Updates

US Supreme Court declines to hear ParkerVision's patent infringement lawsuit against Qualcomm

4/1/2016

On March 28, 2016, the US Supreme Court denied ParkerVision's petition for Writ of Certiorari, which requested a review of the July 2015 decision of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, in its case against Qualcomm (the San Diego based company). The question of law set forth in the Writ of Certiorari was "[w]hether and under what circumstances an inconsistency in expert testimony permits a court to set aside a jury verdict and grant the losing party judgment as a matter of law."

In 2013, ParkerVision's case at the lower court resulted in a $173 million jury verdict in its home state of Florida against Qualcomm. In this early ruling, Qualcomm was found to have infringed 4 of ParkerVision's patents (US Patent Nos. 6,061,551; 6,266,518; 6,370,371; and 7,496,342). The jury verdict was subsequently overturned by U.S. District Judge Roy Dalton in Jacksonville on June 2014. Judge Dalton ruled that ParkerVision’s evidence relied too much on speculation regarding what Qualcomm chips do, and there was “an insufficient evidentiary basis for the jury’s infringement verdict.”

ParkerVision appealed the case to the Federal Circuit, which it ultimately lost, prompting ParkerVision to file a petition for Writ of Certiorari to the Supreme Court. The denial of the petition effectively ends this case between the two parties. Unaffected by (and independent of) this denial, ParkerVision has instigated an action against Qualcomm, Apple, LG and Samsung pending at the US International Trade Commission (ITC). The ITC case, which was filed in January 2016, involves a different set of patents.

Enhanced Patent Quality Initiative

3/31/2016

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The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has established the Enhanced Patent Quality Initiative (EPQI) in an effort to strengthen work products, processes, services, and measure patent quality at all stages of the patent process. 11 programs have been created.

Pre-examination and search enhancement programs

Automated Pre-Examination Search Pilot - Providing relevant prior art through an automated pre-examination search to an examiner for review before the examiner begins examination and conducts a manual search in the application
Scientific and Technical Information Center Awareness Campaign - Raising examiners' awareness of available search tools and resources to find better prior art in an application
Clarity of Record Training: Improving Clarity and Reasoning in Office Actions Training - Educating examiners on the latest legal developments and effective ways to convey their positions and reasons to applicants for purposes of improving the clarity of the prosecution record

Prosecution enhancement programs

Clarity of the Record Pilot - Identifying and developing best practices for examiners to enhance the clarity of the prosecution record
Interview Specialist - Providing a point of contact to facilitate applicant-examiner interviews by serving as a resource on interview policy and assisting examiners and applicants with interview logistics
Reevaluation of After Final Consideration Pilot 2.0, Pre-appeal, and Quick Path Information Disclosure Statement - Evaluating improvements to existing after-final programs to achieve compact prosecution and reduce the number of issues for appeal

Post-examination enhancement programs

Design Patent Publication Quality - Improving the quality of images in published design patents
Post Grant outcomes - Identifying prior art raised in post grant proceedings that is relevant to related cases undergoing prosecution and simplifying access to this prior art for examiners in the related cases

Evaluation enhancement programs

Clarity and Correctness Data Capture (Master Review Form) - Developing and implementing a new agency-wide consistent and transparent process and form to capture minable data about the correctness and clarity of examiners’ work products
Quality Metrics - Developing and implementing new measures for understanding, evaluating, and reporting the correctness and clarity of examiners’ work products
Topic Submission for Case Studies - Using stakeholder suggestions to identify new topics for case studies

Learn more here:

http://www.uspto.gov/patent/initiatives/enhanced-patent-quality-initiative-0

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Platinum IP

US Supreme Court declines to hear ParkerVision's patent infringement lawsuit against Qualcomm

Enhanced Patent Quality Initiative