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This week’s Patently Obvious report focuses on U.S. Patents 5,604,920 and 5,410,728, two key patents in the technology behind the Iridium NEXT constellation of satellites. On June 22, 2010, Thales Alenia Space announced that it had entered into an agreement to acquire a significant patent portfolio from Intellectual Ventures related to the Iridium satellite communication systems, the terms of which were undisclosed.

This report focuses on patents of interest which predate and are concurrent to the Iridium patents, including public-domain alternatives.

This week’s Patently Obvious report focuses on the patent holdings of ArcSight, Inc. On September 13, 2010, Hewlett-Packard entered into an agreement to buy ArcSight, a leading security and compliance management company, for $43.50 per share, for a total purchase price of $1.5 billion. ArcSight had been shopping itself around to several large technology companies, several of which reciprocated in their interest.

This week’s Patently Obvious report focuses on the patent holdings of Visa, Inc. With the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act recently signed into law on July 21, 2010, major credit card companies have found themselves the recipients of new financial regulatory restrictions due to the Durbin amendment.

This week’s Patently Obvious report focuses on the patent holdings of Mirror Worlds Technologies, Inc., namely those highlighted in Mirror Worlds LLC v. Apple Inc., 08cv88, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

Apple has historically been quite successful at predicting consumer preferences and has capitalized on their foresight to drive consumer demand. Their enviable position of success has opened the door to both legitimate and opportunistic lawsuits concerning their intellectual property.

On October 5, 2010, NuVasive, Inc. initiated a patent infringement lawsuit against Globus Medical, Inc. over Globus Medical’s LLIF lateral fusion offerings. NuVasive claims that these instruments, implants and techniques infringe on NuVasive’s XLIF intellectual property, specifically that disclosed within U.S. Patent No. 7,691,057. In fact, this is just the most current in a string of lawsuits NuVasive has levied against competitors such as Orthofix International and a counterclaim against Medtronic.