IP Litigation Statistics from China; But What Do They Tell Us?

By: Ian McClure
vineyard

I've been tipped off by the IAM Blog to these interesting statistics released by the Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China. 30,626 civil cases related to IPR at first instance were received by the China national court system in 2009, up 25.49% Of the 2009 IP cases counted, 4,422 involved patent infringement, 6,906 involved trademarks, 15,302 involved copyrights, 747 involved technical contracts, and 1,282 involved unfair competition While a direct comparison to U.S. IP cases is not available (I'm not aware of ... Read More

Categories: Patent Prospects

Tivo, Inc. Demonstrates A Link Between Patent Rulings and Stock Prices

By: Ian McClure
chileairport

I have discussed in other posts the direct link between quality patents and shareholder value. Now, we have proof that a favorable patent ruling at the hand of the CAFC can help a stock price surge. Yesterday, the CAFC ratified the district court's contempt order in Tivo, Inc. v. EchoStar Corp.  The case, which focused on television simultaneous recording technology patents, was well-watched by the IP community.  According to IP Watchdog, Tivo, Inc.'s stock price surged at the news of the hearing: "On ... Read More

Categories: Patent Prospects

Bilski in the U.S. Supreme Court: The fate of business method patents awaits . . .

By: Ian McClure

Oral arguments in the Bilski case began yesterday before the U.S. Supreme Court.  Gathering from the numerous blogs and other sites covering the arguments, it is apparent that the Justices were ready, questioning both sides incessantly on their arguments' weaknesses.  A large question in the minds of the Justices is whether the authors of the 1952 Patent Act contemplated patenting business methods.  The patentability of business methods awaits its fate.  There are numerous blogs with full coverage of the arguments.  See IP Watchdog, ... Read More

Categories: Today in IP

LA Times Quotes Lemley on Bilski Case; Calls it a “step backward”

By: Ian McClure
supremecourt3

In an LA Times article published today titled "Patent Rules Out of Date, Inventors Say", IP think tank extraordinaire Mark Lemley was given some hefty sound bytes as he spoke out on the Bilski case.  The article surrounds the inventors' petition to the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider their case, which was decided recently in the Federal Circuit.  VERY generally, the decision essentially held that patents should be reserved for mechanical innovations, and not for business methods.  When it was Lemley's turn ... Read More

Categories: Today in IP