In This Issue
- Final Really Does Mean Final in the Federal Circuit
- The AIA: Reviewing the First Year of Inter Partes Review
- Patent Troll Legislation Takes Another Step Forward: But Will It – or Should It – Matter?
Final Really Does Mean Final in the Federal Circuit
By Michael L. Nepple
Defendants in patent infringement lawsuits often request that the United States Patent and Trademark Office ("PTO") reexamine the patent-in-suit. Patent reexamination is a process where the validity of an issued patent is again reviewed by the PTO. Patent infringement litigation, of course, takes place in federal district courts. Often, a patent infringement action brought by the patentee in federal district court and a reexamination proceeding initiated by the accused infringer in the PTO proceed at the same time.
The AIA: Reviewing the First Year of Inter Partes Review
By Katherine E. Colvin
September 16, 2013, marked the one-year anniversary of the implementation of the America Invents Act, and with it, the introduction of an important tool for challenging the validity of an issued patent at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office – Inter Partes Review (IPR). IPR has replaced inter partes reexaminations. In contrast, inter partes reexaminations were applicable only to patents issued from an original application filed on or after November 29, 1999; IPR is available for all patents.
Patent Troll Legislation Takes Another Step Forward: But Will It – or Should It – Matter?
By Jason M. Schwent
On December 5, the U.S. House of Representatives approved House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte's Innovation Act. This follow-up to the America Invents Act is the first of several Congressional bills targeting so-called "patent trolls."
Though touted as a needed force of change, the bill, as approved by the House of Representatives, lacks any real change of note. Thus, while almost everyone (Democrats, Republicans, the White House, major businesses, etc.) agrees that patent assertion entity litigation is a problem, not all agree that legislation is the best way to fix the problem, or that this bill in particular will do the job.
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