarded by the Jury on July 8, 2011, does not cover any other products”. Hence, Personal Audio believes the other products allegedly infringed upon by Apple but not included in the original patent litigation should now be seen as infringed products and damages awarded to compensate Personal Audio.

In further patent infringement issues for Apple, Samsung has levied patent infringement claims against Apple and the U.S. International Trade Commission announced that it will investigate those claims. The complaint accuses Apple of copying Samsung innovations with the Apple iPad, iPhone and iPod. The ITC regularly investigates all high level complaints.



Patent Litigation Settled Between Apple and Nokia

Nokia has signed a patent license agreement with Apple ending the patent litigation between the two companies. Nokia had claimed that patent infringement was caused by Apple’s use of Caller ID technology, 3G, and Touch Screen technology. The patent license agreement consists of a one time payment payable by Apple to Nokia and ongoing royalties to be paid by Apple for an unspecified period of time. This agreement brings to an end the patent infringement litigation between the two companies.


Microsoft Loses Patent Infringement Appeal

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that Microsoft pay $290 million to i4i, a Canadian company for patent infringement. The case for patent infringement involved a text manipulation tool used in Microsoft’s Word 2003 and 2007 versions. The lower courts had ordered Microsoft to pay for the patent infringement and stop selling the versions of Word that infringed the i4i technology. Microsoft had claimed that i4i’s patent was not a valid patent. The justices ruled in an 8 to 0 vote that patents issued by the U.S. Patent Office are presumed valid and that a challenger to that validity must prove with clear and convincing evidence that the patent issued by the U.S. Patent Office was invalid. Microsoft currently only sells versions of Word without this particular technology.


General Patent Corporation Settles Patent Infringement Lawsuit with Coby Electronics Corporation

General Patent's Subsidiary, Advanced Video Technologies, Licenses Coby Electronics under Its Full Duplex Single Chip Video Codec Patent

Suffern, N.Y., April 11, 2011 − General Patent Corporation (GPC), a leading patent licensing and enforcement firm, announced today on behalf of its subsidiary, Advanced Video Technologies LLC (AVT), that it settled a patent infringement lawsuit between AVT and Coby Electronics Corporation of Lake Success, N.Y. As part of the settlement, Coby took a non-exclusive license under the patent-in-suit.

Advanced Video Technologies LLC owns U.S. Patent No. 5,781,788 (the "'788 Patent") titled "Full Duplex Single Chip Video Codec." In December of 2010, AVT filed a patent infringement lawsuit (Case No. 10-cv-9013) in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Coby Electronics Corporation and six other companies. General Patent and Coby agreed to settle the lawsuit and have Coby license the '788 Patent.

"We are pleased to have reached an agreement with Coby Electronics over infringement of the AVT patent," said Paul J. Lerner, GPC's Sr. Vice President and General Counsel. "The '788 Patent is available for licensing on non-discriminatory terms to other manufacturers," he added.

About Advanced Video Technologies LLC: Advanced Video Technologies LLC owns U.S. Patent No. 5,781,788 for "Full Duplex Single Chip Video Codec." AVT is a portfolio company of an idea incubator operated by IP Holdings LLC and is managed by General Patent Corporation. For licensing terms and conditions for the '788 Patent, contact Kathlene Ingham, GPC's Director of Licensing, at (845) 368-4000 x107 or email kingham@generalpatent.com. For more information about Advanced Video Technologies LLC visit www.advancedvidtech.com.

About General Patent Corporation: General Patent Corporation, headquartered in Suffern, N.Y., is a leading intellectual property boutique focusing on patent licensing and enforcement. GPC represents patent owners in patent enforcement and assertive licensing on a contingency basis. General Patent also provides IP valuation, IP strategy and technology transfer services. GPC is the oldest patent enforcement firm in the U.S., and is the managing member of Advanced Video Technologies LLC. For more information, visit www.generalpatent.com.

About IP Holdings LLC: IP Holdings LLC, an affiliate of General Patent Corporation, is an IP-centric merchant banking organization. IP Holdings provides IP-related financial services, IP brokerage services, and operates an idea incubator. IP Holdings LLC is a member of Advanced Video Technologies LLC. For more information on IP Holdings, visit www.ip-holdings.com.

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