In Oatey Co. v. IPS Corporation, the US District Court for the Northern District of Ohio granted summary judgment of non-infringement in favor of IPS after a Markman hearing construing the disputed patent claims. In the appeal by Oatey, the Federal Circuit vacated the summary judgment ruling indicating that the District Court erred in excluding a certain embodiment of the invention in construing the claims. The Court stated that, unless the patentee has disclaimed a portion of the invention or was estopped from claiming same in the prosecution history, there is no reason to interpret claims in a manner that excludes an embodiment of the invention that is disclosed in the specification. In the case the Court believed that the claims could be reasonably interpreted to include the specific embodiment and IPS offered no evidence to the contrary.

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.

Domestic Fabrics alleged patent infringement against retailer Sears, Roebuck & Co. Nearly six years after first writing a letter to Sears, Domestic Fabrics collected more than $2.5 million in damages and royalties after a court decided Sears had, in fact, infringed on Domestic Fabrics’ patent.

The patent related to a type of knitted fabric, which Domestic believed Sears was importing from a foreign manufacturer under the “Canyon River Blues” label.

A first letter to Sears Roebuck from Domestic Fabrics asked that the retailer stop making and selling products incorporating the fabric and invited Sears to discuss the possibility of a licensing agreement.

Domestic Fabrics continued to attempt a resolution with Sears Roebuck without success. After suit was filed, there were further unsuccessful negotiations. After being advised of the small firm’s patent, according to the court, Sears Roebuck did not do enough to form a good faith belief that it was non-infringing, continued business selling products incorporating the small firm’s patent, and did not enter serious negotiations with Domestic Fabrics. Sears’ own conduct and relative size were factors the Court examined in finding willful patent infringement.

Domestic Fabrics produces fabrics in Kinston, North Carolina, a town 78 miles east of Raleigh hit hard by the loss of jobs to overseas manufacturers in the textile and apparel manufacturing sectors. Sears, Roebuck is headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Sears’ 2006 revenue exceeded $30 billion, according to Yahoo! Finance.