Niwot-based Crocs may lose claim to iconic clog following patent ruling; Daily Camera, August 14, 2017

Shay Castle, Daily Camera; Niwot-based Crocs may lose claim to iconic clog following patent ruling

"The USPTO ruled Crocs patent D517789 invalid, Footwear News first reported. A similar design was published more than one year before Crocs' application, the agency found.

Crocs has been involved in litigation over alleged ripoffs for more than a decade. The company sued 11 other shoemakers in 2006. Most were dismissed. USA Dawgs, added to the suit in 2012, celebrated the most recent decision by federal authorities...

Patent 789 has been ruled invalid twice before. The current ruling is considered final, but Crocs can appeal to the Federal Circuit courts if attempts to overturn the ruling through the PTAB are unsuccessful."

Patent Validity Review Changes on Hold for Next PTO Director; Bloomberg BNA, August 3, 2017

Malathi Nayak, Bloomberg BNA; Patent Validity Review Changes on Hold for Next PTO Director

"Plans to change patent validity review proceedings at the Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board are on hold, the office’s interim director said Aug. 3.

“What direction we take with broad changes to PTAB would have to await the appointment of a permanent director,” Joseph Matal said at the quarterly meeting of the agency’s Patent Public Advisory Committee.

President Donald Trump hasn’t nominated a replacement for former Director Michelle K. Lee, who resigned in June."

Patent Litigation Up in 2015, Despite Efforts to Rein it In; Wall Street Journal, 1/4/16

Ashby Jones, Wall Street Journal; Patent Litigation Up in 2015, Despite Efforts to Rein it In:

"According to the report, released Monday by RPX Corp., NPEs filed over 3,600 patent cases in 2015. NPEs, also referred to derisively by some as “patent trolls,” buy up patents and seek to make money from them through licensing and litigation.

NPEs filed 3,604 cases last year, a sharp increase over 2014, in which NPEs filed 2,891. The number was down slightly from 2013, in which NPEs filed 3,733 lawsuits.

The authors of the study acknowledge that the uptick is somewhat counterintuitive.

In recent years, Congress, the Supreme Court, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office have all taken steps to curb litigation based on patents, especially those relating to computer software. Critics argue that many of these patents should not have been awarded in the first place.

The 2011 America Invents Act — Congress’s first overhaul of the patent laws in decades — established a new tribunal, called the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

The PTAB allows a company embroiled in a lawsuit to skip the question of whether it infringed a patent and challenge whether the patent should have been issued in the first place."