IP & Technology Law Trends
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“Secret Sales” of an Invention Continue to Be a Potential Bar to Patent Rights, Even After the America Invents Act
On January 22, 2019, the United States Supreme Court decided an important question in patent law: After the America Invents Act (AIA), does the sale of an invention to a third party, who is contractually obligated to keep the invention confidential,...
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Supreme Court Extends Reach of Patentee to Recover Lost Foreign Profits
Jun 25, 2018
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The Supreme Court on Friday held that WesternGeco, LLC ("WesternGeco"), owner of patents for a system used to survey the ocean floor, can recover profits from sales it lost outside the U.S. due to Ion Geophysical Corp.'s ("ION") infringement of its p...
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It’s Not Always Sunny in Philadelphia: CertainTeed v. BIPV
In CertainTeed v. BIPV, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has given us a good reminder that patents (or patent applications) and trade secrets don’t mix well, and also weighed in on the confounding question of...
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Supreme Court Squeezes Patents: TC Heartland v. Kraft Foods & Impression Products v. Lexmark
In a pair of important decisions over the last week, the Supreme Court again changed the patent protection landscape (and again overruled the Federal Circuit). In TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Group Brands, LLC, the Supreme Court took on the issue...
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The Supremes Have Spoken: The Defense of Laches Does Not Apply to Patent Infringement Suits...
...but can only collect damages for six years prior to filing suit.
In a stunning upset of years of jurisprudence (Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, prior patent act), the U.S. Supreme Court determined that laches (an equitable remedy) cannot be appl...
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The Supremes Unanimously Limit the Galactic Design-Patent-Infringement Damages Award in One of the Apple v. Samsung Design-Patent Wars
More than 120 years have passed since the United States Supreme Court last tackled the issue of damages in design-patent cases. This month, the Court put an end to that silence with its decision in Samsung Electronics Co. v. Apple Inc., handing Samsu...
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