Beware: Damages for pursuing baseless claim construction
By Brian R. Michalek
Intellectual Property,
March 2012
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a District Court's award of $4.6 million in attorney's fees and expert fees based on Plaintiff MarcTec's frivolous litigation. The Federal Circuit found MarcTec's assertion of infringement baseless given its untenable initial claim construction position and untestable expert theory. MarcTec's pursuit of infringement, even after the District Court's unfavorable claim construction order, further reflected its bad faith and ultimately resulted in the Court's affirmation of attorney and expert fees.
En banc decision provides guidance for evaluating modified products within a contempt proceeding
By Brian R. Michalek
Intellectual Property,
September 2011
On April 20, 2011, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, sitting en banc, vacated a $110 million award against Echostar Corporation and implemented a new test for evaluating product redesigns within a contempt proceeding. The en banc Court overruled and modified the KSM test, effectively merging the old two-step test into one. Under the new test, the Courts are to inquire as whether the newly accused product was so different from the infringing product so as to create a fair ground of doubt as to the wrongfulness of the defendant's conduct.
Supreme Court ruling leaves window open for business method patents
By Brian R. Michalek
Intellectual Property,
October 2010
This past June, the Supreme Court issued the much-anticipated opinion in Bilski et al. v. Kappos. The 5-4 majority opinion held the claims of the patent application at issue were directed to an abstract idea and therefore were not patentable under 35 U.S.C. Section 101.
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