e-Patents (Feb 07): Financial service patents in US, JPEG suit settles and more
By Chris Carter | Friday, February 9, 2007
This update focuses on recent intellectual property decisions and developments impacting the field of information and communications technology.
WA tech company seeks injuntion against Cisco, Lucent
Ipernica, based in Western Australia, has filed a US court action against Cisco, Lucent, Alcatel, Juniper and Nortel for patent infringement. Ipernica holds a US patent for statistical multiplexing used for managing traffic flow in networks. A Markman pre-trial hearing took place in October 2006 and creates a statement of terms on which the trial proceeds to decide any infringement and damages. If a scheduled February 2007 mediation does not result in settlement, the case will proceed to jury trial in April 2007.
CSIRO's WiFi battle continues
The CSIRO continues in its battle to receive royalty payments for its patented wireless LAN technology (US Patent No. 5,487,069 granted in 1996). It is alleged that the IEEE 802.11 a/g wireless transmission standard infringe the CSIRO’s patent and the wireless LAN products of several companies. As previously reported, the CSIRO filed a test case in the US against Buffalo Technology of Japan. Recently, the CSIRO obtained an initial victory when a US federal court handed down a summary judgment that the patent was valid and infringed. Actual damages are yet to be determined, however, separate legal action has been initiated by Microsoft, Intel, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Netgear, against the CSIRO, seeking to invalidate the patent, so as to avoid royalty payments which will be the major test of the patent’s strength.
WIPO: annual growth of patent filings at 4.75%
Some interesting statistics have been issued by the World Intellectual Property Office, a specialised agency of the United Nations. To the end of 2004, patent filings around the world have grown at an annual rate of 4.75%, to a total of nearly 1.6 million in 2004. At the end of 2004, there were more than 5.4 million patents in force worldwide. However, use of the patent system remains highly concentrated with the patent offices of the US, Japan, Europe, Republic of Korea and China accounting for 75% of all patent applications.
Non-profit group makes Bluetooth patent claim against Nokia, Samsung
The Washington Research Foundation, a nonprofit group that helps enforce patents for technology developed at Washington State research institutions, is suing Matsushita of Japan, Samsung of South Korea, and Nokia of Finland in the US District Court for an alleged infringement of patents for bluetooth wireless technology. Computers, mobile phones and headsets made by the companies and incorporating bluetooth technology are at the centre of the dispute.
The companies use chip sets made by Cambridge Silicon Radio, of Cambridge England, which developed the ‘BlueCore’, a chip with an in-built bluetooth radio transmitter. Broadcom Corp., of California, is the only chip manufacturer which has licensed the patented technology in dispute and presently stands to benefit significantly while the court action continues.
Financial service patent filings and litigation rise in US
The number of financial services related patents filed at the US Patent Office has risen significantly in recent years. Professor Josh Lerner of the Harvard Business School, has been reported as saying financial services patents are being litigated in the US at almost 30 times the rate of all patent technologies as a whole.
Large financial services companies such as GE Finance, Citigroup, JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs have recently been filing financial services patents. Since the State Street Bank court decision in 1998, it has been made clear that business processes are patentable in the US. In contrast, in Europe, business process patents are rare and validity can be questionable. Australia generally follows the US approach. Financial services companies are increasingly seeking patent protection for financial or business innovations that likely would not have been pursued several years ago.
Espeed claims infringement in futures trading program
As an example of such financial services patent activity, Trading Technologies International, a Chicago based company, sued ESpeed, an electronic bond trading company, alleging infringement of a patent. The patent covers how prices are displayed in futures trading products.
The court recently ruled that the ESpeed futures trading product did not infringe the patent. Several companies had already settled with Trading Technologies International by licensing the patent. ESpeed itself had previously suffered a setback when, in another matter, a judge invalidated ESpeed’s patent for an electronic bond trading technology after ESpeed had sued a competitor, ICAP Plc, for patent infringement.
Settlement in Forgent's JPEG patent suit
Forgent, a patent holding company, has settled a series of US lawsuits over its so-called JPEG patent (US Patent No. 4,698,672 granted in 1987). Forgent will receive US$8 million under the settlement, a fraction of original demands. The JPEG patent is said to cover the .jpg file format, commonly used in many software applications. Forgent has reportedly collected about US$110 million from over 50 companies since acquiring the patent in 1997 from the inventor. Forgent is reportedly now focussing on enforcing another patent covering digital video recorders, and initiated lawsuits against numerous television and media companies in 2006.
Afer RIM's Blackberry settlement, NTP chases Palm's Treo
NTP Inc., best known for its legal battle with Blackberry maker Research In Motion Ltd which agreed in May 2006 to pay US$612.5 million to NTP to settle a patent infringement lawsuit, has filed a new patent infringement lawsuit against Palm Inc. The lawsuit alleges Palm’s Treo mobile phone infringes NTP’s patents.
Novell and Microsoft in Win / Linux marketing deal
Novell has reported details of an agreement with Microsoft to promote Windows and Linux interoperability. Under a patent cooperation agreement, Microsoft will make an upfront payment of US$108 million to Novell and Novell will make ongoing payments of at least US$40 million over five years to Microsoft. The terms of the agreement also relate to payments for Linux subscriptions, sales, marketing and development.
In other news
In other reported court awards and settlements:
- Visto v Seven Networks (Court judgment) – Visto awarded US$7.7 million in damages and an injunction on the sale of Seven’s products for patent infringement (wireless email transmission)
- Microsoft v Belkin (settlement) – Belkin to license Microsoft’s ‘U2’ technology patents, (technology to allow keyboards/mice to detect type of connection required)
