reexamination

Intellectual Property Analysis of Progressive’s U.S. Patent No. 7,124,088

On January 12, 2011, Progressive Casualty Insurance Company filed a patent infringement lawsuit against a group of its competitors. The suit claims that Allstate, Liberty Mutual and Safeco have all infringed on Progressive’s U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,124,088 (hereafter ‘088) and 6,064,970. The patents in question describe and protect an online insurance policy system and vehicle monitoring system. Two weeks after the lawsuit was filed using patent ‘088, a continuation of this patent 7,877,269 (US ‘269) was granted to Progressive, containing largely similar claims.

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Intellectual Property Analysis of Ecosphere Technologies, Inc.’s Ozonix® Cavitational Reactor Technology

Recent technologies have emerged that enable energy companies to access large reserves of previously unproducible natural gas stored in shale rock. These developments free significant new energy resources from fields formerly not viable for commercial development. The extraction of shale gas depends largely upon hydraulic fracturing (aka fracking)—a process in which water is injected into a well, cracking the shale and releasing the natural gas.

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Intellectual Property Analysis of Imperium (IP) Holdings, Inc. v. Apple Inc. et. al.

On March 18, 2011, Imperium (IP) Holdings filed a lawsuit in the Eastern District of Texas accusing seven companies of infringing five of its patents. Imperium claims that LG, Kyocera, Nokia, Motorola Mobility, Apple, Sony and RIM have all committed infringement by manufacturing, selling or importing cell phones. The asserted patents all relate to image sensors and, in particular, photodiodes. Each of the five patents came to ESS Technology, Inc. as part of its 2003 acquisition of Pictos Technologies, Inc. from Conexant Systems, Inc.

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Intellectual Property Analysis of Microsoft Corporation v. Barnes & Noble, Inc. et. al.

On March 21, 2011, Microsoft filed a lawsuit asserting the Barnes & Noble Nook e-readers infringe five of its patents. In addition to Barnes & Noble, the case names the manufacturers of the device, Inventec and Hon Hai Precision Industry, as well as Hon Hai’s subsidiary Foxconn. Many view this latest suit as a further attack by Microsoft on Google’s Android software, on which the Nook is based. In October 2010, Microsoft brought infringement claims against Motorola, a maker of Android-based smart phones.

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Intellectual Property Analysis of Motorola Mobility v. TiVo, Inc.

On February 25, 2011, Motorola Mobility and its subsidiary General Instrument filed a patent infringement lawsuit against TiVo Inc. Motorola is alleging TiVo’s digital video recorders (DVRs) infringe three of its patents. The asserted patents were originally assigned to Imedia Corporation, whose assets were acquired by General Instrument, which was later acquired by Motorola.

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Intellectual Property Analysis of Microsoft Corporation v. TiVo, Inc.

On January 24, 2011, Microsoft accused TiVo, Inc. of infringement of four of its patents related to television set-top box software in two separate settings. A lawsuit in the Western District of Washington was filed concurrently with an ITC complaint seeking to prevent TiVo from importing set-top boxes and DVRs. Microsoft is accusing TiVo of using technology covered by the asserted Microsoft patents in its TiVo Premiere XL, TiVo HD and TiVo HD XL products.

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Infringement Litigation is a Double-Edged Sword: Intellectual Property Analysis of Sharp Corporation’s U.S. Patent No. 7,057,689

On January 24, 2011, Sharp filed two complaints claiming infringement of seven of its LCD-related patents. A lawsuit was filed in Delaware against AU Optronics Corp. and a complaint was filed with the ITC naming AU Optronics, BenQ Corp., Haier Group, LG Electronics, SANYO Electric Co., TCL Corp. and VIZIO, Inc. Sharp has previously tested the litigation waters with one of these seven properties: U.S. Pat. No. 7,057,689 (hereafter ‘689). In August 2007, Sharp filed an infringement claim in the Eastern District of Texas against Samsung.

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Gaming the Gamers: Intellectual Property Analysis of Walker Digital LLC v. Activision Inc. et al

On January 3, 2011, Walker Digital, an IP focused company well known for cases against Microsoft and Facebook, filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Zynga, Activision and the latter’s subsidiary Blizzard Entertainment. The asserted patent, U.S 6,425,828 (hereafter ‘828), claims a method for conducting a networked electronic tournament for a plurality of players and storing player information for use in subsequent sessions. Zynga (FarmVille), Activision (Call of Duty and Guitar Hero) and Blizzard (World of Warcraft) are giants in the online gaming industry.

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Intellectual Property Analysis of Abbott Labs’ U.S. Patent No. 6,175,752 referenced in Abbott Diabetes Care, Inc., v. Dexcom, Inc.

These days, glucose isn’t the only thing that Abbott Labs (NYSE:ABT) is having to monitor. After developing a presence in the world of diabetes care through its MediSense division, Abbott solidified their market position with its acquisition of TheraSense in 2004, resulting in the formation of Abbott Diabetes Care. In an effort to defend its glucose monitoring division from new entrants, Abbott Diabetes Care initiated a costly legal battle with DexCom, Inc. that is still underway.

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Intellectual Property Analysis of Apple Inc.’s U.S. Patent No. 5,519,867 referenced in Apple, Inc. v. Nokia Corporation ITC Review

According to a recent Bloomberg Businessweek report, Apple is the most sued tech company on record since 2008. One viable explanation could be that competitors are (understandably) jealous of the unmatched fervor stirred up by consumers at the slightest hint of a new or updated Apple product. Another explanation, however, may be that these plaintiffs have legitimate claims. Are Apple’s gadgets, hailed as revolutionary and groundbreaking by the masses, actually based on the work of others? The result of two recent ITC rulings may provide some insight into these questions.

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