Jarg Corp., a start-up company begun by Northeastern University and an associate professor, filed suit against Google Inc. alleging patent infringement of its 1997 patent relating to advanced internet searching technology. Jarg Corp. is the exclusive licensee of the patent owned by Northeastern University.

Jarg Corp. learned of the potential infringement from a participant at a presentation by Google in which it described its Web search technology. Jarg Corp. seeks the relatively speedy patent calendar in the Eastern District of Texas, and the patent litigation experience of that Court.

After a slight stall last week, the U.S. House of Representatives on September 7, 2007 passed the Patent Reform Act, HR 1908, with a vote of 220 to 175. On September 10, 2007, the Bill passed to the U.S. Senate for review where it is expected to undergo further debate and editing and result in a different version.

U.S. Patent Office data reveals that North Carolina ranked 15th out of 20 states named in the nation in the number of patents issued to the State’s residence during fiscal year 2006, ending September 30, 2006.

North Carolina residents were issued 2,172 patents during that period. California residents received the greatest number of patents, numbering 23,579, followed by Texas as the second with 6,345 residents obtaining patents.

The US Patent and Trademark Office has revised the Rules of practice in patent examinations in what it states is an attempt to make examination of patent applications in the Patent Office more effective and efficient. The Rule changes require a patent application to give justification for filing a continuing application for a third or subsequent continuing application. The justification will need to demonstrate why the amendment, argument or evidence could not have been submitted in the previously filed applications.

Patent applications having patentably indistinct claims may be required to be contained in one application unless good reason can be shown for the need for multiple copending applications.

Additionally, the Rules require that if an application contains more than five independent claims, or more than twenty-five total claims, the applicant must submit an examination support document covering all the claims.

The Rules changes shall be effective on November 1, 2007, and can impact applications already filed with the Patent Office.

Thomas Woolston won $29.5 million from eBay Inc., when a federal judge upheld a federal jury’s decision that the online marketplace infringed on two of Woolston’s patents.

eBay argued the validity of Woolston’s patents, but the jury decided the company “willfully” violated the patents.

The jury’s verdict allowed the possibility for U.S. District Judge Jerome B. Friedman to triple the awarded damages if he felt it necessary. He refrained, however, but said he would add to the damage if eBay continued its infringement.

Woolston is the founder of MercExchange LLC, an internet technology firm from Great Falls, Virginia. According to its Web site, eBay employs nearly 13,000 people, and it saw $52 billion worth of goods exchanged in its marketplace in 2006.