The Department of Justice and the Patent and Trademark Office are pressing the International Trade Commission (ITC) not to ban imports that use standard-essential patents (SEP) when the manufacturers that are willing to license the necessary patents are accused to infringing them. “[I]n some circumstances,” the agencies argued, “the remedy of an injunction or exclusion order may be […]
Category Archives: Patent Litigation
FTC & Google Enter Consent Decree on Patent Issues
February 11, 2013 – 10:32 am
The FTC has expressed concerns that Google’s Motorola Mobility subsidiary had violated Section 5 of the FTC Act by attempting to enjoin the users of patents that are essential to produce standardized technology. In the decree, Google agreed to license those patents on fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory (FRAND) terms and refrain from seeking injunctive relief […]
DOJ Concerned About The Exploitation of Standard-essential Technology Patents Through Unfair Licensing Strategies
January 24, 2013 – 10:36 am
Fiona M. Scott-Morton, the Antitrust Division’s Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Economic Analysis claimed in a recent speech entitled “The Role of Standards in the Current Patent Wars” that companies controlling patents that are essential to an established technological standard can often charge anticompetitively high licensing rates despite their commitments to follow fair, reasonable and […]
Respirator Manufacturer Violates Antitrust Laws by Enforcing Patents Obtained by Fraud
January 23, 2013 – 9:01 am
In Transweb LLC v. 3M Innovative Properties Co. et al., a District of New Jersey jury found that defendant 3M Innovative Properties attempted to enforce two patents that it had obtained by fraud and violated the antitrust laws. The plaintiff, a supplier of filtration materials and 3Ms only competitor for certain government certified respirators, had […]
Drug Patent Settlements May Include Provisions in Which the Patent Holder Agrees Not to Introduce Its Own Generic Version of the Drug
January 15, 2013 – 12:51 pm
In Louisiana Wholesale Drug Co. Inc. v. SmithKline Beecham Corp. et al., District of New Jersey Judge William H. Walls dismissed a putative class action against leading drug makers alleging that the patent holder improperly promised not to introduce its own generic version of the drug as part of a settlement delaying the entry of […]
EU High Court Upholds Fine Against Drug Company Improperly Blocking Generic Competition
January 15, 2013 – 12:49 pm
In AstraZeneca v. Commission, the European Court of Justice upheld a €52.5 million ($68 million) abuse of dominance fine against AstraZeneca. The EC had fined the drug maker for manipulating the applicable regulatory systems in order to block generic versions of the defendant’s ulcer drug Losec. The Commission found that the company provided misleading information […]
US Supreme Court to Decide Whether Reverse Payment Settlements Between Patented and Generic Drug Manufacturers Violate the Antitrust Laws
January 15, 2013 – 12:48 pm
In Federal Trade Commission v. Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc., the US Supreme Court will review the Federal Trade Commission’s finding that Solvay Pharmaceuticals Inc. and several generic drug makers violated the antitrust laws by agreeing that Solvay would pay the generic companies to forestall challenges to the patent protecting its popular testosterone-replacement drug AndroGel. The FTC […]
Federal Circuit Rules That Direct Purchasers May Sue to Void Patent Obtained by Fraud
December 21, 2012 – 3:13 pm
In Ritz Camera & Image LLC v. SanDisk Corp., the Federal Circuit held that the purchasers of a patented produce may file a monopolization suit based on the claim that the defendant obtained the patent by defrauding the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. The decision allows a class action challenging a SanDisk Corp. flash memory […]
DOJ Closes Investigation of Monsanto’s Domestic Seed Business
December 21, 2012 – 3:10 pm
The Department of Justice has closed its two-year antitrust investigation of Monsanto’s planned activities with respect to Roundup Ready 1 modified soybeans after the 2014 expiration of its patent. The DOJ may have been concerned that Monsanto would demand that farmers destroy or return seed when existing licenses expire because the company now prevents farmers […]
Drug Industry Opposes FTC Proposal to Expand the Reportability of Patent Licensing Deals
December 9, 2012 – 11:44 am
The Federal Trade Commission is coming under fire by pharmaceutical groups for proposing to expand its review of exclusive pharmaceutical patent rights licenses. Under the proposed change, a drug patent holder would need to report a license to the FTC under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act if the patent owner transfers the exclusive marketing and sales […]