“On Wednesday, Samsung informed a federal court — and the Wall Street Journal dutifully reported — that the U.S. Patent Office had ‘rejected’ all claims of an Apple (AAPL) patent (the so-called ‘pinch to zoom’ patent, or ‘915) that the Journal described as ‘a cornerstone of its case against Samsung,'” Philip Elmer-DeWitt reports for Fortune. “In October, the Patent and Trademark Office tentatively concluded that all 20 claims of another Apple patent (‘381) — the so-called ‘rubber-banding’ (or over-scroll bounce) patent — were invalid.”
“Two weeks ago, the office tentatively invalidated the broader ‘touchscreen heuristics’ patent (‘949, A.K.A. the Steve Jobs patent),” P.E.D. reports. “From the headlines, you’d think that the foundations on which a jury awarded Apple $1.05 billion last August were crumbling.”
“The truth is a little more complicated,” P.E.D. reports. “All three rulings flow from changes in U.S. patent law that Congress passed last year as part of the Leahy-Smith American Invents Act… Key provisions of that act make it substantially easier to challenge a patent after it has been approved. For a filing fee of $17,750, anybody can anonymously demand that the Patent Office initiate a post-grant review on any invalidity ground.”
Read more in the full article here.
Related article:
USPTO tentatively – and likely temporarily – declares Apple’s ‘pinch-to-zoom’ patent invalid – December 20, 2012
Yet more evidence the patent system is in serious need of revision. You tax dollars at work, folks.
=:~)
Leahy-Smith *was* the revision. It’s just had unintended consequences, as such changes always do.
No. The AIA did not influence the consequences in this case. The filing of this case was before the new revisions were in place, which mainly stated, for ex parte rexaminations, the fee to file would be raised $15,500.
So the reported “invalidated” really should be reported as “tentatively invalidated” which, once you translate legalese into common language, really means “under review and patent holder must substantiate further”.
Just one more example of how the U.S. Patent system (or should I really say “U.S. Patent Chaos”?) is unbelievably broken!
Or maybe it’s just one more example of how the US journalistic system is broken.
it’s about time APPLE use more billions to hire more lawyers just to
contest patents owned by the likes of Samsung , Google or other
company’s patents regarding/ related to APPLE business.
Lets read the article, folks. It said the action taken triggers a REVIEW of the patent. There is nothing in the article that says the patent has been invalidated. The REVIEW will initiate a round of arguments in support of and against the validity of the claims in the patent.
You can bet Apple will vigorously argue the merits of the claims just like they did when the patent was processed the first time.
“For a filing fee of $17,750, anybody can anonymously demand that the Patent Office initiate a post-grant review…”
That’s the game. The PTO most always initially rejects all claims. It matters little except for small entities who cannot afford to fight the patent office and infringers. The system now favors large corps who can buy their way through it.
Just because they call it “reform” doesn’t mean it is.
“patent reform”…America Invents Act, vers 2.0, 3.0…
“This is not a patent reform bill” Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) complained, despite other democrats praising the overhaul. “This is a big corporation patent giveaway that tramples on the right of small inventors.”
Senator Cantwell is right. All these bills do is legalize theft. Just because they call it “reform” doesn’t mean it is. The paid puppets of banks, huge multinationals, and China continue to brain wash and bankrupt America.
They should have called these bills the America STOPS Inventing Act or ASIA, because that’s where they’re sending all our jobs.
The patent bill (vers 2, 3, etc) is nothing less than another monumental federal giveaway for banks, huge multinationals, and China and an off shoring job killing nightmare for America. Even the leading patent expert in China has stated the bill will help them steal our inventions. Congress passed it and Obama signed it. Who are they working for??
Patent reform is a fraud on America. Congress and Obama are both to blame. This bill will not do what they claim it will. What it will do is help large multinational corporations maintain their monopolies by robbing and destroying their small entity and startup competitors (so it will do exactly what the large multinationals paid for) and with them the jobs they would have created. The bill will make it harder and more expensive for small firms to get and enforce their patents. Without patents we cant get funded. In this way large firms are able to play king of the hill and keep their small competitors from reaching the top as they have. Yet small entities create the lion’s share of new jobs. According to recent studies by the Kauffman Foundation and economists at the U.S. Census Bureau, “startups aren’t everything when it comes to job growth. They’re the only thing.” This bill is a wholesale destroyer of US jobs. Those wishing to help fight this bill should contact us as below.
Small entities and inventors have been given far too little voice on this bill when one considers that they rely far more heavily on the patent system than do large firms who can control their markets by their size alone. The smaller the firm, the more they rely on patents -especially startups and individual inventors. Congress and Obama tinkering with patent law while gagging inventors is like a surgeon operating before examining the patient.
Those wishing to help fight big business giveaways and set America on a course for sustainable prosperity, not large corporation lobbied poverty, should contact us as below and join the fight as we are building a network of inventors and other stakeholders to lobby Congress to restore property rights for all patent owners -large and small.
Please see http://truereform.piausa.org/default.html for a different/opposing view on patent reform.
http://docs.piausa.org/
“2011 Leahy-Smith America Invents Act made it easier to tentatively review Apple’s patents”
So what. Apple has a vault full of cash to weather any post issue review. Small firms are not so fortunate. What the bill does is make it easier for large firms like Apple, IBM and others to rob and destroy their small entity would be competitors. That’s what the bill was all about. Once again, corporate America buys or dupes corrupt and simpleton members of Congress.
Just because they call it “reform” doesn’t mean it is.
“patent reform”…America Invents Act, vers 2.0, 3.0…
“This is not a patent reform bill” Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) complained, despite other democrats praising the overhaul. “This is a big corporation patent giveaway that tramples on the right of small inventors.”
Senator Cantwell is right. All these bills do is legalize theft. Just because they call it “reform” doesn’t mean it is. The paid puppets of banks, huge multinationals, and China continue to brain wash and bankrupt America.
They should have called these bills the America STOPS Inventing Act or ASIA, because that’s where they’re sending all our jobs.
The patent bill (vers 2, 3, etc) is nothing less than another monumental federal giveaway for banks, huge multinationals, and China and an off shoring job killing nightmare for America. Even the leading patent expert in China has stated the bill will help them steal our inventions. Congress passed it and Obama signed it. Who are they working for??
Patent reform is a fraud on America. Congress and Obama are both to blame. This bill will not do what they claim it will. What it will do is help large multinational corporations maintain their monopolies by robbing and destroying their small entity and startup competitors (so it will do exactly what the large multinationals paid for) and with them the jobs they would have created. The bill will make it harder and more expensive for small firms to get and enforce their patents. Without patents we cant get funded. In this way large firms are able to play king of the hill and keep their small competitors from reaching the top as they have. Yet small entities create the lion’s share of new jobs. According to recent studies by the Kauffman Foundation and economists at the U.S. Census Bureau, “startups aren’t everything when it comes to job growth. They’re the only thing.” This bill is a wholesale destroyer of US jobs. Those wishing to help fight this bill should contact us as below.
Small entities and inventors have been given far too little voice on this bill when one considers that they rely far more heavily on the patent system than do large firms who can control their markets by their size alone. The smaller the firm, the more they rely on patents -especially startups and individual inventors. Congress and Obama tinkering with patent law while gagging inventors is like a surgeon operating before examining the patient.
Those wishing to help fight big business giveaways and set America on a course for sustainable prosperity, not large corporation lobbied poverty, should contact us as below and join the fight as we are building a network of inventors and other stakeholders to lobby Congress to restore property rights for all patent owners -large and small.
Please see http://truereform.piausa.org/default.html for a different/opposing view on patent reform.
http://docs.piausa.org/