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Microsoft, Interpump, Pfizer, Viacom, Radioshack: Intellectual Property
Microsoft Corp., the world’s largest software company, is seeking a patent on a system that would allow gestures to be used to input data to a computer.
According to application 20100199228, which was published in the database of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Aug. 5, the system includes a camera that captures gesture, and a “gesture recognizer engine” to identify the significance of the gesture.
The system can read American Sign Language gestures, which is a manual language used by the deaf in the U.S., according to the application. It can be used with a prop such as a conductor’s baton or a tennis racket.
In addition to being used to generate words, gestures can be used to indicate emotions or to control game activities, according to the patent.
Microsoft applied for the patent in February 2009 with the assistance of Woodcock Washburn LLP of Philadelphia.
Interpump Group Unit Sued Over Patent by Colorado Competitor
A unit of Italy’s Interpump Group SpA was sued for patent infringement by a Colorado competitor.
The complaint, filed Aug. 4 in federal court in Beaumont, Texas, accuses Interpump’s NLB Corp. of infringing two patents for high-pressure nozzles for waterjet tools held by StoneAge Inc. of Durango, Colorado. The tools are used to clean sewer pipes and to bore through stone.
According to court papers, NLB is a former StoneAge customer now making its own products that infringe the patents. StoneAge claims NLB’s Typhoon 10 nozzles use the patented technology and design.
In dispute are patents 7,635,096 and D617,870, which were issued in December 2009 and June 2010, respectively. They cover StoneAge’s Banshee line of products, the company said in its court filings.
StoneAge complained that NLB’s infringing products were shown at a trade show in Louisville, Kentucky, in February, and that NLB’s sales representatives are contacting StoneAge’s European customers, offering the allegedly infringing Typhoon devices.
The company claims it has lost sales it would have made “but for NLB’s infringement” and that it will continue to suffer “irreparable harm” if NLB continues to make and sell infringing products.
StoneAge asked the court for money damages, “no less than a reasonable royalty,” and for an award of profits NLB gained from its allegedly infringing products. The company also asked for awards of attorney fees and litigation costs and a court order barring NLB from future infringement of the patents.
BLP didn’t respond immediately to an e-mailed request for comment.
The company is represented by Brian A. Carpenter, Eric W. Buether and Christopher M. Joe of Buether Joe & Carpenter LLC of Dallas.
The case is StoneAge Inc. v. NLB Corp., 1:10-cv-00460, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas (Beaumont).
Pfizer Sues Iceland’s Actavis Over Lipitor Patent
Pfizer Inc., the world’s largest drug company, sued Iceland’s Actavis Group hf asking a judge to block sales of a generic version of the cholesterol drug Lipitor until its patent 5,969,156 expires in 2017.
New York-based Pfizer contends Actavis has applied to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to make copies of the drug in violation of the 1999 patent, according to a complaint filed yesterday in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware.
“Plaintiffs will be irreparably harmed” if Actavis markets its product before the patent-protection expires, Pfizer lawyers said in the complaint, which also seeks legal fees and expenses.
Lipitor is the best-selling prescription drug worldwide, with sales of $11.4 billion in 2009. Pfizer said July 6 it received approval from the European Commission for a new chewable form of Lipitor for children over age 10.
Actavis spokeswoman Hjordis Arnadottir didn’t immediately return voice and e-mail messages seeking comment on the lawsuit after Icelandic business hours yesterday.
The case is Pfizer Inc. v. Actavis Group hf, 10CV675, U.S. District Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington).
For more patent news, click here.
Copyright
UBS Sued for Copying Oil Reports in Investor Research
UBS AG’s U.K. unit was sued for allegedly copying articles from oil and gas publications and reprinting them in the investment research it distributed to clients.
Energy Intelligence Group Inc., based in New York, said its publications, which include International Oil Daily, World Gas Intelligence and Petroleum Intelligence Weekly, were copied by UBS Ltd. at least 10 times during 2006 and 2007, according to the lawsuit.
Articles from Energy Intelligence or portions of them were reprinted in UBS’s own investment research publication, Daily Oil News, according to the suit filed in a London court last month and made public this week.
Last month in a similar scenario, Deutsche Bank AG research analyst Pankaj Jha left after the bank told clients one of his reports contained “significant similarities” to an article from Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc.
In the UBS case, analyst Jon Rigby had a single-user subscription for the Energy Intelligence publications beginning as long as 10 years ago, according to the suit. Rigby, based in London, is the global coordinator of the bank’s Daily Oil News publication, which is distributed in at least 17 countries including the U.S., U.K., Germany, Russia and China, Energy Intelligence said.
UBS, based in Zurich, has been copying the publications “in a systematic manner over a long period of time for the purposes of enhancing its profile and reputation amongst its customers and potential customers,” according to the complaint. “The defendant threatens and intends to repeat the acts of infringement.”
UBS spokesman Dominik von Arx declined to comment.
The publisher’s suit seeks unspecified damages from UBS for copyright infringement and an injunction to stop UBS and its employees from copying the articles.
“The acts of the defendant were carried out flagrantly and in the belief that the benefit to be so gained far exceeded the damages at risk,” according to the complaint.
Energy Intelligence charges subscribers an additional fee to reproduce an article from one of its publications, according to the lawsuit. The publisher said it was unable to determine how many times UBS copied stories or “the full extent” to which they were distributed.
The bank showed “cynical disregard” by printing its own copyright prohibiting the redistribution of the material on each publication of Daily Oil News, according to Energy Intelligence.
In the U.S., the Copyright Clearance Center in Danvers, Massachusetts, licenses a wide range of written content for business and other purposes. These licenses can include works from academic and other specialty publishers.
The case is Energy Intelligence Group v. UBS Ltd., HC10C02381, High Court of Justice, Chancery Division (London).
Viacom Appeals YouTube Copyright-Infringement Ruling
Viacom Inc., the owner of MTV Networks and Paramount studios, is appealing a ruling that Google Inc.’s YouTube video- sharing website didn’t infringe Viacom copyrights.
Viacom appealed the June decision to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, according to a filing yesterday in federal court in Manhattan.
U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton ruled that YouTube hadn’t infringed Viacom’s copyrights because it’s protected by the safe-harbor provision of the federal Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The law states a service provider isn’t liable if it removes infringing material when notified by the copyright owner.
The case is Viacom International Inc. v. YouTube Inc., 1:07-02103-LLS, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
For more copyright news, click here.
Trademark
RadioShack Sues Former Iowa Licensee for Trademark Infringement
RadioShack Corp., a chain of consumer electronic stores based in Fort Worth, Texas, sued a former licensee for trademark infringement.
Somebody Cares Inc. of Fairfield, Iowa, is accused of infringing RadioShack marks by continuing to operate a store under the RadioShack designation one year after the license agreement was terminated.
According to the complaint filed Aug. 10 in federal court in Iowa, Somebody Cares had a license from RadioShack from August 2000 to August 2009. RadioShack said it warned Somebody Cares to quit using the marks in October 2009.
The letter to Somebody Cares, which is included in the court filing, mentions that Somebody Cares was also offering its franchise for sale on the Craigslist website, “which is not possible, as you do not have a franchise.”
RadioShack said the public is likely to be confused by Somebody Care’s actions, and that its business, reputation and goodwill are damaged. The Texas company asked the court to order Somebody Cares to stop the alleged infringement, and the destruction, at Somebody Cares’ expense, of all offending signs and other promotional material.
Additionally, the company asked for money damages, and requested that they be tripled. RadioShack also requested awards of litigation costs and attorney fees.
RadioShack is represented by Timothy J. Zarley of the Zarley Law Firm Plc of Des Moines, Iowa.
The case is RadioShack Corp. v. Somebody Cares Inc., 4:10- cv-00367-REL-RAW, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Iowa (Des Moines).
Mile High Festival Promoters Seek Permission to Seize Fake Goods
Promoters for Colorado’s Mile High Music Festival filed a preemptive trademark infringement suit against vendors who would sell unauthorized merchandise in the festival’s vicinity.
The suit, filed Aug. 9 in federal court in Denver, accused 100 unidentified female defendants, 100 unidentified male defendants and one unidentified company of selling counterfeit T-shirts and other merchandise. These sales will damage the authorized seller and confuse the public, according to the complaint.
The plaintiff is AEG Life - Rocky Mountains LLC of Denver, which promotes the festival and sells festival merchandise. The festival, which opens Aug. 13 at a park north of Denver, drew more than 90,000 attendees in 2009, its second year of existence, and AEG Life says it derived “substantial income” from the sale of authorized festival merchandise.
It asked the court for an order barring infringement of its marks and for authorization for law enforcement officials and agents of AEG to seize and deliver for destruction all unauthorized merchandise sold in the vicinity of the arena.
AEG also asked for money damages, attorney fees and litigation costs.
The festival promoter is represented by Cara R. Burns of Hicks, Mims, Kaplan & Burns of Santa Monica, California.
The firm represents many entertainment figures and events with reference to licensed merchandise, including Aerosmith, Toni Braxton, Coca-Cola Co, Walt Disney Co., Hard Rock Cafe, Glenn Danzig, Don Henley, H.R. Giger, INXS, Judy Garland, Korn, Lollapolloza, Mattel, Metallica, Morrissey, Nirvana, Paul Simon, The Eagles, Thomas the Tank, Warner Bros., and Dwight Yocum according to the Hicks, Mims website.
The case is AEG Live - Rocky Mountains LLC, v. John Does, 1:10-cv-01896-WYD, U.S. District Court, District of Colorado (Denver).
Trafficker in Fake Trojan Condoms Gets 37 Months in Prison
A U.S. immigrant from China was sentenced to 37 months in prison for trafficking in more than a million counterfeit Church & Dwight Co. Trojan condoms.
Jian “Jimmy” Wang was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan in Brooklyn, New York.
Condoms tested from the same batch as Wang’s were found to burst, leak and lack spermicide, prosecutors said. The brands seized were Trojan Magnum, Trojan-ENZ, Trojan Ultra Ribbed and Trojan Mint Tingle, according to court papers.
Wang is also accused of trademark infringement in an ongoing civil case brought by Church & Dwight in the same court. Wang is one of more than 40 defendants accused of distributing fake Trojan condoms in the area comprising the federal judicial district known as the Eastern District of New York and in Manhattan.
According to court papers in the civil case, the counterfeit condoms were sometimes packaged two to a box rather than three, were the wrong size and the lubricated condoms were packed with a silicon lubricant Church & Dwight doesn’t use.
The U.K.’s Times reported in November that the making of fake condoms was “rampant” in China and that just one workshop in central Hunan province turned out 2.19 million condoms produced in unsanitary settings.
The civil case is Church & Dwight Inc. v. Kaloti Enterprises of Michigan LLC, 1:07-cv-00612-BMC-VVP, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn).
For more trademark news, click here.
To contact the reporter on this story: Victoria Slind-Flor in Oakland, California, at vslindflor@bloomberg.net.
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