...I. Synopsis: Case: The HOOVER COMPANY, Plaintiff, v. BISSELL INC., Defendant. No. 5:98-CV-1088. United States District Court, N.D. Ohio, Eastern Division. March 19, 1999. A. The Hoover Company History: Hoover vacuum cleaners have markets in the United States and Canada. In addition to vacuum cleaners, Hoover also produces and sells high quality washers and dryers. Maytag acquired The Hoover Company in 1989, providing Maytag an important foothold in the highly competitive international market. The company roots back to 1827, when Henry Hoover established a plant near Canton, OH. 80 years later led to him and his sons selling vacuum cleaners after purchasing rights to an electric suction sweeper, which was invented a year before by a guy named Murray Spangler. In 1908, Hoover bought Spangler’s patent, kept him as a partner and soon named the company Hoover Suction Sweeper Co. Hoover than began marketing the sweeper in stores all throughout the country. By 1921, Hoover had gone global and by 1923, sales reached $23 million. Hoover today specializes in all floor care and is a continued leader in the industry (Hoover: Fundinguniverse, 2006). B. Bissell Inc. Company History In 1876, Melville Bissell began marketing his carpet sweeper invention with revolving brushes. The revolving brushes picked up the dust and dirt and deposited it inside the sweeper housing. Being dependent on the rotation of the wheels to drive the sweeping mechanism, it only removed debris from...
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...A. Overview of Intellectual Property (Book 24-30) 1. TRADE SECRETS (Outline pgs 3-11) ▪ Trade secret laws are State law doctrines that protect against the misappropriation of certain confidential information. o There is no federal statute ▪ A form of private IP law under which creators establish contractual limitation or build legal fences that afford protection from misappropriation. ELEMENTS: a. The information must be Secret. a. Relative, not absolute, secrecy is required. b. The owner must take Reasonable step to maintain secrecy. a. Once a trade secret is disclosed, protection is lost. c. There is some economic or competitive advantage to the owner. i. Misappropriation of Trade Secret: 1) Where the secrets were obtained by theft or other improper means. 2) Where they were used or disclosed by the D in violation of a confidential relationship. ▪ Trade secret does not prevent competitors from “reverse engineering” which is permitted. 2. PATENTS (Outline pgs 12- 31) a. 5 Requirements: 1) patentable subject matter (g.15) 2) utility (pg.16) 3) Description & Enablement (pg.17) 4) novelty & Statutory bar (pg.19) 5) non-obviousness...
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...In this case we will be talking about the company RIM (Research in Motion) and some of the Challenges they faced to protect their Intellectual Property. Research in Motion is best known as the developer of the Blackberry smartphone. Research in Motion was involved on several Patent Litigation with the different competitors. On 1999 Glenayre Technologies (formerly known as Glenayre Electonics) filed a patent infringement suit against RIM claiming that the Inter@ctive pager line used Glenayre’s power-generation from dual battery process. This litigation caused a delay on RIM’s contract renewal with the BellSouth company and also their quarterly earnings report came with lower than expected results. In order to get new customers RIM signed an agreement with Dell Computer and Dell started selling Blackberry to large corporate accounts. On 2001 RIM replied back to Glenayre filing a suit against them for infringing on RIM’s “Single Mailbox Integration” patent. Research in Motion won this patent and allowed them to collect royalties from other mobile device makers that were planning on utilizing this technology. On 2002 Research in Motion filed the first of four suits against Good Technology for misappropriation of trade secrets, this dispute continued until 2004 where they settled an agreement. Good Technology agreed to pay a sum of money and quarterly licensing fees. Another legal dispute was the patent for the keyboard design against Handspring for its Treo device but...
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...August 2011 I realized recently that we may be able to solve part of the patent problem without waiting for the government. I've never been 100% sure whether patents help or hinder technological progress. When I was a kid I thought they helped. I thought they protected inventors from having their ideas stolen by big companies. Maybe that was truer in the past, when more things were physical. But regardless of whether patents are in general a good thing, there do seem to be bad ways of using them. And since bad uses of patents seem to be increasing, there is an increasing call for patent reform. The problem with patent reform is that it has to go through the government. That tends to be slow. But recently I realized we can also attack the problem downstream. As well as pinching off the stream of patents at the point where they're issued, we may in some cases be able to pinch it off at the point where they're used. One way of using patents that clearly does not encourage innovation is when established companies with bad products use patents to suppress small competitors with good products. This is the type of abuse we may be able to decrease without having to go through the government. The way to do it is to get the companies that are above pulling this sort of trick to pledge publicly not to. Then the ones that won't make such a pledge will be very conspicuous. Potential employees won't want to work for them. And investors, too, will be able to see that they're the...
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...ALL ABOUT PATENTS IN BOTSWANA Procedures for filing patent applications in Botswana Filing requirements for national phase PCT applications are as follows: * Power of attorney (simply signed; can be late-filed within one month) * Copy of published international application (required on the day of filing) * Specification, claims and abstract in English, if publication not in English (required on the day of filing) * Copy of international search report (can be late-filed, no set deadline) Filing requirements for invention patents are: * Power of attorney (simply signed; can be late-filed, within one month) * Specification, claims and abstract in English (required on the day of filing) * Formal drawings, if applicable (required on the day of filing) * Assignment of invention (can be late-filed, no set deadlines) How long will it take to register a patent and what are the standard costs? Approximately three years from filing. The official fee for filing a Botswana patent application is P300 (approximately $40) and the official fee for grant and publication is an additional P300. What is the scope of patent protection in your jurisdiction? A Botswana patent for a product confers upon the patentee the right to preclude any other person from making, importing, selling, using the product, or offering it for sale. What types of inventions or ideas can be patented? Are there any notable or unusual exceptions? An invention is...
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...Ttools case study The goal of this analysis is to understand the opportunity and challenges ttools faces and advise them on the best approach to go forward. Ttools has created a unique all –in-one stylus for PDAs which also functions as regular ink pen. They have a successful utility patent and are facing a few challenges in patent infringement, marketing & distribution. Ttools has to decide whether they should compete, negotiate or litigate against Palm/IDEO for their product. To choose the best option going forward, we will look at the each of the options in depth and analyse the potential impact on the outcome. Competing against Palm Currently ttools uses Palm’s distribution channels (InSync online) to target potential customers. Competing against them would require ttools to aggressively spend resources on marketing and distribution channels that currently don’t exist. As the case mentions, the total cost of manufacturing a single unit costs approximately $2 with a mark-up of $9.95, the extra resources would drive the profit margins much lower. With a lower profit margin and lack of resources to scale the market, Palm would certainly out size ttools in pricing and marketing/distribution with an abundance of resources and large market share. Negotiate with Palm To continue using Palm as their primary distribution platform, ttools would effectively nullify their patent to reach an agreement. InSync platform reaches 50,000 of Palm’s customers, total potential revenue for...
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...Patent Warfare Per your request I reviewed the lawsuit notice and believe our company can handle the matter without litigation saving us time and money. Our first course of action should be to propose collaboration with the accuser in order to continue innovation. If the accuser turns out to be a patent troll or in other terms in the business of strictly making money on infringement cases we will have the case arbitrated by a subject matter expert. I recommend we offer the accuser a chance to collaborate with a business which recently launched a great new product supported by Apple iOS and Google Android platforms. Instead of being a killer of creativity the accuser might be a legitimate technology developer such as our company. The accuser may be more interested in developing newer and better versions of its product instead of getting a onetime payout. Collaboration will save both parties time and money by avoiding a long and expensive court case. It will also benefit both parties to share research and new ideas (Laudon, 2012). Nokia and HTC are a recent example of collaborations as they entered “into a collaboration agreement to provide access to each other’s patented technology to explore future projects” (Shankar, 2014). Working together will provide our business with new innovations making us more competitive. New innovations will develop an opportunity for new registered patents to our company, providing a defense system for possible future law suits. Licensing...
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...realized recently that we may be able to solve part of the patent problem without waiting for the government. I've never been 100% sure whether patents help or hinder technological progress. When I was a kid I thought they helped. I thought they protected inventors from having their ideas stolen by big companies. Maybe that was truer in the past, when more things were physical. But regardless of whether patents are in general a good thing, there do seem to be bad ways of using them. And since bad uses of patents seem to be increasing, there is an increasing call for patent reform. The problem with patent reform is that it has to go through the government. That tends to be slow. But recently I realized we can also attack the problem downstream. As well as pinching off the stream of patents at the point where they're issued, we may in some cases be able to pinch it off at the point where they're used. One way of using patents that clearly does not encourage innovation is when established companies with bad products use patents to suppress small competitors with good products. This is the type of abuse we may be able to decrease without having to go through the government. The way to do it is to get the companies that are above pulling this sort of trick to pledge publicly not to. Then the ones that won't make such a pledge will be very conspicuous. Potential employees won't want to work for them. And investors, too, will be able to see that they're the sort of company...
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...Running Head: MIRROR WORLDS VERSUS APPLE, INC. 1 Mirror Worlds versus Apple, Inc. Willful Infringement MIRROR WORLDS VERSUS APPLE, INC. 2 ABSTRACT This paper will discuss the lawsuit filed by Mirror Worlds LLC against Apple, Inc. for infringement of four patents owned by Mirror Worlds. Mirror Worlds’ patents cover intellectual property; namely that of digital and visual media and the consolidation and sorting thereof. The jury’s verdict in this case awarded Mirror Worlds a substantial amount of money for damages caused by the supposed willful infringement of Apple, Inc. In addition, Apple, Inc.’s arguments, namely involving the claim of willful infringement, evolving into a counterclaim against Mirror Worlds will also be discussed. Keywords: intellectual property, patents, infringement, software, documents, counterclaim, willful infringement MIRROR WORLDS VERSUS APPLE, INC. 3 Mirror Worlds versus Apple, Inc. Willful Infringement In February of 2010, the United States Patent and Trademark Office, USPTO, granted Apple Inc. a design patent on Cover Flow, which covers the design and display of specific documents, but not the functionality. “A patent is a legal right, for a limited term, to exclude others from using, selling or making an invention or discovery.” (Kay, Millonzi and Passannante, 2001). Patent D609715 regards an “animated graphical user interface for a display screen or portion thereof. The process or period in which an image transitions to...
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...Document hosted at http://www.jdsupra.com/post/documentViewer.aspx?fid=a427e4b9-bec6-4cfe-aada-859daad96445 [Name and address of Target’s Counsel] and address of Target’s Dear [Attorney]: Dear [Attorney]: The The following is a list of certain documents that we would like to review in connection is a list of certain documents that we to review in connection with the proposed acquisition of [Name of Target] (the “Company”). During the course of our the proposed acquisition of [Name of Target] (the “Company”). During the course due diligence documents meeting the specifications of the following due diligence review, additional documents meeting the specifications of the following list may may come documents be forwarded to us. come into existence. If this occurs, we ask that copies of such documents be forwarded to us. In existence. If this occurs, we ask addition, is likely that some of the items requested addition, it is likely that some of the items requested do not exist or are not applicable to the not exist or are not applicable the Company. If this is the case, please so indicate in your response as set forth in Company. If this is the case, please so indicate in your response as set forth in this request. We further ask that all responses to this memorandum be in writing and directed to the attention ask all responses to this memorandum be in writing and of [Attorney’s name and firm’s address]. [Attorney’s name and firm’s address]. Whenever Whenever we have requested...
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...authority. <p>Your browser does not support iframes.</p> This led to a legal struggle between the two parties. The respondents had filed 23 revocation petitions before the Appellate Board, praying for the revocation of the patents held in the name of the appellant. They had also filed counterclaims, in response to the patent infringement suits brought about by the appellants. The litigation had now reached the Supreme Court, in order to determine the correct course of action to be adopted, in the light of compound proceedings having been invoked by the two parties. One of the questions before the court was whether the challenge, having been raised by the defendant through a counter-claim, can only be determined at the hands of the High Court, i.e., while dealing with the counter-claim....
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...a) In the MTG section 10-402 it says that expenses such as this is fully deductible if functions like these are held on the business premises. It doesn’t clarify in the assignment question where these barbeques are held. Gray engineering can only claim 50% of the expenses to do with the barbeque held for staff on the Fridays. $1500 x 0.50 = 750 $1200 x 0.50 = 600 750 + 600 = $1350 is deductible. $10,000 of the promotion expenses are fully deductible as stated in the MTG 10-402 under Entertainment Exclusions. $5,000 spent on morning tea and refreshments is fully deductible as stated in the MTG 10-402 under, Entertainment. Are all the expenses deductible? No. $1,350 + $10,000 + $5,000 = $16,350 is deductible. Gray Engineering cannot claim the $17,700 in full. Only $16,350 is allowable. b) The $34,000 that was received for the repairs of the building is included as income as it is said under Insurance payments for depreciable property on the IRD website. ($40,000 was the total for the repairs. $6,000 is exceeding the amount paid out). So, the $6,000 excess that wasn’t covered in the insurance payment is an addition to the adjusted assets tax book value. This is found in the MTG 5-049. The $46,000 that Gray Engineering claimed is correct for the loss of income for the two days no work was able to be done. This is shown in the MTG 5-045. Gray Engineering included the full $80,000 in its 2014 return. On the IRD website under Insurance payments for depreciable...
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...Business can be a difficult field to work in. Companies are there to make money. Investors of companies, partners, and owners, all want the company to earn more profits and continue to increase the value of the company. At the same time, every individual in business would like to increase their net worth as well. Throughout this course we have been learning about different aspects of business law, particularly how it pertains to starting a business. As I have read articles in the Wall Street Journal, I have come to realize how much a business (whether it be a start-up or not) will go at lengths to gain a leg on competition. I noticed three ways in particular we may see this: patent infringement, bribes, and kickbacks. By these three we can see that there is an ethical issue in business, because businesses are willing to do what is not ethically right to gain an advantage. To begin with let us dive into patents. As explained in the text of book for class, patents can provide powerful protection on new products, processes and inventions (Bagley and Dauchy, 542). It is not so much the benefits that can come from having a patent but the weaknesses that can occur. Some weaknesses listed in the book include: “High standards of patentability; often expensive and time-consuming to pursue; must disclose invention to public” (Bagley and Dauchy, 572). It is that last weakness that can be an issue with dealing with patents. In the articles that I have had the opportunity to study; some...
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...patent…your rights with a patent…your competitors’ rights with a patent…the strength of a patent. The best way to understand a patent is to understand how a patent is infringed. So, we know the power of the patent is in the claims. This is where the inventor defines his or her patent rights; his or her ENFORCEMENT rights. So, let’s try to infringe some claims. We’ll use a simple example. Let’s imagine we can get a patent on anything. Let’s get a patent on a basic chair. Imagine a world without chairs…pretty scary…all we can do is sit on rocks. Not comfortable. Hard to move around. So, we invent the first chair. And we know we’re on to something. Everyone will want to buy this. So, we go to a patent lawyer and get a patent. Here is the claim. (Visually display the elements) • An apparatus for sitting comprised of • a seat, • a back, and • four legs. All of these elements make up one independent claim. And this would be a great claim. It would come at the end of a patent document which could be a few or even dozens of pages of text and drawings describing how to make it and how to use it. (Patent visual running through page after page of drawings then text…then narrow in on a claim). What can we do with this patent… with this claim? Well, first, in our scenario, let’s pick a country. We need to do that because each patent is only useful and enforceable in the country that issued it. So, for simplicity, let’s say this is a US patent, and it wasn’t...
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...Case 1 KRISHNA JAJODIA | 1402079 Plaintiff vs Defendant Garware-Wall Ropes Ltd Techfab India And 5 Ors. Case : Patent infringement The Case (Facts) Gujarat High Court Bench: M Shah, K Puj Appellant is a well reputed manufacturer and seller of synthetic ropes, twines and yarns, nettings and various rope products including Geosynthetic products and systems. One of such products manufactured and sold by the appellant is known as Synthetic Rope Gabion, referred to as SRG Invention in the plaint of the suit. SRG Invention, developed by the appellant through its exhaustive R&D experiments was granted a Patent Such claim for a patent by the appellant was published in the Gazette of India for opposition, if any on 04.02.2005. As there was no opposition, the Controller of Patent sealed the patent on 13.05.2005. It bears a Patent No. 195352 in favour of the appellant. Appalent’s appeal The respondent 1 has infringed their patent and started manufacturing and selling of product similar to SRG invention The respondent Nos. 2 to 6, who were serving with the appellant and were closely connected with the affairs of the appellant's patented SRG Invention, were absorbed by respondent No. 1. The injunction application was heard by this Court and vide CAV Judgment dated 13.07.2006, the Learned Single Judge has refused to grant the interim injunction as prayed for by the appellant. Mr. Kamal Trivedi, learned Senior Counsel appearing with Mr. Y. J. Trivedi for the appellant has submitted...
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