TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2010, 11:00 a.m.

IPO’S FEDERAL CIRCUIT SUMMARIES™:

*   *   *   Reasonable Royalty Damages Award of 12.5 Percent of Revenues Overturned Because District Court Did Not Link Existing Licenses to Infringed Patent Claims -- ResQNet.com, Inc. v. Lansa, Inc. 2008-1365 -- On February 5 in a 26-page per curiam opinion by Judges Newman, Lourie and Rader, with Newman dissenting in part, the Federal Circuit vacated a damages award for infringement of a ResQNet patent.  The patent was for a method of downloading a screen of information from a mainframe computer to a personal computer.  The district awarded $506,000 based on the court’s acceptance of 12.5 percent of Lansa’s revenues for the sale of infringing software as a reasonable royalty rate.  The Federal Circuit said the district court “relied on speculative and unreliable evidence divorced from proof of economic harm . . . .”   ResQNet’s expert started with the first factor of Georgia-Pacific – royalties received from existing licenses – but relied in part on licenses that did not mention the patents in suit.  The Federal Circuit majority said the district court made the same error that was corrected in the 2009 Lucent case –“no effort to link certain licenses to the infringed patent.”  Judge Newman said the majority distorted Lucent and the recent i4i opinion.
(1 to 4 stars rate impact of opinion on patent & trademark law)

WORLDWIDE PCT FILINGS DECLINE 4.5 PERCENT IN 2009 -- Yesterday the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva released data showing that filings under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) declined in 2009 by 4.5 percent from 2008.  It was the first year-to-year decline in the 30-year history of the treaty.  WIPO attributed the decline to the global economic recession.  Filings from the U.S. fell 11.4 percent and filings from European countries dropped sharply.  Chinese filings rose 29.7 percent and Japanese filings rose 3.2 percent. 

IP BRIEFS -- Compiled from newswires and other sources:

Sharp, Samsung Reach Settlement in LCD Case -- Yesterday Sharp and Samsung said they reached a settlement that will end all patent infringement litigation between them related to LCD TVs, computer monitors and mobile phones. (PC World)

WASHINGTON STILL MOSTLY CLOSED BY SNOW -- Most Federal government and other offices in Washington, DC remain closed today.  The IPO office is open with minimal staff.   IPO will respond to calls and emails as soon as possible.

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