Posts Tagged: "samsung"

Congress, the ITC and the Biden Administration Must Move Forward to Stop Samsung’s IP Abuse

Last week, years of arguing and contention came to an end. The fight I’m referring to was not a political campaign, but that doesn’t make its impact on our country any less significant – it’s a victory that everyone can celebrate. Finally, the long-running patent litigation battle between TiVo and Comcast is over. Comcast had infringed TiVo’s patents and, to put it simply, was bullying the smaller company by weaponizing their larger legal team. Eventually, the International Trade Commission (ITC) stepped in and the two companies were able to reach a new, long-term licensing agreement. In doing this, a crucial precedent was potentially set – it will arguably harder for massive companies to take advantage of smaller ones.

Examining Samsung’s and LG’s LCD Patent Portfolios Following Decisions to Halt LCD Production

Samsung Display and LG Display, the two South Korean technology behemoths, announced plans earlier this year to stop the production of LCDs by the end of 2020. The announcements first appeared in Reuters’ reports and aim to consolidate the two companies’ lead in organic light emitting diode (OLED) panels, while conceding to Chinese manufacturers who have aggressively expanded their LCD productions. LCD prices have slumped over the years, as Chinese manufacturers backed by state subsidies have aggressively expanded production capacities. The plunging LCD prices have widened the operating losses at both Samsung and LG Display and finally led to the decision to cut production by year’s end.

Federal Circuit Affirms PTAB Obviousness Finding, But Warns Samsung Board’s Authority to Cancel Claims Has Limits

The Federal Circuit in a precedential decision issued earlier today affirmed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s finding that Claim 11 of Prisua Engineering Corp.’s U.S. Patent No. 8,650,591 was unpatentable as obvious, and reversed and remanded for further consideration the Board’s finding that the other asserted claims were indefinite and could not be assessed for patentability under Sections 102 or 103. IPR2017-01188 was Samsung’s response to Prisua’s 2016 patent infringement lawsuit against the company, which alleged that Samsung’s “Best Face” feature infringed claims 1, 3, 4, and 8 of the ’591 patent. In that case, a jury in the Southern District of Florida ultimately found that Samsung had willfully infringed the asserted claims and awarded Prisua $4.3 million in damages, but that action was stayed pending the CAFC appeal.

Netlist Wins ITC Exclusion Order: Will the USPTO Support It?

Several weeks ago, the International Trade Commission (ITC) announced that Chief Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) Charles Bullock issued a Notice of Initial Final Determination recommending that certain memory modules manufactured and imported by SK Hynix, Inc. and its subsidiaries should be excluded from importation into the United States. As is common with these announcements, the ITC first released a one-page indication of the decision, which was followed by the redacted full decision once the parties had an opportunity to request redaction of trade secrets and confidential information. The full decision has now been released, and the ITC is asking for comments relating to public interest issues from the parties, interested persons, and other government agencies and departments.

PTAB Issues First Motion to Amend Guidance, Samsung Petitions for IPR Granted Despite NuCurrent Issue Preclusion Defense

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) recently issued its first-ever preliminary guidance on motions to amend claims filed by patent owner Sanofi and, although the substituted claims haven’t escaped an obviousness challenge from Mylan, patent owners might be able to use that guidance as a roadmap for their own motions to amend claims. In other PTAB decisions between October 1 and 16, USAA escaped covered business method (CBM) reviews based on the technological invention exclusion, NHK Spring factors led the PTAB to deny two inter partes reviews (IPRs) petitioned against TRUSTID patents, oral hearings were held in Apple’s IPRs against Qualcomm, despite the patent settlement agreement between the two firms, and NuCurrent failed to avoid Samsung IPRs after arguing issue preclusion based on district court litigation of a forum selection clause in a contract between the two companies.