Obama Attempts to Reduce Patent Trolling

6/25/2013 - Obama Attempts to Reduce Patent Trolling -- "[T]he White House is asking Congress to force the USPTO to narrow the scope of patents within the next six months so that whole fields of endeavour cannot be trolled. Obama also wants to prevent patents being asserted against the users of technologies, like coffee shops, rather than manufacturers." This action is aimed at reducing patent trolling (i.e. asserting patents that are either invalid or of questionable validity, often because they are obvious or overbroad). http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21829215.700-obama-declares-war-on-the-patent-trolls.html#.UcoI2PnVBjg

Claim Vitiation Limitation to the Doctrine of Equivalents May Be Diminishing

6/25/2013 - Claim Vitiation Limitation to the Doctrine of Equivalents May Be Diminishing -- The Fed. Circuit recently interpreted claim vitiation to be “an acknowledgement that each element in the claim must be present in the accused device either literally or equivalently.” It is unclear whether claim vitiation is still a separate standard that can be applied as a defense to the doctrine of equivalents. Claim vitiation remains a question of law for a court to decide (i.e., that “no reasonable jury could determine two elements to be equivalents"), whereas the doctrine of equivalents remains a question of fact for a jury to decide. The Intellectual Property Strategist, Vol. 19, No. 8, May 2013 http://www.lawjournalnewsletters.com/issues/ljn_intproperty/19_8/news/The-Diminishing-Claim-Vitiation-Limitation-to-the-Doctrine-of-Equivalents158115-1.html

Pursuing Injunctive Relief Against Willing Licensee May Constitute Abusive Conduct

5/13/2013 - Pursuit of injunctive relief against a willing licensee may constitute abusive conduct. A Statement of Objections (SO) issued by the European Commission after Samsung sought injunctions against Apple indicated that the Samsung's pursuit of injunctive relief against Apple, a willing licensee, was abusive conduct. Samsung withdrew it's European SEP-based injunctions against Apple a few days before the SO was issued. (FOSS Patents)