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- Apple Victorious over Affinity Labs of Texas’ Portable Audio Player Patent
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- PTO Requests Public Comment on Proposed Rules for AIA Post-Issuance Proceedings
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- 最初が肝心：不備のない再審査請求書を作成するために
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- "The Interplay between Reexaminations, Preliminary Injunctions and Stays of Litigation" - by Dennis Crouch at PATENTLYO.COM
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Recent Requests
PTO Statistics
Sleep Apnea is Big Business at Patent Trial & Appeal Board, Week of August 12, 2013
| August 19, 2013
The pace of new inter partes review requests continues to be brisk, on par with the number of inter partes reexamination requests filed last year, despite the PTO’s substantial increase in filing fees. The clear leader last week was Apex Medical that requested inter partes review of six Resmed patents claiming various types of masks and humidifiers for sleep apnea devices (see inter partes review Request Nos. (7) through (12)). Apex Medical and Resmed are locked in parallel District Court and ITC actions involving those patents.
Dandruff was also big business at the Patent Office – Unilever petitioned for inter partes review of three Procter & Gamble shampoo patents (see inter partes review Request Nos. (3), (5) & (6)). The companies do not yet appear to be in litigation over the patents.
An undisclosed party requested ex parte reexamination of MobileMedia Ideas’ U.S. Patent No. 6,427,078 for personal communications data collection (see ex parte Request No. (6). MobileMedia has sued a number of companies for infringement of the ’78 patent, among them Apple, HTC and RIM. The ‘078 patent has emerged unscathed from two earlier reexamination proceedings, but it is currently facing a non-final rejection in a third reexamination (90/012,637). Last week’s request might be an attempt by the opposition to bolster that non-final rejection in the pending reexamination.
Finally, Medtronic opened a new front in its long-standing patent battle with NuVasive by requesting inter partes review of two patents related spinal fusion (see inter partes review Request Nos. (2) & (4)).
The following inter partes review requests were filed:
(1) IPR2013-00503 (electronically filed) – U.S. Patent No. 6,963,826 entitled PERFORMANCE OPTIMIZER SYSTEM AND METHOD and owned by Moat, Inc. Filed on August 16, 2013, by comScore, Inc. The ‘826 patent is currently the subject matter of a litigation styled comScore, Inc. v. Moat, Inc. (Case No. 2:12-cv-00351 (E.D. Va.)).
(2) IPR2013-00504 & IPR2013-00506 (electronically filed) – U.S. Patent No. 8,361,156 entitled SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SPINAL FUSION and owned by NuVasive, Inc. Filed on August 14, 2013, by Medtronic, Inc. The ‘156 patent is currently the subject matter of litigations styled Warsaw Orthopedic, Inc., et al. v. NuVasive, Inc. (Case No. 3:12-cv-02738-CAB-MDD (S.D. Cal.)).
(3) IPR2013-00505 (electronically filed) – U.S. Patent No. 6,974,569 entitled SHAMPOOS PROVIDING A SUPERIOR COMBINATION ANTI-DANDRUFF EFFICACY AND CONDITION and owned by Procter & Gamble. Filed on August 14, 2013, by Unilever.
(4) IPR2013-00507 & IPR2013-00508 (electronically filed) – U.S. Patent No. 8,187,334 entitled SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR SPINAL FUSION and owned by NuVasive, Inc. Filed on August 14, 2013, by Medtronic, Inc. The ‘334 patent is currently the subject matter of litigations styled Warsaw Orthopedic, Inc., et al. v. NuVasive, Inc. (Case No. 3:12-cv-02738-CAB-MDD (S.D. Cal.)).
(5) IPR2013-00509 (electronically filed) – U.S. Patent No. 6,451,300 entitled ANTI-DANDRUFF AND CONDITIONING SHAMPOOS CONTAINING POLYALKYLENE GLYCOLS AND CATIONIC POLYMERS and owned by Procter & Gamble. Filed on August 14, 2013, by Unilever.
(6) IPR2013-00510 (electronically filed) – U.S. Patent No. 6,649,155 entitled ANTI-DANDRUFF AND CONDITIONING SHAMPOOS CONTAINING CERTAIN CATIONIC POLYMERS and owned by Procter & Gamble. Filed on August 14, 2013, by Unilever.
(7) IPR2013-00511 (electronically filed) – U.S. Patent No. 7,159,587 entitled RESPIRATORY MASK HAVING GAS WASHOUT VENT AND GAS WASHOUT VENT ASSEMBLY FOR RESPIRATORY MASK and owned by ResMed, Inc. Filed on August 16, 2013, by Apex Medical Corp. The ‘587 patent is currently the subject matter of litigations styled Resmed, Inc. v. APEX Medical Corporation (Case No. 8:13-00498 (C.D. Cal.)); Certain Sleep-Disordered Breathing Treatment Systems and Components Thereof (Inv. No. 337-TA-879 (USITC)).
(8) IPR2013-00512 (electronically filed) – U.S. Patent No. 7,487,772 entitled ERGONOMIC AND ADJUSTABLE RESPIRATORY MASK ASSEMBLY WITH ELBOW ASSEMBLY and owned by Resmed, Ltd. Filed on August 16, 2013, by APEX Medical Corp. The ‘772 patent is currently the subject matter of litigations styled Resmed, Inc. v. APEX Medical Corporation (Case No. 8:13-00498 (C.D. Cal.)); Certain Sleep-Disordered Breathing Treatment Systems and Components Thereof (Inv. No. 337-TA-879 (USITC)).
(9) IPR2013-00513 (electronically filed) – U.S. Patent No. 7,614,398 entitled HUMIDIFIER WITH STRUCTURE TO PREVENT BACKFLOW OF LIQUID THROUGH THE HUMIDIFIER INLET and owned by Resmed, Ltd. Filed on August 16, 2013, by APEX Medical Corp. The ‘398 patent is currently the subject matter of litigations styled Resmed, Inc. v. APEX Medical Corporation (Case No. 8:13-00498 (C.D. Cal.)); Certain Sleep-Disordered Breathing Treatment Systems and Components Thereof (Inv. No. 337-TA-879 (USITC)).
(10) IPR2013-00514 (electronically filed) – U.S. Patent No. 6,216,691 entitled MOUNTING BODY and owned by Resmed, Ltd. Filed on August 16, 2013, by APEX Medical Corp. The ‘691 patent is currently the subject matter of litigations styled Resmed, Inc. v. APEX Medical Corporation (Case No. 8:13-00498 (C.D. Cal.)); Certain Sleep-Disordered Breathing Treatment Systems and Components Thereof (Inv. No. 337-TA-879 (USITC)).
(11) IPR2013-00515 (electronically filed) – U.S. Patent No. 6,935,337 entitled HUMIDIFIER WITH STRUCTURE TO PREVENT BACKFLOW OF LIQUID THROUGH THE HUMIDIFIER INLET and owned by Resmed, Ltd. Filed on August 16, 2013, by APEX Medical Corp. The ‘337 patent is currently the subject matter of litigations styled Resmed, Inc. v. APEX Medical Corporation (Case No. 8:13-00498 (C.D. Cal.)); Certain Sleep-Disordered Breathing Treatment Systems and Components Thereof (Inv. No. 337-TA-879 (USITC)).
(12) IPR2013-00516 (electronically filed) – U.S. Patent No. 7,997,267 entitled ERGONOMIC AND ADJUSTABLE RESPIRATORY MASK ASSEMBLY WITH ELBOW ASSEMBLY and owned by Resmed, Ltd. Filed on August 16, 2013, by APEX Medical Corp. The ‘267 patent is currently the subject matter of litigations styled Resmed, Inc. v. APEX Medical Corporation (Case No. 8:13-00498 (C.D. Cal.)); Certain Sleep-Disordered Breathing Treatment Systems and Components Thereof (Inv. No. 337-TA-879 (USITC)).
The following ex parte requests were filed:
(1) 90/012,947 (electronically filed) – U.S. Patent No. 8,381,772 entitled LOW-PRESSURE HOSE FOR CONNECTION TO DIVING CYLINDERS FOR UNDERWATER ACTIVITIES and owned by Mauro Mazzo. Filed on August 16, 2013, by Li-Chung Plastics Industry CO., Ltd.
(2) 90/012,948 (electronically filed) – U.S. Patent No. 8,204,796 entitled MANAGING TRANSACTIONS OF BROKER AFFILIATES and owned by StubHub, Inc. Filed on August 13, 2013.
(3) 90/012,949 (electronically filed) – U.S. Patent No. 6,289,238 entitled WIRELESS MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS AND MONITORING EQUIPMENT and owned by Body Science LLC. Filed on August 13, 2013. The ‘238 patent is currently the subject matter of litigations styled Body Science, LLC v. Philips Electronics North America Corporation (Case No. 12-cv-10538 (D. Mass.)); Body Science LLC Patent Litigation (Case No. 12-md-02375 (D. Mass.)).
(4) 90/012,950 (electronically filed) – U.S. Patent No. 7,215,991 entitled WIRELESS MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS AND MONITORING EQUIPMENT and owned by Body Science LLC. Filed on August 13, 2013. The ‘991 patent is currently the subject matter of litigations styled Body Science, LLC v. Philips Electronics North America Corporation (Case No. 12-cv-10538 (D. Mass.)); Body Science LLC Patent Litigation (Case No. 12-md-02375 (D. Mass.)).
(5) 90/012,951 (electronically filed) – U.S. Patent No. 6,512,381 entitled ENHANCED FINGERPRINT DETECTION and owned by Authentec, Inc. Filed on August 14, 2013.
(6) 90/012,952 (electronically filed) – U.S. Patent No. 6,427,078 entitled DEVICE FOR PERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS, DATA COLLECTION AND DATA PROCESSING, AND A CIRCUIT CARD and owned by MobileMedia Ideas, LLC. Filed on August 14, 2013. The ‘078 patent is currently the subject matter of litigations styled MobileMedia Ideas, LLC v. Apple, Inc. (Case No. 1:10-cv-00258-UNA (D. Del.)); MobileMedia Ideas, LLC v. HTC Corporation, et al. (Case No. 2:10-cv-00112 (E.D. Tex.)); MobileMedia Ideas, LLC v. Research In Motion Ltd., et al. (Case No. 2:10-cv-113 (E.D. Tex.)); SanDisk Corp. v. MobileMedia Ideas, LLC (Case No. 4:11-cv-00597-cs (N.D. Cal.)).
(7) 90/012,953 (electronically filed) – U.S. Patent No. 6,908,313 entitled ELECTRICAL SOCKET HAVING TERMINALS WITH ELONGATED MATING BEAMS and owned by Hon Hai Precision Industry. Filed on August 14, 2013. The ‘313 patent is currently the subject matter of a litigation styled Lotes Co. Ltd. v. Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd., et al. (Case No. 3:11-cv-01036-JSW (N.D. Cal.)).
