Posts Tagged ‘exhaustion’

Quanta Computer V. LG Electronics: Reviving the? Exhaustion, applying for patents on m? Methods

Friday, September 3rd, 2010

Background LG Electronics (LGE) d? Holds the rights to several patents on computer technology, which d? Scribe operation of the computer or m? Method, not the products r? Els. LGE licensed the patents to Intel Corporation a license agreement that authorizes it? Intel to manufacture and sell microprocessors and chipsets that use and int? Grente LGE’s patents. LGE and Intel had an agreement s? By? (“Agreement”) that required? Intel to offer? its customers? writing the license does? tends not? a product manufactured? by combining an Intel product with non-Intel product. The framework agreement pr? See that the breach thereof shall not prejudice? the int? grit? and the terms of the license agreement. Quanta purchased? microprocessors and chipsets from Intel, then builds computers using pi? the Intel parts in combination with non-Intel, but without changing the parties Intel. LGE sued Quanta, asserting that combination is rape? LGE’s patents. Quanta argued that LGE’s patents have? T? ? Then? Es when Intel sold Quanta parties that embodied LGE’s patents and thus LGE has no rights. The district court initially agreed? Summary Judgement in favor of Quanta, but after? na? review, “rejection? Summary Judgement on the grounds that the doctrine of? exhaustion does not apply to patents proc? d?. The Federal Circuit for? Cid? that? patent exhaustion does not apply to patents on m? methods and, alternatively, a finding? that LGE did not license? Intel to sell Intel products to Quanta to combine with non-Intel products. The? United States Supreme Court? “I heard the case Jan. 16, 2008 and issued its opinion, which reversed? f the circuit? d? ral and find in favor of Quanta, June 9, 2008. The th? Theory of? Exhaustion of patent and its history pr?-Quanta The basic concept of the? Patent exhaustion means that the initial registration authorized sales? An e? L? Ing patent? ends? all patent rights? this? l? tion. Quanta, 128 S. Ct? 2115. The doctrine is grounded? E on the notion that a patent right? a single charge – by allowing the initial registration sale, the patentee has without doubt n? GOCI? and obtained the value of patent rights. The Supreme Court? Has explained to me? the touchstone of the doctrine of? patent exhaustion is “whether or not there has been such a provision of the article, he can say? rightly that the licensee re? u its r? compensates for the use of the article. ” United States v. Masonite Corp., 316 U.S. 265, 278 (1942). In the size you require from Sch? Are 1900, some courts have allowed patent? S? limitations of AD?-sales on their patents that enabled them to exert controlled? it (and receive extra charges? comments) in the heat? not downstream, long after? s authorized the initial sale? e Quanta, 128 S. Ct? 2115-2116. But in 1917, the Supreme Court? Me clearly indicated? that after these restrictions?-sales would not be tolerated? r? e. In Motion Picture Patents Co. v. Universal Film Mfg. Co., 243 U.S. 502, 516 (1917), the Court has judged? that? the right to sell is? then? e by a single, unconditional sale, the item sold is thus r? alis? e outside the monopoly of the patent law and rendered free of any restriction which the vendor may attempt put on it. “ Before Quanta, pr? C? Tooth as r? Cent and important to the Supreme Court? Am on the doctrine of? Exhaustion, including its components and applying for patents on m? Methods, a? T? to the states of America v. Univis Lens Co., 316 U.S. 241 (1942). In Univis, the patentee (Univis Corp.) d? Held a patent claim on a spectacle lens and the proc? D? manufacturing lenses producing, grinding and polishing? debauchery lenses. Univis Corp. licensed its soci? T? li? e Univis Lens? the manufacture of? debauchery lenses. Univis Lens sold the license blanks to wholesalers and d? Retailers who would finish grinding and polishing of blanks by the practice of m? Method patents? E Univis. Licenses for wholesalers and d? Bits contained strict limitations after?-Sales? which? debauchery lenses could? be sold? what price. The court estim? that when selling licensed Univis? of? debauchery of lenses, which had no usefulness?; r? realistic? Patent Practice Univis, lentils patent rights on? debauchery and lentils have finished? t? ? Then? S. “[T] he authorized? The sale of an item that is able to use that in practice the patent is an abandonment of the patent monopoly? The? Gard of the article sold.” Univis, 316 U.S.? 249. The Court of? Undeclared: ”Retailers of any article manufactured first? Patent puts the article in del? The port? E conf monopoly? Re patent. If the licensee sells the subject patent? In its complete form? you or sells before the end in order to afford? buyer? the end and sell it, he? s also? part of the article, and made it the fifth? vehicle for the transfer? the buyer properties? t? of invention? the? gard of this article. To that extent, it has to? advantage of its monopoly mati? re patent in both cases, and re? u in the purchase price of all the advantages of this monopoly that the patent law provides? him. If? silent permit controlled? l the price at which it could? be sold by others, it would be of? extend its monopoly in one case as much as in the other, and it would be the? tend to del? sense of fair laws on patents and construction, which has so far? t? given?. “316 U.S.? 252. Despite? Univis holding, however, the circuit f? d? ral? authorized new? the? erosion of the doctrine of? exhaustion by allowing patent holders to impose restrictions after?-sales and limitations of their patents. The s? Minal (and often criticized? E) to power in Mallinckrodt, Inc. v. Medipart, Inc., 976 F. 2d 700 (Fed. Cir. 1992), helped limit the patent? S? their customers mani? significant re r? separation, r? innovation, recycling and changing machines Accessories Post-sale – a violation of the restriction was a counterfeit? patent it? unless the restriction rape? another law, such as the? antitrust legislations. The justification of d? Attention: the patent holder to the merchant and re? Derives royalties based on a pr? Seen and their use, if the buyer makes use of other auxiliaries and the patent, the patentee must ? be able to r? proclaim extra charges? comments that non-n? GOCI?,? employment. The d? Mallinckrodt decision and its progeny are limited? the right of the? Patent exhaustion various mani? res – an Asc Desc controvers?. Patent owners have invoked? these cases by the r? Daction licensing agreements that the circuit f? d? eral has construed? does? as pr? preservation of their rights to file a complaint of infringement against the users downstream ach? tent and use the licensed product. Indeed, the circuit f? D? Eral has applied? This m? my line of thinking? e when he was confirmed? of the? decision of the District Court against Quanta. (1) In addition, since Mallinckrodt? Also in apparent contradiction with the holding Univis, the circuit f? D? Eral has judged? that claims to m? method are not subject? the? exhaustion of patents. (2) Circuit f? D? Eral has seriously weakened the doctrine of? Exhaustion by limiting only? of all? tions devices. Quanta r? Says Univis and revives the doctrine of? Exhaustion In its d? Decision in Quanta, the Supreme Court? Relied me? Heavily on e pr? C? Tooth and Univis? Definitively status? that the doctrine of? exhaustion only applies to claims proc? d? and the cr? ancestral devices. The Court ad? Undeclared: “It is true that an m? Method patent? E can? Be sold in the m? My mani? Re than an article or device, but the m? Methods can? n be? anmoins? incarnate? e? in a product, the sale of patent rights? draws. ” 128 S. Ct? 2117. The Court warned that any Asc Desc “significantly impaired? Doctrine of? Exhaustion. Patent? S looking?? Avoid the? Patent exhaustion could simply r? Digest their applications for patents? write an m? method rained? t as a unit. ” 128 S. Ct? 2117. This technique? Exhaustion of? Instantly, if it? Effective silent, would wreak havoc on downstream buyers, who could find any? once responsible for counterfeit? one patent, unaware that m? method includes? th in the product they have purchased? online community hosts an patent in? inexhaustible. Apr? S having v? Rifi? that? exhaustion applies to claims proc? d? the Court has explained? that “the extent to which a product must have a patent to d? latch the? exhaustion.” Id? 2118. Again, the Court has examined? Univis guidance, concluding that when the licensed product that contains the m? Method patent? E is truly capable of? Be used? E when he practiced m? Method patent? E, ‘? S exhaustion applies: ”Like? Debauchery lens Univis, Intel products are an important part of invention patent? E and all but complete? Ment practice of [LGE patent]. Here, as in Univis, the incomplete article substantially embodies the patent because the only Measure? necessary? practice the patent is the application of common processes or the addition of pi? these standards. Any inventive each patent is incorporated? in Intel products. “128 S. Ct? 2120. LGE argues that the? Exhaustion does not apply because the sale of Intel? Quanta does not? T? ? Authorized?? the initial registration sale. LGE affirm? that the contractual restriction after?-sales it imposes? its patents -? that LGE did not license? Intel to sell Intel products to Quanta to combine with non-Intel – have emp? Ch? the application of the doctrine. 128 S. Ct? 2121. The circuit f? D? General had agreed with this argument? Following the walk? c? tooth that had cr?? for his m? me (that the parties can contract around the? exhaustion) during the last 15? res ann? are. But the Supreme Court? Me n ‘? Silent disagree. LGE had two agreements s? By? S with Intel a license agreement that is okay? Intel the right to manufacture and sell patents LGE, and a separate Master Agreement, which contained the restriction after?-Sales. But the Framework Agreement sp? Cific has d? Undeclared its violation does not affect the validity? the license agreement. As stupid? Accordingly, the license agreement has given? The authority? Intel to sell its products containing patent LGE, and that the initial registration authorized sales? E? Escapes LGE patents, ind? Pendently of the other agreement. Id? 2121-2122. Quanta leaves one question r? Lays imperfectly There may be a question still remaining? the? exhaustion when the component that embodies the patent has other uses non-counterfeit? on. For example, if the Intel products were thousands of non-counterfeit? Used outside the LGE patent process?, But someone has used? The Intel? LGE’s patent practice, an argument could? be that? exhaustion does not apply and LGE should have the right to prosecute and infringement action against this user. It ‘? Silent certainly not the case in Quanta, the Intel chips are really not the usefulness?, M? Me while embodying the LGE patents, up? they are put into a computer and a practical use of the patent. But what if the bullets had many other uses, only one has? Does? ? Patent Practice LGE? Could? Exhaustion still apply? The pr? C? Tooth? Crushes indicates that? Exhaustion does not apply in such circumstances. But the opinion Quanta includes this curious comment: ? While each Intel microprocessor and chipset practices thousands of individual patents, including some LGE patents not at issue in this case, the analysis of? Exhaustion does not affect? E by the fact that more than one patent is practical? e by m? my product. Considers the-operation is relevant to whether Intel products as part of a patent practice – for example, containing his character? Essential characteristics – of? Exhaust that patent. “128 S. Ct.? 2121. To the extent? this extract could suggests? rer as a proc? d? patent? can be brought? then? es, m? me if it is in a product with many legal uses, we believe it is worded? simply wrong? e by the court. Future cases may clarify the issue, and the pr? Cis? Tion, but the pr? C? Tooth should? Be on? S barrier? the application of? exhaustion in this circumstance. (1) LG Electronics, Inc. v. BizCom Electronics Inc., 453 F. 3d 1364, 1369-1370 (Fed. Cir. 2006). (2) See, e. g. , Devel glass apparatus. Inc. v. Besten Inc., 174 F. 3d 1337, 1341, n. 1 (Fed. Cir. 1999).

Quanta Computer V. LG Electronics: Reviving exhaustion, applying it to method patents

Monday, August 30th, 2010

Background LG Electronics (LGE) owns the rights to several patents on computer technology, which describe a computer operation or a method, not actual product. LGE licensed the patents to Intel Corporation a license agreement that authorizes Intel to manufacture and sell microprocessors and chipsets that use and incorporate the LGE patents. LGE and Intel had a separate agreement (“Agreement”) that required Intel to provide its customers in writing that the license does not extend to a product made by combining an Intel product with non-Intel product. The Framework Agreement provides that violation thereof does not affect the integrity and the terms of the license agreement. Quanta purchased microprocessors and chipsets from Intel, then builds computers using Intel parts in combination with non-Intel parts, but without changing the Intel parts. LGE sued Quanta, asserting that combination has infringed LGE’s patents. Quanta argued that LGE’s patents were exhausted when Intel sold Quanta parties that embodied LGE’s patents and thus LGE has no rights. The district court initially granted summary judgments in favor of Quanta, but on reconsideration, denied the summary trial on the grounds that the doctrine of exhaustion does not apply to method patents. The Federal Circuit held that patent exhaustion does not apply to method patents and, alternatively, found that LGE did not license Intel to sell Intel products to Quanta to combine with non- Intel. The U.S. Supreme Court heard the case Jan. 16, 2008 and issued its opinion, reversing the Federal Circuit, and find in favor of Quanta, June 9, 2008. The doctrine of exhaustion of patent and its history pre-Quanta The basic concept of exhaustion of patent law means that the first authorized sale of a patented item terminates all patent rights to that item. Quanta, 128 S. Ct at 2115. The doctrine is based on the notion that a patent is entitled to a single charge – allowing the first sale, the patentee has probably negotiated and obtained the value of patent rights. The Supreme Court has explained that the touchstone of the doctrine of exhaustion of patent is “whether or not there has been such a provision of the article, it can rightly say that the holder received reward for the use of the article. ” United States v. Masonite Corp., 316 U.S. 265, 278 (1942). In the early 1900s, some courts have allowed patentees to post-sale restrictions on their patents that have allowed them to control (and receive additional fees) in the channel downstream, long after the sale initial authorized. Quanta, 128 S. Ct at 2115-2116. But in 1917, the Supreme Court has clearly indicated that these restrictions after-sales would not be tolerated. In Motion Picture Patents Co. v. Universal Film Mfg. Co., 243 U.S. 502, 516 (1917), the Court held that “the right to sell is exhausted by a single, unconditional sale, the item being sold and is performed outside of the monopoly law patent and rendered free of any restriction which the vendor may attempt to set it. “ Before Quanta, preceding the most recent and important Supreme Court on the exhaustion doctrine, including its application components and method patents, has been United States v. Univis Lens Co., 316 U.S. 241 (1942). In Univis, the patentee (Univis Corp.) held a patent claim on a spectacle lens and contact lens manufacturing process by producing grinding and polishing lens blanks. Univis Corp. licensed its related company, Univis Lens, manufacture lens blanks. Univis Lens sold the license blanks to wholesalers and retailers who would finish grinding and polishing of blanks by the practice of the patented method Univis. Licenses for wholesalers and retailers contained strict limitations after purchase to which the lens blanks may be sold and at what price. The court found that when selling licensed Univis “of the lens blanks, which had no use except to practice realistic Univis patents, patent rights lens on the lens blanks and finished products were exhausted. “[T] he authorized sale of an item that is able to use that in practice the patent is an abandonment of patent monopoly with respect to the item being sold.” Univis, 316 U.S. at 249. The Court stated: ”Retailers of all first article manufactured under a patent puts the article beyond the scope of the monopoly conferred by patent. If the licensee sells the patented article in its full form or sells it before the end in order to enable the buyer to finish and sell it, he also departed from the article, and made the vehicle for the transfer to the buyer the ownership of an invention in respect of this article. To that extent, he has abandoned his patent monopoly in either case and has received the purchase price of all the advantages of this monopoly that the patent law provides him. S it was possible to control the price at which it could be sold by others, it would extend its monopoly in one case as much as in the other, and it would extend beyond the fair meaning of laws Patent and construction, which has hitherto been given. “316 U.S. at 252. Despite holding Univis, however, the Federal Circuit again allowed the erosion of the exhaustion doctrine by allowing patent holders to impose restrictions after-sales service and the limits of their patents. The seminal (and often criticized) to power in Mallinckrodt, Inc. v. Medipart, Inc., 976 F. 2d 700 (Fed. Cir. 1992), helped limit patentees to their customers significantly in the repair, renovation, recycling and modifying equipment post-sales – a violation of the restriction was an infringement of patent unless the restriction violated another law such as antitrust laws. The justification for detention, a patent holder to the merchant and receives royalties based on a planned and their use, if the buyer makes use of other auxiliaries and the patent, the patentee must be able to claim additional charges for non-negotiated employment. The decision of Mallinckrodt and its progeny have limited the right of the exhaustion of patents in various ways – a controversial result. Patent owners have relied on these cases by drafting license agreements that the Federal Circuit has interpreted as the preservation of their rights to file a complaint of infringement against downstream users who purchase and use the licensed product. Indeed, the Federal Circuit has applied this same line of thought when it upheld the District Court against Quanta. (1) In addition, from Mallinckrodt, also in apparent contradiction with the holding Univis, the Federal Circuit held that method claims are not subject to the exhaustion of patents. (2) The Federal Circuit has seriously weakened the doctrine of exhaustion by limiting only to claims of devices. Quanta Univis reaffirms and renews the doctrine of exhaustion In its decision in Quanta, the Supreme Court relied heavily on the precedent of Univis and definitively held that the exhaustion doctrine applies to method claims and apparatus claims. The Court said: “It is true that a patented method may not be sold in the same way as an article or device, but methods nonetheless may be” embodied “in a product, the sale of rights patent exhaustion. ” 128 S. Ct at 2117. The Court warned that any other result “would seriously undermine the exhaustion doctrine. Patented seeking to avoid patent exhaustion could simply draft their patent claims to describe a method rather than an appliance.” 128 S. Ct 2117. This technique is exhausted avoidance, if it were effective, would wreak havoc on downstream buyers, who may be suddenly responsible for patent infringement, unaware that a method incorporated in the product they have has purchased a patent inexhaustible. After verifying that exhaustion applies to method claims, the Court explained that “the extent to which a product must have a patent in order to trigger exhaustion.” Id at 2118. Again, the Court examined Univis guidance, concluding that when the licensed product that contains the patented method is really able to be used when we practice the patented method, exhaustion applies: ”As the lens blanks Univis, Intel products are an important part of the patented invention and all but completely practice the [LGE patent]. Here, as in Univis, the incomplete article substantially embodies the patent because the only necessary to practice the patent is the application of common processes or the addition of standard parts. Any inventive each patent is embodied in the Intel products. “128 S. Ct at 2120. LGE argued that exhaustion does not apply because the sale of Intel to Quanta was not “authorized” first sale. LGE argued that the contractual restriction after purchase it imposes on its patents – that LGE did not license Intel to sell Intel products to Quanta to combine with non-Intel – have prevented the application doctrine. 128 S. Ct at 2121. The Federal Circuit had agreed with this argument, following the precedent it had established for itself (which the parties can contract around the exhaustion) during the last 15 years. But the Supreme Court disagreed. LGE had two separate agreements with Intel a license agreement that granted Intel the right to manufacture and sell patents LGE, and a separate Master Agreement, which contained the restriction after purchase. But the specific framework agreement stated that its breach did not affect the validity of the license agreement. Consequently, the licensing agreement Intel has the authority to sell its products containing the patent LGE, and the first authorized sale exhausts LGE patents, regardless of the other agreement. Id at 2121-2122. Quanta leaves one question answered imperfectly There may be a question remains about the exhaustion when the component that embodies the patent has other uses non-infringement. For example, if the Intel products were thousands of non-infringing uses outside the LGE patented process, but someone has used the Intel patent practice LGE, an argument could be that exhaustion does s’ LGE should not apply and have the right to sue and infringement action against this user. It certainly was not the case in Quanta, the Intel chips really have no use, even while embodying the LGE patents until they are put into a computer and practical use of the patent . But what if the chips have been many other uses, only one has been the practice of patent LGE? Could exhaustion still apply? The foregoing indicates that the overwhelming exhaustion does not apply in such circumstances. But the opinion Quanta includes this curious comment: ”While each Intel microprocessor and chipset practices thousands of individual patents, including some LGE patents not at issue in this case, the analysis of exhaustion is not affected by the fact that more than one patent is practiced by the same product. The relevant consideration is whether the Intel Products that partially practice a patent – for example, embodying its essential features – exhaust that patent. “128 S. Ct. 2121. Insofar as this passage might suggest that a patented process can be exhausted, even if it is contained in a product with many legitimate uses, we believe it is simply incorrect wording by the court. Future cases may clarify the issue, more precisely, but the precedent should be lit obstacle to the application of exhaustion in this circumstance. (1) LG Electronics, Inc. v. BizCom Electronics Inc., 453 F. 3d 1364, 1369-1370 (Fed. Cir. 2006). (2) See, e. g. , Devel glass apparatus. Inc. v. Besten Inc., 174 F. 3d 1337, 1341, n. 1 (Fed. Cir. 1999).