How Machine Learning and Chinese Craigslist Helped Invalidate a Decade-Old Patent
In 2016, a major Chinese smartphone manufacturer came to us with a problem. The company was being sued by a competitor, also based in China, for patent infringement, and they would soon have to appear in court to defend themselves. The penalties for patent infringement can potentially be very painful—fines reaching into the millions of dollars, […]
How a Circuit We Designed Helped Solve a Prior Art Puzzle
In 2017, we were approached by an attorney representing a large manufacturer of digital and analog computer chips that we’ll call Chip and Dale Corp. The company had recently been contacted by another chip manufacturer. We’ll call them Chip Off the Ol’ Block LLC. Chip Off the Ol’ Block claimed that Chip and Dale were […]
How GreyB Uses the “Investigative Approach” to Navigate IP Research
Around the world, the system of patents that governs new ideas and technology can seem practically designed to mislead people, making them think that they can see the field clearly when in fact much of what’s visible is an illusion—truly vital information remains hidden. In an environment where incomplete information about tech and IP often causes […]
System Prior Art: Why we prioritize it over other references?
Have you ever been in a situation where your IPR got instituted, but the PTO declared the challenged claim as valid? If a challenged claim(s) is declared valid by the USPTO in IPR, and later a petitioner asserts earlier challenged claim(s) before a court, he has to overcome a challenge presented by 35 USC § […]
Share this with your search vendor when multiple round of searches lead to nothing
Many a time, even after multiple rounds of searches – in house, from the client’s side, and using vendors – leads to no results. One reason it happens because the winning prior art is unsearchable or in other words doesn’t come up using the keyword-based searches. We have found ourselves in such a situation multiple […]
Why you should add Expired Patents in a FTO report?
We received a freedom-to-operate search from John, a decade-old client of ours. We share a pleasant relationship where we could discuss our concerns and requirements straight away. John was handling the freedom to operate (FTO) project for one of his clients for the very first time. One thing we sensed that John wanted to give […]
Prior Art Search: Everything You Need to Know
If you want to understand prior art searches, you’ve landed on the right page. By the time you finish reading this guide, you’ll likely have built a solid understanding of what can be included in the prior art and how to use this knowledge to conduct a patent search and avoid spending valuable resources on […]
3 Instances Where We Invalidated Patents Infringed Under ITC Section 337
Patent infringement has become a lot common in the past couple of decades. With increased interconnectivity among technologies and the existence of thousands of patents covering them, it has become difficult to innovate without having infringed on at least one patent. Infringement is common and so are lawsuits filed in district courts demanding royalties. What […]
How We Found Prior Art For A Trade Secret Infringement Case Under ITC 337?
How difficult is it to find a solution to a problem you know nothing about? Difficult? Very difficult? Preposterous, you say? No, we are not being ludicrous. Though less often, there are instances when you’re looking for solutions to a problem you know little or nothing about. Despite multiple solutions that exist for every problem in existence, it […]
5 Ways to do an Advanced Prior Art Search Yourself
Have you come across a situation when the search vendor you hired returned with a report concluding “no reference found”? There could be multiple reasons that your vendor returns with such a report. Few among many could be a patent being strong/novel or time allocated is not commensurate with the technology area a patent falls […]
How checking Change requests helped us invalidate a patent related to Mathematical expression?
The patent set was already exhausted. Searching on standards for hours started feeling like inside of a spiral that keeps tightening as you go down. In between, some references emerged undeniable as the Sun in a clear sky. The truth, however, sometimes disappoints. The references had a date after the priority date or as the […]
How we found Prior Art of a Composition Patent for IPR?
Not all prior art searches are run equally. Some are complex, some are easy, and some test your temperament by pushing you to the dark abyss of self-doubt where you question your abilities and skills. This is the stage that demarcates winners from runner-ups. The thin line of demarcation that separates a winning patent search […]
Zomm vs Apple: Can US8351895 be invalidated?
Breach of contract, unfair competition, and willful patent infringement – The very terms predominant in the complaint filed by wireless manufacturer Zomm against the Cupertino-based tech giant. Early in April this year, Zomm filed a patent infringement case against Apple with the Southern District Court of New York. Unlike most other suits, this wasn’t simply […]
Novelty Search in Videos – My journey from having nothing to a relevant art
After a long and hard day at work, I like to come home to a steaming cup of coffee, with toasted marshmallows on top, chocolate chip cookies on the side and some entertainment source to get my mind off work. While some people prefer books and other television, I find watching videos very relaxing. It […]
How a Mobile App helped us find relevant Prior art in an invalidity search?
“Not today!” – I groaned as I woke up and saw the clock beside my bedside. It was 8:15 AM already and I had only 45 minutes to get to the office. I couldn’t afford to get late as I had a client call scheduled at 9:15 AM that day and would need at least […]
Everything we could tell you about Patent Invalidation
You’re looking for Patent Invalidation search or ways to invalidate a patent. You know there are more than a couple of ways to do it. Or maybe you don’t. Well, for starters, you need prior art to invalidate a patent. And believe me, when I say it, Prior art could be found in a lot […]
