Zoltek Corp. v. United States, No. 2009–5135 (Fed. Cir. Mar. 14, 2012) (Chief Judge Rader and Judges Plager and Gajarsa; court sat en banc with respect to Part I-B) When can you sue the U.S. government for patent infringement? In general, the federal government has sovereign immunity (that is, immunity by right of being the […]
Category: Matt’s Posts
Descendants of the Corn
Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. v. Monsanto Technology LLC, No. 2011–1285 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 28, 2012) (Judges Prost, Clevenger, and Reyna) This case involves an interference, on appeal from the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences. The issues aren’t complicated, but I thought it might be easier to explain the case visually. With that introduction, please […]
An Ill Wind Blows Towards the ITC
General Electric Company v. International Trade Commission, No. 2010–1223 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 29, 2012) (Chief Judge Rader and Judges Newman and Linn) Disclosure: Although I had no part in the appeal to the Federal Circuit, I was part of the team representing Mitsubishi Heavy Industries before the International Trade Commission. The ITC is supposed to […]
A Patent Case Goes into the Sewer
ClearValue, Inc. v. Pearl River Polymers, Inc., No. 2011–1078 (Federal Circuit, Feb. 17, 2012) (Judges Prost, Schall, and Moore) It’s no secret that patent litigations can get pretty dirty, but this one literally (and figuratively) gets into the muck. ClearValue sued Pearl River for infringing its patent for treating waste water, as well as trade […]
Why I Won’t Sign Up with Pinterest
A Note from Matthew Levy: This post represents my personal opinions. These opinions should not be attributed to Cloudigy Law or anyone else associated with the firm. I am solely responsible for this content. There’s been a bit of excitement recently around Pinterest, the website that lets people “pin” images they find around the web […]
Doesn’t Use a Machine? Inconceivable!
What’s black and white and more mystifying than a book on quantum physics written in cuneiform? That’s right, the Federal Circuit is out with another opinion on patentable subject matter. Dealertrack, Inc. v. Huber, No. 2009–1566, –1588 (Fed. Cir. Jan. 20, 2012) (Judges Linn, Plager, and Dyk) Let’s start this post off with a quiz. […]