On April 28, 1992, U.S. Patent No. 5,107,620 issued to Richard E. Mahan on an Electrified Table Cloth. The table cloth had a mini electric fence to keep crawling insects from joining the picnic.
Principles of Equity: Denying Inventors their Constitutionally Promised Exclusivity
Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution, empowers the United States Congress:
To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.
However, the patent laws enacted by Congress don’t always provide what the Constitution intended. In Texas Advanced Optoelectrionic Solutions, Inc, v. Intersil Corp., [4:08-CV-451] the district court recently denied the plaintiff patent owner’s motion for a permanent injunction,finding a lack of irreparable harm. The Court relied upon the fact that the patent owner “viewed a reasonable royalty as sufficient compensation for the Defendant’s past infringement,” The Court then ordered the parties:
to negotiate a royalty rate to address any future harm to the Plaintiff for the remaining life of the ‘981 patent. Such supplemental damages shall be for sales in the Unite States of products found to infringe the Plaintiff’s patent from March 2014 until the expiration of the patent. The parties shall have 30 days from the entry of this order to negotiate a royalty rate. If the parties require additional time, they may so move the court. If the parties are unable to successfully negotiate a royalty rate, the Plaintiff may move the court to impose an ongoing royalty rate.
The case arose when, after entering a confidentiality agreement to explore a possible business relationship, Intersil misappropriated TAOS’ trade secrets, and wilffully infringed TAOS’ patent. Despite Intersil’s bad conduct, and the fact the parties were actually competing in the marketplace, the Constitution’s promise of exclusivity is denied on principles of equity.
April 27 Patent of the Day
On April 27, 1976, U.S. Patent No. 3,953,566 issued to Robert W. Gore on a Process for Producing Porous Products – Goretex.
April 26 Patent of the Day
On April 26, 1966, U.S. Patent No. 3,248,705 issued to James E Dammann and Edward J. Skiko, on an Automatic Editor — one of the first word processing systems.
April 25 Patent of the Day
On April 25, 1950, Erwin J. Schweitzer and Carmine Jordan received U.S. Patent No. 2,505,652 on the Tail Wheel Actuated Arresting Hook — that automatically deployed the tail hook with the landing gear to facilitate landing on an aircraft carrier.
April 24 Patent of the Day
On April 24, 1934, U.S. Patent No. 1,956,350, issued to Laurence Hammon on an Electrical Musical Instrument — the electric organ.
April 23 Patent of the Day
On April 23, 1907, U.S. Patent No. 850978 issued to Ignatius Soares on a Nose Shaper. Fortunately for plastic surgeons everywhere, Ignatius’ invention never caught on, because the user sure looks delighted.
An Infringement, Divided, May Stand After All
In Mankes v. Vivid Seats Ltd., [2015-1500, 2015-1501, 2015-1909] (April 22, 2016), the Federal Circuit vacated judgment on the pleadings against Mankes, and remanded for further proceedings in light of Akamai IV.
The case involved U.S. Patent No. 6,477,503 on methods for managing a reservation system that divides inventory between a local server and a remote Internet server. It was stipulated that no none person performed all of the steps of any single claim of the patent. However, the defendants; arguments of non-infringement, and the district court’s determination were before the most rececent version of Akamai (Akamai IV). The Federal Circuit said that:
“We need not say how much broadening occurred in Akamai IV. In the present cases, the district court’s rulings and the arguments of Fandango and Vivid Seats to the district court were squarely based on the earlier, narrower standard.”
The Federal Circuit vacated and remanded the case, and rejected defendants’ appeal of the denial of attorneys fees for good measure.
April 22 Patent of the Day
On April 22, 1879, U.S. Patent No. 214,663 issued to William L Hunt on Improvement in Theater Appliances — the appliance in question being a human cannon.
April 21 Patent of the Day
On April 21, 1959, U.S. Patent No. 2,882,643 issued to Alexander G Jianas, John R, Dos Passos, Nicholas C. Spanos, and Gene Towne, on a Bubble Toy — a space age looking bubble gun.
