Did the word “couple’ really need to be interpreted twice by the PTO, twice by the Federal Circuit, and once by the District Court? In today’s IPR PTABCast, Craige explains how the proper constructions of a single word can toggle a patent between validity and invalidity, and what you can do to avoid millions of dollars of litigation expenses by adding one clarifying word.  

How to defeat rejection based on “inherency” Patent claims can be invalid if a prior art reference teaches almost all the claimed features and any missing features must “necessarily” be present when you follow the Prior art teachings.   In this IPR PTABCast Craige explains how Southwire’s industry-changing process patent defeated the inherence attack but succumbed to the “obviousness” attack.   

In today’s Briefing, Craige discusses six options that you can choose from when launching your idea into the market. If you want to safely maintain proprietary control and ownership of your idea, you need to understand the trade-offs and benefits of each of these 6 choices.

Greedy, Lazy Patents = Invalid Craige reviews a case study of obviousness by tracing how common errors in lazy drafting and greedy claiming that lead inexorably to weak patents. In Owens Corning v. Fast Felt, the Federal Circuit shoots down a patent on gravure deposited nail tabs for roof shingles, even though the claims survived the inter partes review process.

3 Lessons on How to Patent Software Claims Since the Supreme Court tightened the law for patenting software inventions in a case called Alice, businesses have been uncertain about the fate of software patents. In the years since Alice, the law has started to settle. In this PatentCast, Craige explains why Microsoft was unable to kill off software claims owned by Enfish, and he shares 3 valuable Litigation Quality Patent lessons and 3 business takeaways from Enfish decision by the Federal...

Software is patentable we do it here at TPL all the time. But many software inventions die a slow death in the patent office. Many others are killed off in litigation all due to a Supreme Court case called Alice. Alice shapes which software claims thrive, and which don’t survive. In today’s EPG case, Craige explores how to identify whether claims will survive Alice. Craige also offers some Litigation Quality Patent practice pointers including “red flag” phrases that are symptoms of...

Fending off a patent Businesses accused of patent infringement have some sophisticated strategies at their command. Conversely, patent owners must have litigation savvy counsel who knows how to think strategically (i.e., chess rather than checkers). In this PatentCast,™ Craige draws business and patent lessons involving an infringed capacitor patent.

On this episode of LQP Ask the Patent Attorney Craige answers this FAQ "Can I even get a patent on my idea?"  If you would like to know more about Thompson Patent Law Offices please visit us at ThompsonPatentLaw.com

In this episode of the Litigation Quality PatentCast Craige explains how Arctic Cat Successfully enforced and monetized its patent with a patent license to Honda and in litigation against BRP, the maker of an infringing “Sea-Doo” personal watercraft. This case has 4 great business lessons involving how to: 1) Overcome obviousness 2) Mark your products with your patent number 3) Get an on-going royalty and 4) Treble damages from the infringer!

Proper due diligence and contracts can protect a business deal from dragging you and your company into a risky position though protracted patent litigation that scares your customers, shareholders, suppliers, employees, and licensees, not to mention the exorbitant legal expenses and potential money damages. Craige explains how a recent expansion of the “Single Actor Rule” exposes more businesses to patent infringement risk and 3 cost-effective steps you should consider to avoid patent...

Craige lays out how a ruler is the wrong measuring stick for claims Many sophisticated patent clients have learned from other patent attorneys that long claims are bad and short claims are good.  Craige explodes this fallacy with case studies about how a long claim can be ideal or a raw deal, depending on its structure.  Craige exposes the secret ingredient that is essential for every claim, irrespective of its word count.

Case Study: How Not to Write Software Claims Software is patentable when you follow the rules. Craige analyzes how the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) invalidated issued software claims because the claim drafter simply framed the claims in a way that was too abstract. This illustrates an avoidable, but all too common, flaw that leads to the demise of many software claims.

PTAB Defends patent owner against serial IPR Attacks! Man Bites Dog! Shocking news!  It’s not every day the USPTO stands up for owners of patents. This episode of the IPR PTAB Cast describes the hurdles that the PTAB has erected to stop harassment of patent holders so they don’t have to suffer unwarranted serial IPR attacks.  Visit us at ThompsonPatentLaw.com

What, if anything, can you do to stop an infringer while your patent is still “patent pending”? Craige answers this FAQ and adds a bonus answer to a should ask question (SAQ) for an often-overlooked way to monetize your invention. Visit us at: ThompsonPatentLaw.com

PTO not allowed to be “unreasonable” Patent owners gain another small victory! The Patent office’s strongest weapon against patent claim is BRI or “Broadest reasonable interpretation”, but BRI is “unreasonable” when it is contrary to general claims construction principles. The Federal Circuit finds “body: does not mean whatever the examiner thinks it means under BRI especially when the specification uses that term in a very consistent way. Lesson: it pays to be consistent.

A 44 Million Dollar award to a patent owner, Ultratec was wiped away by the Patent Office that invalidated eight patents in an Inter Partes Review (IPR). However, the federal circuit slapped away the IPR because the accused infringer’s expert told one story to the jury and a different story to the patent office. The Expert’s inconsistent testimony may lead to the patent owner getting back that 44 Million Dollars, and keeping eight patents intact!

Pendulum starts to swing to the Pro-patent direction  In IPR (inter partes review), a Patent is being attacked is invalid. One move a patent owner can make is to narrow some claims so they are not found invalid. Until now, the PTO made this very difficult by requiring the patent owner to prove the narrower claims are patentable. Now, the Federal Circuit stepped in and shifts that heavy Burden off of the patent owner and on to the petitioner who is challenging the patent. Good News!

Patent Drafting Danger: Throw The Lists Overboard In this IPR PTABCast episode, The Examiner Whisperer, Craige Thompson, breaks down three strong currents that combine to swiftly carry unsuspecting Patent Owners away from the golden "infringement" shore and out to drown in the sea of "invalidity." Craige reveals some rescue techniques, including proper drafting techniques for Litigation Quality Patents. If you benefit from our show please subscribe and leave us a five star rating.

Do you want to license your patent for $50 million? Well, you better set up your patent to stand up to litigation AND draft a bulletproof licensing agreement, otherwise your license could get your patent killed, and leave you with nothing. See how this happened to Dr. Jung and take steps so it won’t happen to you.

In this episode Craige Thompson characterizes the three phases of the patent life cycle, before, during and after the patent office. Craige introduces his perspective as a veteran patent attorney on how business executives should think about each phase of the patent process. If you have found this episode helpful please support us by leaving an honest 5 star review.

When approaching a prototyping company or manufacturer, technology executives recognize that they must "open the kimono" to share intimate details of their inventions. To help technology executives avoid mistakes that will invite expensive litigation, Craige introduces how a start-up won $91 Million in defending its heart valve replacement technology. This case study involves mistakes made with regard to handling patents, trade secrets, and NDAs in the relationship between inventor and...

Money in the middle of conventional extremes. One repeatable trick companies can use to mine patentable inventions is to find the "third way" that takes the best (but leaves the rest) from both extremes. In this case, the invention mining formula claims software that automatically configures a memory system to optimize performance based on the type of processor. This has the performance benefit of a custom solution with the affordable cost of a "one size fits all" approach.

Intellectual ventures patent misses a huge potential win because the claim had gone one throw away step too far, on a technology that could have covered SMS text messaging. Craige reveals the litigation and patent drafting mistakes made by both Intellectual Ventures and Motorola and what they could have done differently to change or improve their outcome. Did you know that just characterizing the prior art negatively could narrow your claim scope in a way you didn't even mention in the patent?

Summary: In this episode of the LQP PatentCast™, Craige discusses CardiaQ v. Neovasc. This is great case for Inventors entrepreneurs and small business owners who are considering manufacturing with someone else. This case illustrates how inventors can get screwed over in the process of sharing their ideas. Highlighted are some mistakes you could make when trying to bring your ideas to market. Craige shares some strategies on how to recover when someone tries to rip-off your invention.

In this episode of the Litigation Quality Patents® Podcast, we take a look at baseless patent lawsuits. We specifically examine how much protection the Patent Fee Shifting Statute provides to innocent businesses who are dragged into lawsuits even though the owner knows the suit is baseless. Joining the discussion is Michael Heinrich, a patent attorney practicing in the Minneapolis area. Litigation Quality Patents® Podcasts The Litigation Quality Patents® Podcast, hosted each week by Craige...