A Pox on Both of Your Phones - Business Law - Global Economic ...

Patent law in the United States has always been complex, but in some areas it is nearly dysfunctional and in need of major repair.

One of the most brilliant jurists in the country, Richard Posner of the 7^th Circuit Court of Appeals, served as trial judge in a patent dispute between Apple and Motorola concerning conflicting claims that affect their phones. As in other such disputes, many patents were in conflict as phones have hundreds of patents attached to them. Apple was demanding that Motorola be banned from selling phones that it claimed violated patents; Motorola demanded huge damages from Apple for alleged infringements of its patents.

Judge Posner blasted the tactics of both parties, asserting that many claims were dubious and their assertions of damages suffered were not credible. He dismissed the litigation with prejudice, meaning the firms are barred from refilling the matter.

Posner published an article in The Atlantic that explains the major problems with?patent law. He hopes to encourage Congress, which writes the patent statute, to fix the mess and discourage many of the destructive practices played out by competitors via the courtroom.

Judge Posner notes that the U.S. Patent Office is swamped with highly-technical patent applications and that many patents are granted for minimal?inventions, thereby compounding the problem. Judges are also ill-equipped to understand the engineering details in complex patents.

The matter is made worse by patent trolls?firms that buy up thousands of patents and then file suit against many companies contending that their products infringe on their patents. These firms earn no income from inventions; they merely litigate for a living.?Because litigation is very costly, many firms settle rather than get bogged down in costly proceedings with uncertain outcomes.

Judge Posner has brought the mess to the forefront, but litigation proceeds. At the same time he threw out the Apple-Motorola dispute, another federal judge, handling a patent dispute between Apple and Samsung issued an injunction against the sale of Samsung?s Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet computer until after the trial is over (by which time technology will have marched right past that model).

Discussion: Why does Congress seem uninterested in taking a hard look at the details of the patent law?

Source: http://community.cengage.com/GECResource/blogs/bus_law/archive/2012/07/25/a-pox-on-both-of-your-phones.aspx

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