Claim Question

[xapeila]

What is the name of your state?tx

Hi Everyone,

If I understand correctly in order to infringe a Claim every part of the claim has to apply to the end product. Claim (1) We do A thru F (cited prior art ) of a Patent that was rejected twice. He adds G ( Logical Linking) then it was Granted. We do not do G.

Also Microsoft Tablet PC Specs operate with an electromagnetic digitizer instead of a resistive-touch screen, such as those typically found in personal digital assistants (PDAs) and other small-screen devices. This means that the Tablet PC accepts input only from a pen that contains an electromagnetic coil. Therefore, you can touch the screen while writing without inadvertently moving the cursor. Claim (2) Handwritten input traced across touch sensitive serface. Which Tablet PV’s are not.

If we understand correctly we do not infringe either claim. If so how do we get this guy to stop contacting our customers with his infringment claim?

Thanking everyone in advance, Xapeila

 

[divgradcurl]

What is the name of your state?tx

Hi Everyone,

If I understand correctly in order to infringe a Claim every part of the claim has to apply to the end product. Claim (1) We do A thru F (cited prior art ) of a Patent that was rejected twice. He adds G ( Logical Linking) then it was Granted. We do not do G.

Also Microsoft Tablet PC Specs operate with an electromagnetic digitizer instead of a resistive-touch screen, such as those typically found in personal digital assistants (PDAs) and other small-screen devices. This means that the Tablet PC accepts input only from a pen that contains an electromagnetic coil. Therefore, you can touch the screen while writing without inadvertently moving the cursor. Claim (2) Handwritten input traced across touch sensitive serface. Which Tablet PV’s are not.

If we understand correctly we do not infringe either claim. If so how do we get this guy to stop contacting our customers with his infringment claim?

Thanking everyone in advance, Xapeila

How? Who knows. You can't stop someone from talking.

You could get an opinion of counsel saying that you are not infringing - it won't be cheap, but maybe that will get him to stop. The only other way you might be able to get him to stop is by filing a declaratory judgment action, assuming that you are the ones being threatened. If you have not been threatened, then you probably don't have standing to sue for DJ, only the person(s) actually being threatened have standing. I guess you could also maybe sue him for tortious interference with a contract, that's a possibility depending n the facts of the situation, and very likely cheaper than a DJ action.

In any event, you'll need a lawyer if you do get sued for infringment, or need to file a DJ action or other action against this person, so you should probably start taling with t alawyer, and see where that leads.

 

[xapeila]

Thank you for your reply,

We had and “Infringement Analysis” (35 pages) done with very strong evidence and specific proof we do not infringe. We have already spent thousands of $$ already to get to this point. Are there any remedies to stop such tactics with out having to spent more $$ to defend the obvious? A Tortuous interference with contact suit sounds like a cheaper way to get our message across. How about Arbitration? Would that be a more feasible approach?

Xapeila

 

[divgradcurl]

Thank you for your reply,

We had and “Infringement Analysis” (35 pages) done with very strong evidence and specific proof we do not infringe. We have already spent thousands of $$ already to get to this point. Are there any remedies to stop such tactics with out having to spent more $$ to defend the obvious? A Tortuous interference with contact suit sounds like a cheaper way to get our message across. How about Arbitration? Would that be a more feasible approach?

Xapeila

If you had a noninfringement opinion done, then you must be working with an attorney already, presumabely one who knows a lot more about the particulars of your situation than we on this board do -- what did the lawyer say when you asked him this question?

Also, arbitration is a way to resolve an active dispute -- it sounds as if the guy isn't contacting you, but your customers -- if that's the case, the dispute really isn't between you and him -- he hasn't asked you to stop what you are doing -- so it is hard to see how arbitration would make any difference. That's why I suggested looking into tortious inteference -- that way you could create a controversy, and THEN maybe you could try arbitration or mediation as a way to resolve the issue.

 

[xapeila]

Thank you for your reply, Yes we have been working with our Patent attorney.. A bit of history.. Our patent attorney is helping us with the filling of a Patent based on our software which is pending.

1/04We got a letter from the a Patent owner offering us a license because he believed our software was infringing his patent.. So we contact our Patent attorney and he suggested we ignore it because after reviewing his patent he decided it was obvious or software was not infringing.. A year later 2/05 the Patent owners attorney contacted us and our OEM partner making the same licensing offer. So our attorney suggested that we have an Infringement analysis done 3/05. Based on that opinion and what he found to be proof, his partner (another attorney in his firm) stared negotiating for us with a goodwill offer we could live with to make them go away and leave us to do business. The patent owner’s counter offer would limit how we do business in the future so we decided to do our own negotiations.. After the patent owners attorney contacted our OEM several times by phone and finally talked with our OEM attorney, found out some close royalty numbers paid to us by our OEM we were very upset by their tactics. They finally pressured our OEM to stop selling our product rather then getting involved with possible Infringement issues.
We are now waiting for their reply to last direct offer ( without our attorney).. We just want to stop this endless Money Pit of attorney fees.. We have spent thousands of $$. That is why we are taking over from where our attorney left off. We will look into your idea of a tortious interference.. We have found out so much by doing our own investigation, the advise we were given our attorney we felt was the easy way out.

Thank you very much for your time, Xapeila