Recent Articles

Foreign or Domestic, All Have Access to the Courts

Campbell Chiang
November 17, 2009 16:55

When conducting an infringement threat assessment in your industry, don't write off the foreign companies. Foreign companies can and do file in US courts, whether against domestic or foreign competitors. As the US market becomes more competitive and foreign companies become more sophisticated, a...

ITC Exclusion Orders - Verify the Impact of General Exclusion Orders

Campbell Chiang
October 28, 2009 17:32

We've written quite a bit about ITC 337 proceedings. One of the issues to watch out for is collateral damage from your general exclusion orders. General exclusion orders usually prohibit the importation of all infringing articles, regardless of their owner, importer, and place of origin, and...

Qimonda Strikes Out at ITC

Chun Ng
October 20, 2009 18:16

We've written before about the increasing popularity of the ITC as a patent litigation forum, particularly for semicon companies.  However, success at the ITC is turning out to be a bit more elusive than hoped for by patent owners.  In the latest setback for a semicon company at the ITC,...

Increasing Foreign Complainants in Section 337 Actions

Campbell Chiang
October 16, 2009 22:54

US companies will increasingly find themselves as respondents in Section 337 actions. Given the advantages to the complainant in such actions (fast docket, lower threshold for standing, and exclusion orders), the advice we previously gave foreign companies now also applies to US companies. React...

ITC Staff Approves Proposed Settlement Between Cognex & Multitest

Campbell Chiang
September 23, 2009 15:03

The US ITC staff has endorsed a proposed settlement between Multitest Electronic Systems Inc. and Cognex Corp. in a patent infringement case over machine vision software. Multitest was the first the nearly 20 named respondents to reach a settlement with Cognex. Interestingly, several of the other...

Advanced Ion Beam Technology Inc. v. Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates Inc. - intersection of antitrust and patent law

Campbell Chiang
September 08, 2009 19:58

On Aug. 31, Advanced Ion Beam Technology ("AIBT") had its antitrust counterclaims dismissed without prejudice from a patent infringement suit for failing to properly allege specific antitrust injury. On the same day, AIBT filed a new Sherman Act suit refining its antitrust allegations...

The Perils of Ignoring ITC Complaints - Default Judgment

Campbell Chiang
September 02, 2009 20:52

As a follow up on our earlier post on Tessera's ITC action, the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) recently made an Initial Determination that respondents TwinMOS Technologies Inc. and TwinMOS Technologies USA Inc. (collectively "TwinMOS") are in default for failure to respond. Given the...

Change in Method Patent Protection Scope - Cardiac Pacemakers

Campbell Chiang
August 24, 2009 16:26

The Federal Circuit's recent decision in Cardiac Pacemakers represents a shift in method patent protection scope. Generally, activities outside the U.S. do not trigger U.S. patent liability. But 35 U.S.C. Section 271(f) creates patent liability for certain import and export activities, such as...

LSI and Agere Systems settle with ITC respondants

Campbell Chiang
August 12, 2009 17:13

We've covered the value of ITC 337 actions in prior posts, and the recent events have continued the trend. MagnaChip has settled its patent dispute before the ITC with LSI and Agere Systems. On July 21, the Administrative Law Judge issued an initial determination terminating the investigation...

Elpida Buys Qimonda Patents out of Bankruptcy

Chun Ng
August 07, 2009 19:07

Digitimes reports that Qimonda has sold its technology licenses and patents related to GDDR memory to Elpida.  Businessweek reports the same thing.  Recall that Germany based Qimonda entered bankruptcy in 2009 due to the difficult DRAM pricing environment.  Interesting to note that...