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Tracking Patent Appeals

On The Radar: August 2008

Posted on | September 17, 2008 | No Comments

So much for my raging optimism last month.  This week’s stock charts have more vertical drop than Aspen Mountain.  And while I’d rather watch a Caddyshack II/Howard The Duck double feature than another minute of CNBC, I just can’t look away. 

Radarops_3In dire need of an escape, I decided to dial up last month’s patent cases.  I wish I could report that a countercyclical filing boom eased my anxiety, but it’s just not my day.  August’s On The Radar is a bit of a disappointment.  It was the lowest filing total since we started tracking cases. 

But you don’t need to understand credit default swaps to explain this one.  August is traditionally a slow month full of reruns, bad movies, preseason football games, and hurried vacations.  One journalist even devised a plan to do away with August entirely. 

No need to be that drastic. What August lacked in total filings, it made up for in geographic diversity.  The number of districts receiving patent complaints was at an all-time high (well, since May anyway).  From Rhode Island to Hawaii, you filed all over this great land. 

Maybe it’s fitting that August’s On The Radar looks like a Griswold family road trip.   

August 2008

Total patent cases filed:  218 
Total districts receiving new patent filings:  59 

The Leaderboard

Leaderboard_august_2008_6

(Click the table for a larger view.)

Source:  Pacer’s U.S. Party/Case Index and my cell phone calculator.   

Numbers Game

  • August lagged behind July by 23 cases. 
  • Six districts received double-digit filings in August versus seven in July.  On the upside, 59 district courts received patent filings versus 50 last month.
  • Key gainers include the Northern District of Ohio, the Southern District of Florida, and a host of districts making their first appearance on the Leaderboard.

Notables

Donnybrook Of The Month Award

Boston Scientific v. Medtronic: ND/CA 08-CV-3844 and ED/TX 08-CV-320

It’s on.  Fresh off their last spat, Boston Scientific has sued Medtronic in two different courts on two different sets of patents. The California suit charges Medtronic with infringing four patents covering catheter balloons, while the Texas suit charges Medtronic with infringing ten patents related to endovascular grafts.  For those of you keeping score, Medtronic won the last round with a $250 million verdict earlier this year.  I suspect we’ll be reporting on that appeal very soon.  

Power Filer Awards 

Judging by these numbers, August wasn’t a slow month for everyone:

  • Hoffman-La Roche Inc. filed eight cases in the District of New Jersey;
  • Technology Licensing Company, Inc. filed four cases in the Northern District of California;
  • Vraston Trading, Inc. filed four cases in the Southern District of New York;
  • VTran Media Technologies, LLC filed four cases in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania; and
  • Picture Patents, LLC filed four cases in the Eastern District of Virgina (accounting for all patent filings in that district for August).

Better Get A Macro Award

Data:)Comm Electronics, Inc. v. Electronic Custom Distributors, Inc.:  ND/GA 08-CV-2630

At the risk of sounding like Mark Herrmann’s now famous Curmudgeon, it’s better for your career if you spell your client’s name correctly.  And that includes all smileys and other vestiges of the early internet age.  When I came across Data:)Comm’s filing, I just had to check it out. Is that really a smiley face?  Maybe it was a typo.  Not a chance.  So the next time you’re sick of typing what seems to be an inconceivable party name, think of the poor associate frantically proofing briefs in this case.  Oh, and don’t forget the extra "m".  :)

Category: On the Radar

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