Tate & Lyle Suffer Sweetener Setback

Tate & Lyle, the sugar and sweetener company, suffered a setback late yesterday when the U.S. International Trade Commission upheld an earlier ruling against the British company.  According to Reuters, the ruling confirms a September 2008 decision that Tate had infringed on patents held by certain manufacturers of Chinese sucralose, a zero-calorie sweetener.

This decision will impact Tate as a fifth of their profits come from the sale of sucralose, which is sold under the Splenda brand name.  It’s rumored that the case against the Chinese manufacturers was filed to test Tate’s patents on the sweetner.

After the decision, Tate stated that they will review that ITC’s ruling and evaluate any appeal options.

Court Dismisses Broadcom Complaint

Broadcom Corp and Qualcomm Inc. are currently involved in a series of patent disputes over mobile phone technology patents.  In fact, the dispute has spilled out of the court room and a dispute currently sits in front of the International Trade Commission.  However, the two companies made news today as a federal court dismissed a Broadcom complaint that was filed in an October 2008 lawsuit against Qualcomm.

As reported on Reuters.com, Broadcom claimed that Qualcomm gained royalties on “exhausted” patents.  The issue of patent exhaustion often arises in recycled or re-sold components.  However, the judge said that Broadcom did not identify any specific patents that were allegedly exhausted, and denied Broadcom any declaratory relief.

Last September, a U.S. appeals court ruled that Qualcomm had infringed on two Broadcom patents.  The decision upheld an injunction against Broadcom, but shortly after, an appeals court ruled in Qualcomm’s favor for one of the patents.

Nokia Loses Litigation Decision

Last Thursday, Nokia came out on the losing end of a legal battle with InterDigital.  While InterDigital has an infringement lawsuit against Nokia pending with the International Trade Commission, this current case, filed by Nokia in district court, was Nokia’s attempt to avoid defending itself in front of the ITC.  But according to the Wall Street Journal, the district judge decided to deny Nokia’s request that the district court rule on the patent infringement case.  The case will now head to the ITC as planned.

The judge also decided to deny Nokia’s request to force InterDigital to arbitrate its dispute, rather than proceeding with the case.  Nokia had claimed that arbitration was necessary because the technologies in question were covered by earlier contracts.

InterDigital currently licenses up to 50% of high speed broadband phones, but some suggest that number would rise to 80% if the company settles with Nokia.  InterDigital is also no stranger to the court room, as they recently sued Samsung Electronics in a similar suit.  On the eve of the ITC’s decision, Samsung agreed to pay InterDigital $400 million.

Will Nokia be close to settling with InterDigital in the near future?  A spokeswoman for Nokia said the company was “reviewing the decision and considering its options.”  Some claim, however, that the patents in this case are essentially the same as InterDigital brought against Samsung.  It’s likely that InterDigital hopes that this case will have a similar $400 million outcome.

LG Freezes Whirlpool in Refrigerator Case

A judge from the U.S. International Trade Commission has denied the final claim by Whirlpool Corporation regarding refrigerator products from LG Electronics.  The ruling, which was issued earlier today, states that LG refrigerators are not covered under one of Whirlpool’s patents.  Whirlpool had claimed that LG’s refrigerators had infringed on five of its patents, but Whirlpool withdrew four of the patents prior to trial.

“This decision proves that LG Electronics is truly a leader in providing innovative appliances for American consumers while promoting fair competition,” the president of LG Electronics Home Appliance Company, Y.H. Lee, said in a press release.

LG filed its own patent infringement case shortly after they were named in Whirlpool’s suit.  That case is scheduled for trial in March 2010, and LG is seeking damages as well as an injunction against certain Whirlpool products.

Microsoft Sues TomTom

Earlier today, Microsoft filed a lawsuit against TomTom, a GPS navigation company.  Microsoft filed complaints with a U.S. District Court as well as the ITC, and claimed that TomTom infringed on eight patents – five related to car navigation systems, and three related to file management technologies.  The federal lawsuit is seeking damages, while Microsoft hopes the ITC case will block future imports of infringing products.

As reported on Cnet News, Microsoft deputy general counsel Horacio Gutierrez said that they had been trying to initiate licensing talks with TomTom for over a year.  Microsoft has already negotiated licensing deals with GPS makers Pioneer, Alpine, and Kenwood.  “All of these patents have been licensed before by many other companies.  We are asking TomTom to do what other companies have done and take a license,” Gutierrez said.

While Microsoft is often named as a defendant in infringement lawsuits, this case marks only the third patent case that Microsoft has taken to court.  In 2006, Microsoft had a dispute with Belkin which was eventually settled.  Last year, Microsoft sued Primax but the two ended up settling as well.

Samsung Responds to Kodak’s Patent Dispute

In November, Eastman Kodak filed a lawsuit with a U.S. District Court as well as with the U.S. International Trade Commission.  Kodak accused both Samsung and LG of infringing on the data compression and storage technologies  in Kodak’s mobile camera phone.  A month after the complaint was filed, the ITC voted to investigate the claims.  But according to FierceWireless, Samsung has responded by hitting Kodak with its own lawsuit.

Samsung is asking the ITC to block the importation of Eastman Kodak digital cameras.  The Korean-based company claims that Kodak’s cameras infringe on several patents.

The ITC can be a popular place for patent infringement cases, as it can stop the imports of items that infringe on U.S. patents.  One common example of wireless companies using the ITC is the battle between Qualcomm and Broadcom.  Both have filed numerous complaints with the government agency during their long-standing feud.

Vizio and Funai Trade Shots in HDTV Battle

Over the past year, Funai Electric has filed various lawsuits over two HD-related patents.  Unfortunately for the Japanese firm, last week the ITC upheld an earlier ruling that one of their patents is invalid.  The USPTO has also rejected all claims related to that patent, and some think that the patent may soon be invalidated altogether.

As reported on Betanews, this decision takes care of 24 of 27 infringement counts made against Vizio by Funai.  Vizio responded on Friday by filing an antitrust and unfair competition suit against the Japanese firm. 

The filing claims that Funai, “acting alone and in concert with others, unlawfully restrained trade and monopolized the market of the licensing of technology used to interpret and retrieve information from a digital television broadcast signal, as well as the market for digital television sets and receivers.”

Meanwhile, the ITC has ruled that Vizio has infringed on two of the claims in another Funai patent related to mapping.  But, the USPTO has already issued a preliminary ruling on the mapping patent which, like the other, may be invalidated.

ITC Delays Tessera Patent Decision

Tessera Technologies Inc. said yesterday that the U.S. International Trade Commission has delayed a decision on its patent complaint.  Back in December, Tessera asked the ITC to consider banning imports of small-format semiconductor packaging products.  Tessera had alleged that these products infringed on its own patents, according to MSNBC.

Tessera stated that the delays and rescheduling resulted from internal delays at the ITC.  The government bureau has moved the date for submitting briefs back to February 23, and the due date for reply briefs has been moved to March 5.  The target date to complete the investigation is now April 14 instead of April 3.

Tessera is known for developing miniaturization technology for electronics makers.  Their shares fell 16 cents in afternoon trading, after the delay at ITC was announced.

Samsung Wins Decision to Stop Sharp Imports

Yesterday, Samsung Electronics Co. won a huge decision to stop the U.S. importation of rival products by Sharp Corp.  The ruling, as decided by U.S. International Trade Commission Judge Paul Luckern, stated that Sharp had infringed on two Samsung patents and an order should be imposed to ban entry of Sharp LCD products.

As reported by Bloomberg.com, Samsung and Sharp have traded patent-infringement allegations against each other in an effort to block the other from the U.S. market.  Samsung is reportedly targeting products that use Sharp LCDs, such as high-definition TVs and Motorola Inc.’s RAZR2 mobile phone.

Sharp also has claims against Samsung, which are scheduled to be heard before Judge Luckern beginning on February 9.  The full report of the latest decision isn’t yet public and officials from both sides have yet to comment.

Nokia, HTC, and RIM Subjects of Patent Dispute

The U.S. International Trade Commission has voted to investigate Nokia, HTC, and RIM, which could ban certain gadgets from being imported into the United States.  According to Register Hardware, the ITC’s investigation stems from Saxon Innovations’ allegations which named the companies as having violated patents owned by their company.  Saxon is supposedly seeking an exclusion order as well as an injunction.

Saxon Innovations, a patent purchasing firm, is apparently contesting a patent for a keypad monitor with keypad activity based activation.  Another patent reportedly covers a device and method for inter-processor communication using mailboxes owned by processor devices.  Both patents were granted to chipmaker AMD, until Saxon bought them in July 2007.

It’s rumored that Nokia’s N73 and N95 handsets could be at risk, as well as the BlackBerry 8100 Pearl and Palm’s Treo 700p.  An initial hearing on the alleged patent infringement will take place in the coming months.

Critics have been quick to call Saxon Innovations a patent troll for suing these companies.  While one can draw their own opinions, it is tough to prove otherwise with Saxon suing only a short time after they bought these patents.

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