AmiCOUR IP Group News and Opinions

Welcome to the AmiCOUR IP Blog.  We invite your comments.  Past Issues.

September 1, 2011 - A Federal Judge has termed Oracle's patent infringement win against SAP "grossly excessive" and reduced the amount from $1.3 billion to $272 million. The new amount still exceeds what SAP expected, as inferred from its $160 million set aside. Oracle has the option of requesting a new trial, a strategy which some suggest it might employ.

September 6, 2011 - Northern District of California Judge William Alsup called on his own named expert to assist with complex damages claims related to a dispute over Oracle's Java patents. The event is unusual in US Courts, but more common in England, where witnesses routinely serve to assist the Court. The majority of US experts in patent infringement cases are provided by and paid for by one of the parties to the dispute. Oracle recently presented a damage claim in excess of $6 Billion in the high profile case.

September 8, 2011 - Taiwan's High Tech Computer Corporation ("HTC") filed an amended complaint Tuesday expanding its August 15 lawsuit accusing Apple of infringing on an eclectic group of mostly acquired patents, including several patent acquired by Google before assignment to HTC.

September 12, 2011 - Bloomberg is reporting increased filings of multi-defendant infringement suits. As the America Invents Act awaits President Obama's signature, the number of filings appears to have increased significantly by plaintiffs interested in avoiding the new requirement to file separate claims against individual defendants. The Bloomberg coverage was silent on the question of how increasing costs related of protecting patent rights will cause Americans  to invent, as suggested by the Act's catchy title.  September 16, 2011 - Follow-up News: An email newsletter distributed to IP professionals reported a record 42 new complaints this morning.

September 16, 2011 - President Obama signed the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act today. WHIP leaders have published a list of the corporations who supported patent reform. In other news, the President's own inventive spirit was revealed in news reporting that the Obama's brew their own White House Honey Blonde Ale, one activity which may help the President's sagging Gallup poll ratings.

September 21, 2011 -  Daily searchers who trust the free Google search engine may be getting what they pay for according to consumer advocate and Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman, scheduled to testify later today before a Senate Judiciary Sub-committee. The search giant came under fire previously for promoting its advertising partners. Google claimed a change in its mysterious algorithm to lower the rankings of ad-filled junk content farm pages, only to return to its habits soon after the controversy passed.  Stoppelman intends to discuss how Google, notorious for treading on copyrights, pirated his site's content and favored search results for his competitor. Yelp is a consumer opinion site and competes with Places and others. After Google severed ties with its former AdWords display partner Ripoffreport, a site facing widespread litigation accusing its founder Ed Magedson of creating phony consumer complaints, Google partnered with its clone site competitor Complaintsboard. Search results immediately demonstrated the Google bias favoring AdWord partners, and first page Complaintsboard returns overshadowed the Ripoffreport returns relegated to back pages. Many of the lucrative Complaintsboard ads tied to the Google returns promoted reputation repair services promising to make disparaging and often libelous content disappear in exchange for fees of thousands of dollars per month. Legitimate consumer advocate Christopher Elliott recently wrote about the Internet's newest version of the ancient practice of protection racketeering. The Senate is expected to review the legality of Google's black hat approach to business as part of an anti-trust investigation.