The Case of winning an IPR at PTAB
Old times were simple. There was a plaintiff, who tried to sue a company, and then the company asked us to find some good prior art. We logged in to simple patent databases, many of which were free, entered few keyword-based search strings and poof! good results. Case settled. The client was happy, we were happy! […]
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 […]
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 § […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
How We Invalidated a Patent Related to Drones?
Drones fascinate me. They are wonderful tools of entertainment and transportation and has so much potential, which, if fully explored can change the way mankind transports. Technology companies around the globe, are researching the solutions for the problems of the domain and it would only be a matter of time before drones are everywhere. TBH, I’m waiting […]
How We found Prior Art in Non Patent Literature of University Publication?
I was leaning in my chair while watching those bees through the steam of my coffee. They were four in number, flying from one plant to another, from one flower to next, collecting the sugary nectar. When they were fully loaded, which was a task completed sort of thing for them, they flew back. The […]
Physical Search: Unconventional Way to find Prior Art
Prior art can be found in a lot of places. Some conventional, others unimaginable yet a valid source of prior art – the unconventional one. As analysts, we are tuned to exhaust the conventional sources before probing into unconventional ways. But sometimes it is better to go unconventional in the very beginning, as it might […]
Mesa sues Amazon, Sony, Lenovo, and Blackberry – a prior art could be found here
Patent Assertion Entities have been an active topic of discussion in IP industries for years. They have earned a moniker of frivolous lawsuit filers trying to assert a patent covering vague or quite general technology. Most of the cases filed by PAEs in the past decade involved patents covering software technology because software patents are […]
How Lateral Thinking Helped us in Invalidating a Standard Essential Patent on HDMI Technology?
Invalidating patents is hard. Invalidating a standard-essential patent (SEPs) is even harder. SEPs claim technical solutions that are part of industry standards. Needless to say, they are much more valuable than regular patents. The technology behind these patents is developed by some of the best industry experts, mostly while working in an environment already filled […]
