GLG News by Hardware / Computer Patent Experts: Lawyers

BYI has finally succeeded in its defense against IGT's patents on wheel-based bonus games.  Now, the case is up for appeal, at least if the Federal Circuit decides to hear it.

A tentative settlement was reached this week in the Google Book Search litigation, opening the door to great possibilities but also raising new questions about the emerging market for online book distribution.

After falling short in its recent round of cases against Qualcomm. Broadcom has now filed a new complaint, this time alleging that QCOM's licensing practices are impermissible under a patent rule known as exhaustion.  The bad news for BRCM, however, is that exhaustion almost surely does not ap...

The coverage regarding this week's decision in the BRCM/QCOM patent litigation has stressed the surface facts: namely, that two BRCM patents were affirmed on appeal, and only one was rejected.  What the coverage misses, however, is that the patents are far from equal players.   The patent...

The main patent case between BYI and IGT is now in its final weeks.  The parties this week sharpened the fight a bit more by filing a series of motions that attempt to have certain testimony and evidence excluded from trial.  Meanwhile, all eyes now turn to the decisions on summary judgment,...

A few days ago, a District Court in Minnesota reversed course on its own prior holding and decided that, in copyright law, it is not actionable to "offer to distribute" a copyrighted file without permission, but instead only actionable if you actually distribute the file.  The opinion raises a...

The September 4th hearing has now come and gone, and still TiVo commentators seem to think that TiVo is moments away from a final, decisive win.  The reality is considerably more bleak.  TiVo's contempt request is likely to be denied, and TiVo will not gain significant leverage unless and...

This week, the Federal Trade Commission was denied a chance to have its case against Rambus reheard by the fuller panel of judges.  That clears the way for Rambus to go back on offense, pushing its patent claims in several cases already significantly underway.

The copyright community lost a significant court case this month when, on appeal, Cablevision was able to defend its new RS-DVR service.   The legal issues matter tremendously, in my view; but the puzzle for me is whether the RS-DVR service itself is really all that important.

Courts around the world are now begining to ask exactly what, if anything, sites like eBay should be required to do to discourage the sale of counterfeit goods.  The main options being considered are either to require eBay and its peers to freeze sales upon receiving a complaint from some legitimate...