According to The Toronto Star, there seems to be an endgame to the Microsoft vs. i4i patent fight. Here’s why Microsoft wants to keep i4i from cashing in:
The hour-long hearing before eight Supreme Court justices delved into the intricacies and the history of the U.S. patent system. Chief Justice John Roberts recused himself from the hearing since he owned more than $100,000 (U.S.) in Microsoft stock in 2009.
Microsoft wants the high court to make it easier for companies to challenge the validity of other firms’ patents. The current standard requires a defendant to prove by “clear and convincing evidence” that a plaintiff’s patent is invalid.
Here’s what i4i had to say:
Lawyers for i4i and the Obama administration argued, however, that there’s little point in granting patents to inventors if corporations can simply infringe upon them with impunity.
“It’s a marathon, not a sprint, but I think it went very well,” Loudon Owen, i4i’s chairman, said on the steps of the iconic Supreme Court building following the hearing.
“The bottom line is whether there’s a robust patent system, and whether or not if you get a patent, it means something. If the law goes the way Microsoft wants it to, it will mean it will be very easy to invalidate patents, which will make it hard to justify why one seeks a patent in the first place.”
Now there’s only going to be 8 rather than 9 judges ruling on this, so this could end up in a tie decision. If that happens, then Microsoft loses. So this is an “all-in” moment for the software giant. Meanwhile, for i4i, a win would validate that Microsoft ripped them off. Expect a decision sometime in June.
Related
This entry was posted on April 18, 2011 at 8:25 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags i4i, Lawsuit, Microsoft, Patents. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Microsoft/i4i Patent Fight Goes To The U.S. Supreme Court
According to The Toronto Star, there seems to be an endgame to the Microsoft vs. i4i patent fight. Here’s why Microsoft wants to keep i4i from cashing in:
The hour-long hearing before eight Supreme Court justices delved into the intricacies and the history of the U.S. patent system. Chief Justice John Roberts recused himself from the hearing since he owned more than $100,000 (U.S.) in Microsoft stock in 2009.
Microsoft wants the high court to make it easier for companies to challenge the validity of other firms’ patents. The current standard requires a defendant to prove by “clear and convincing evidence” that a plaintiff’s patent is invalid.
Here’s what i4i had to say:
Lawyers for i4i and the Obama administration argued, however, that there’s little point in granting patents to inventors if corporations can simply infringe upon them with impunity.
“It’s a marathon, not a sprint, but I think it went very well,” Loudon Owen, i4i’s chairman, said on the steps of the iconic Supreme Court building following the hearing.
“The bottom line is whether there’s a robust patent system, and whether or not if you get a patent, it means something. If the law goes the way Microsoft wants it to, it will mean it will be very easy to invalidate patents, which will make it hard to justify why one seeks a patent in the first place.”
Now there’s only going to be 8 rather than 9 judges ruling on this, so this could end up in a tie decision. If that happens, then Microsoft loses. So this is an “all-in” moment for the software giant. Meanwhile, for i4i, a win would validate that Microsoft ripped them off. Expect a decision sometime in June.
Share this:
Like this:
Related
This entry was posted on April 18, 2011 at 8:25 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags i4i, Lawsuit, Microsoft, Patents. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.