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Baker Botts, L.L.P. New York Office Offers Continuing IP Legal Education Opportunity In Conjunction With Association Of Corporate Counsel

Protecting Your Company Against The Growing Menace Of "Junk Patent" Assertion

8:00 a.m., Tuesday, November 1 (Continental breakfast reception begins at 8:00, program runs 8:30-10:30)

On an ever-increasing basis, companies operating in the United States market have found themselves the target of "junk patents," or patents asserted by so-called "patent trolls" having no business operations at all apart from patent assertion and litigation. These "trolls" are viewed by many as manipulating the U.S. litigation system by misusing the threat of significant litigation expenses and damages to extract an in terrorem settlement based purely on the defendant's desire to avoid litigation costs or excessive jury awards, and not on the merits.

This two-hour program, offered in conjunction with the Association Of Corporate Counsel ("ACC"), will be hosted by Robert C. Scheinfeld, head of Baker Botts, L.L.P.'s New York I.P. Section. Mr. Scheinfeld will be joined on the panel by David T. Cunningham, Senior Patent Counsel for Hitachi America, Ltd., who will provide corporate I.P. counsel's perspective on recent developments in large scale assertion of patents by holding companies and others commonly characterized as "trolls." The program is intended to provide a primer for corporate counsel who are (or inevitably soon will be) confronting patent trolls and their junk patent portfolios, and will include a discussion of typical troll tactics in selecting, targeting, and trying to extract a settlement from potential defendants, as well as the implications for your business and legal strategy. We will also present short-term and long-term defensive and counter-offense strategies that may be used to minimize the negative effects of the junk patent boom upon your company. Attendees will receive 2.0 hours of New York State C.L.E. credit for this program, including 0.5 hours of ethics.

Space for this program is limited. Please contact Toni Gilbert at (212) 408-2619 for more information or to inquire about attending.

Articles

United States Grapples With Proposed Patent Reform Legislation

Frederick Michaud and James Arpin

Over the past several months, the United States Congress has been considering multiple proposed versions of legislation that would effect substantial changes in the United States Patent Code, and in the procedures for obtaining and enforcing U.S. Patents. The latest draft bill, H.R. 2795 (still under committee consideration), may represent a significant step toward viable reform legislation, because it eliminates three of the major sources of contention in prior draft bills. Read More...

Will U.S. Supreme Court Take Up Petition Urging Fundamental Rewriting Of Federal Circuit Law On Invalidity Due To Obviousness?

Robinson Vu

On January 6th of this year, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, in a non-precedential decision, vacated an Eastern District of Michigan decision granting defendant’s motion for summary judgment of patent invalidity due to obviousness, ruling that the district court had erred in its analysis. Defendant sought certiorari from the U.S. Supreme Court. Earlier this month (on October 3), the Court (which has not yet ruled on whether to grant certiorari) invited the Solicitor General of the United States to submit briefs on behalf of the government as to whether the Federal Circuit’s “teaching-suggestion-motivation” formulation of the patent obviousness test in this and other cases is appropriate for determining an invention’s patentability. KSR Int’l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., U.S., No. 04-1350, briefs invited (Oct. 3, 2005).Read More...

The materials in this document are made available by Baker Botts L.L.P. for informational purposes only and are not legal advice. The transmission and receipt of information contained in the document do not form or constitute an attorney-client relationship. Persons receiving the information in this document should not act upon the information without seeking professional legal counsel. The materials in this document may not reflect the most current legal developments, verdicts or settlements, and should not be considered an indication of future results. If these materials are inconsistent with the rules governing attorney communications in a particular jurisdiction, and the materials result in a client contact in such jurisdiction, Baker Botts may be prohibited from assuming representation of the client contact.

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