We Found Prior Art for a 4G Telecom patent using Link Adaptation Concept from 90s
“I don’t know what else I can tell you, it seems nothing good exists,” said the attorney on a conference call. This conversation took place during one of the interim connects in the project lifecycle (mostly around 40% or 80% completion point). The patent we were tasked to invalidate was around communication technology, relevant to […]
Patent Preliminary Analysis – Which Patents Can be Invalidated?
Almost every day, multiple patent litigation suits are filed. The increasing frequency of these cases indicates that companies are now more inclined to stop competitors or secure value for their claimed inventions. But what if these claimed inventions are not new/valid – Is this deal fair? As per recent statistics, In 764 out of 1086 […]
Our investigative approach helped us find convincing evidence in the cited prior arts. Let me tell you how.
When it comes to prior art searches, among the huge list of resources and strategies explored and employed during the search, searchers generally tend to give a low priority to already cited patent references. Now, this approach is quite justifiable, as most search assignments come with a tight deadline, and why spend valuable time looking […]
Is DivX compression tech really a trouble for Netflix and Hulu?
On March 5 this year, DivX LLC again made it to the headline, as it asserted a patent lawsuit against Hulu and Netflix for infringing their multiple video compression, encryption, and streaming patents. DivX is easily one of the most famous names in video technology domain with over 1 billion devices licensing their video processing […]
My Love for Music helped me find prior art in IEEE 802.16 standard. Let me tell you how.
In our years of performing invalidation searches, there were often occasions when we found inspiration for prior art from the environment around us. There are way too many to link each of them, but you get the idea. I’ve got an addition to make to the list. What inspired me in this case? – You ask. […]
Art of winning at IPR – Creating a stronger litigation strategy by attacking a problem from various angles
An attorney fighting a litigation suit is not unlike a soldier on a battlefield. The soldier equipped with sniper or high-tech weapons could give a deadly blow to the enemy, however, that’s not enough. He also requires something to defend himself, and most importantly, a devised strategy to conquer at any cost. An attorney, challenging […]
We use Non patent literature to find relevant patents which can serve as kickass prior art. Here’s how we do it!
In the US, when presenting a piece of non-patent literature (NPL) as valid prior art, litigators must overcome the challenge of proving that the NPL was publicly accessible and that it complies with the hearsay and authentication rules. As a vendor search partner, one way we try to make the client’s life easier is by […]
The Case of winning an IPR at PTAB
Old times were simple. There was a plaintiff, who tried to sue a company, and then the company asked us to find some good prior art. We logged in to simple patent databases, many of which were free, entered few keyword-based search strings and poof! good results. Case settled. The client was happy, we were happy! […]
How Machine Learning and Chinese Craigslist Helped Invalidate a Decade-Old Patent
In 2016, a major Chinese smartphone manufacturer came to us with a problem. The company was being sued by a competitor, also based in China, for patent infringement, and they would soon have to appear in court to defend themselves. The penalties for patent infringement can potentially be very painful—fines reaching into the millions of dollars, […]
How a Circuit We Designed Helped Solve a Prior Art Puzzle
In 2017, we were approached by an attorney representing a large manufacturer of digital and analog computer chips that we’ll call Chip and Dale Corp. Another chip manufacturer had recently contacted the company. We’ll call them Chip Off the Ol’ Block LLC. Chip Off the Ol’ Block claimed that Chip and Dale were using the […]
How GreyB Uses the “Investigative Approach” to Navigate IP Research
Around the world, the system of patents that governs new ideas and technology can seem practically designed to mislead people, making them think that they can see the field clearly when in fact much of what’s visible is an illusion—truly vital information remains hidden. In an environment where incomplete information about tech and IP often causes […]
System Prior Art: Why we prioritize it over other references?
Have you ever been in a situation where your IPR got instituted, but the PTO declared the challenged claim as valid? If a challenged claim(s) is declared valid by the USPTO in IPR, and later a petitioner asserts earlier challenged claim(s) before a court, he has to overcome a challenge presented by 35 USC § […]
Share this with your search vendor when multiple round of searches lead to nothing
Many a time, even after multiple rounds of searches – in house, from the client’s side, and using vendors – leads to no results. One reason it happens because the winning prior art is unsearchable or in other words doesn’t come up using the keyword-based searches. We have found ourselves in such a situation multiple […]
Why you should add Expired Patents in a FTO report?
We received a freedom-to-operate search from John, a decade-old client of ours. We share a pleasant relationship where we could discuss our concerns and requirements straight away. John was handling the freedom to operate (FTO) project for one of his clients for the very first time. One thing we sensed that John wanted to give […]
Prior Art Search: Everything You Need to Know
If you want to understand prior art searches, you’ve landed on the right page. By the time you finish reading this guide, you’ll likely have built a solid understanding of what can be included in the prior art and how to use this knowledge to conduct a patent search and avoid spending valuable resources on […]
3 Instances Where We Invalidated Patents Infringed Under ITC Section 337
Patent infringement has become a lot common in the past couple of decades. With increased interconnectivity among technologies and the existence of thousands of patents covering them, it has become difficult to innovate without having infringed on at least one patent. Infringement is common and so are lawsuits filed in district courts demanding royalties. What […]