Patent Baristas

patent troll (PAT.unt trohl) n. A company that purchases a patent, often from a bankrupt firm, and then sues another company by claiming that one of its products infringes on the purchased patent.. —adj.  In a follow-up to our previous story about lawyer Raymond Niro, from the plaintiffs’ IP firm Niro, Scavone, Haller & Niro, and his […]

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Cal) introduced the Non-Prescription Drug Modernization Act of 2007 (H.R. 4083) legislation in the House. The bill was co-sponsored by Rep. Tom Allen (D-ME) and was referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The bill will “amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to provide for the amendment or repeal […]

A law blog on intellectual property worth noting is the IP Thinktank Blog by Duncan Bucknell, an independent IP consultant.  Hailing from Victoria, Australia, IP Thinktank provides one of the best round-ups of IP law from across the globe.  This is a very thorough, well-laid out blog that provides good insight into strategic lifecycle management for […]

Blawg Review #138 is up at de novo for Human Rights Day. In a serious vein, this week brought the oral arguments in the Boumediene case in which Guantanamo inmates challenge their detention. The Petitioners in these cases have all have been confined at Guantanamo for almost six years, yet (apparently) not one has ever […]

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed a suit against the Secretary of Commerce for hiring an allegedly incompetent person to office. See Gregory Aharonian, et al. v. Carlos Gutierrez, Secretary of Commerce (07-1224) . Patent antagonist Greg Aharonian complained that the appointment of Margaret Peterlin to the position of Deputy Under Secretary […]

Robert J. Ambrogi at Legal Blog Watch reports on the strange unfolding of a spat between lawyer Raymond Niro, co-founder of Chicago plaintiffs’ IP firm Niro, Scavone, Haller & Niro, and the anonymous author of the blog Patent Troll Tracker. In an article in IP Law & Business, Niro offered $5,000 “to anyone that can […]

IdeaTango is a social networking site that is set up to allow inventors a place to post, request and exchange ideas, inventions, intellectual property and patents — the MySpace of inventions. Companies can search the database of ideas for possible products for their company. The founder, Bryan Daigle, contacted me and asked if I would […]

In an appeal by Apotex, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a summary judgment in favor of Merck that Merck had been using a process before it was patented by Apotex. Apotex v. Merck & Co. (06-1405) Apotex Corp. appeals the decision of the United States District Court for the Northern District […]