In Brief: Purechoice v. Honeywell

2008-1482 Purechoice v. HoneywellED/TX 06-cv-00244Judge T. John Ward
Purechoice appeals from the judgment of Judge Ward construing certain claim terms of RE38,985
as ambiguous and the claims invalid for indefiniteness.  The patent
relates to a remote environmental monitoring system that collects air
quality data about a site.  We previously covered the case here, as did Michael Smith from EDTexweblog. [...]

In Brief: Blackboard v. Desire2Learn

2008-1368 Blackboard v. Desire2LearnED/TX 9:06-CV-155Judge Ron Clark
Cross-appeals involving Blackboard’s 6,988,138 patent. The jury found Desire2Learn infringed claims 36-38, also finding those claims valid.  The court found claims 1-35 invalid for indefiniteness.  The ‘138 is also currently in reexams, with the PTO having preliminarily rejected claims 1-44.
Oral argument is scheduled for Tuesday, March 31, 2009 [...]

Court Maintains License Pending Coverage Dispute

2009-1168 Fairchild Semiconductor v. Third Dimension (3D)D/ME 08-158Judge D. Brock Hornby
Patentee/declaratory-judgment defendant 3D appeals from the grant by Judge D. Brock Hornby of a preliminary injunction prohibiting it from terminating a patent license to Fairchild.  The license relates to patent 5,216,275 and a related Chinese patent directed to superMOSFET technology for silicon semiconductors.

Court Rejects Collateral Attack On Patent Ownership

2009-1167 Enovsys v. NextelCD/CA 06-cv-5306Judge Ronald Lew
Defendant Nextel appeals from the order and judgment of Judge Ronald Lew affirming the jury's verdict of infringement and $2.78
million in damages.  Enovsys asserted 6,560,461 against Nextel's iDEN system, relating to a system to protect and manage the
disclosure of the precise location of a user's cell phone (e.g., the [...]

Foreign Invention Sneaks In Under § 102(g)(2)

2009-1161 Solvay v. HoneywellD/DE 06-557Judge Sue Robinson
Plaintiff Solvay appeals from the grant of summary judgment of Judge Sue Robinson finding Solvay's 6,730,817 invalid under § 102(g)(2).  The court found that Honeywell–working with Russian scientists–had invented the process for manufacturing 1,1,1,3,3-pentaflouropropane (HFC-245fa, a blowing agent for rigid insulating foams) before Solvay.   The court concurrently found that [...]

Court Grants Injunction, Then Stays Case Pending Re-Exam

2009-1158 Automated Merchandising v. CraneND/WV 08-cv-97Judge John Preston Bailey
Defendants appeal from the grant of a preliminary injunction by Judge John Bailey against the sale of their new vending machines.  The 4 patents in suit relate to "optical vend detection systems" in vending machines, devices that are supposed to determine whether or not the selected item [...]