The U.S. District Court in Virginia this week declared the ”Final Rules” proposed last year by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to be “null and void.”  Judge Cacheris held that the USPTO overstepped it regulatory authority and that the rules were “not in accordance with law”.  The decision was a huge victory for Glaxo SmithKline (GSK) and Triantafyllos Tafas.  The USPTO has the right to appeal this decission, but it is unclear yet if they will do so.   

Pfizer, Inc., filed suit against Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. yesterday in an attempt to delay a generic alternative for two well known cholesterol drugs, Lipitor and Caduet.  Pfizer, Inc. is claiming that Ranbaxy has infringed its patents.  According to the lawsuits filed yesterday in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware, Pfizer is seeking a court order barring Ranbaxy from selling generic versions of Lipitor and Caduet in 2010.  Instead, Pfizer is seeking to bar Ranbaxy from selling the generic versions until 2016, when two patents on a process to make the drugs expire.  According to Bloomber News, “Lipitor is the world’s best-selling drug with $12.7 billion in sales last year. Caduet, which had $568 million in 2007 sales, combines Lipitor with Pfizer’s Norvasc, a drug used to treat high blood pressure.”

The cases are Pfizer Inc. v. Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd., 08cv164 and 08cv162, both U.S. District Court District of Delaware (Wilmington).

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a.5gea.QNhNM

The popular video game knowns to millions of loyal fans as “Guitar Hero” might actually be infringing on a 1999 technology patent.  According to Gibson Guitar, Inc. the popular game video game, which uses buttons on a guitar and a streaming video on a TV screen which allows the user to follow along is infringing on a previously held patent. 

According to PC Magazine, the “Guitar Hero” series has sold more than 14million units in North America and has grossed sales in excess of 1 billion dollars. 

 Activision Inc, the maker of the “Guitar Hero” series has filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court of Central California seeking to declare Gibson’s 1999 patent invalid and therefor bar Gibson from seeking any damages.   

 http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2275820,00.asp

According to CBS News, the Gibson’s 1999 patent covers a “virtual-reality device that included a headset with speakers and that simulated participating in a concert”, according to a complaint. 

 http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/12/ap/hightech/main3933152.shtml
 

Columbia University Professor Emeritus Gertrude Neumark Rothschild has filed a complaint against nearly 30 companies, including some of the largest electronic companies in the world. The complaint also asks authorities to block numerous commercial imports, to the United States, including Blu-ray disc players.

According to British Sky News, the products in question are claimed to “infringe Rothschild’s patents relating to short-wavelength light-emitting diodes and laser diodes - the latter which are found in some PDAs and HD DVD players.”

The complaint has now prompted an investigation by the US International Trade Commission.

Some of the nearly 30 companies named in the complaint include,  Nokia, Motorola, LG and Panasonic maker Matsushita Electric.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/xml/article/tech/0,,91221-13611,00.html

In a bold move that could harm trade relations with the United States, Thailand’s Public Health Ministry announced Monday that it would advise the government to continue to ignore patents on four cancer-fighting drugs, a move that allows cheaper generic versions to be imported and manufactured.

In a prepared statement, Public Health Minister Chaiya Sasomsup was cited saying he would inform Commerce Minister Mingkwan Saengsuwan of the decision Tuesday.

 http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djhighlights/200803100946DOWJONESDJONLINE000326.htm

Exhibitors at Europe’s largest technology trade show got a bit more than they bargained for.  Suspecting patent violations, German authorities raided 51 booths, carting off cell phones, navigation devices, and other gear that allegedly infringe on patents.

The AP reported yesterday that of the “51 exhibitors affected, 24 were from mainland China, three from Hong Kong and 12 from Taiwan. Another nine were German, with one each from Poland, the Netherlands and Korea.”

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/06/technology/EU-TEC-Germany-Tech-Fair-Raid.php

According to CNET News, U.S. officials regularly conduct raids in which they seize certain goods because of intellectual property violations. But the key difference is that those exercises deal primarily with copyright or trademark violations.

There’s no equivalent seizure authority under U.S. patent law.

http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9887955-7.html?tag=newsmap

A court in China has ordered Guangzhou Weierwei Electronic Science and Technology Co. Ltd. to compensate Motorola Inc. (MOT) for violating its patent rights concerning a two-way radio, the U.S. telecom giant said in a statement Monday.

Motorola Wins Copyright Case

It appears that the U.S. Senate will again delay consideration of the controversial Patent Reform Bill of 2007, S. 1145, http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_cong_bills&docid=f:s1145is.txt.pdf 

The earliest possible date for debate is now April. 

Last week, the Bush Administration sent a letter to Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee to make clear their concerns about the Patent Reform Bill now moving through Congress.  In a strongly worded letter sent from the U.S. Department of Commerce to Senator Leahy, the Administration detailed their concerns and focused primarily on Section 4 of Senate Resolution 1145, the Patent Reform Act of 2007. 

http://www.ogc.doc.gov/ogc/legreg/letters/110/S1145020408.pdf