Our weekly SoCal IP Institute meeting on Monday, June 1, 2015 will be a discussion of the following cases:

COMMIL USA, LLC v. CISCO SYSTEMS, INC.   (Sup. Ct. May 26, 2015) (available here). Petitioner Commil sued Cisco Systems for direct infringement of its patent for a method of implementing short-range wireless networks.  As stated in the Supreme Court’s case synopsis:  “After two trials,  Cisco was found liable for both direct and induced infringement.  With regard to inducement, Cisco had raised the defense that it had a good-faith belief that Commil’s patent was invalid, but the District Court found Cisco’s supporting evidence inadmissible.  The Federal Circuit affirmed the District Court’s judgment in part, vacated in part, and remanded, holding, as relevant here, that the trial court erred in excluding Cisco’s evidence of its good-faith belief that Com-mil’s patent was invalid.  Held: A defendant’s belief regarding patent validity is not a defense to an induced infringement claim.”

APPLE v.  SAMSUNG,  (Fed. Cir. May 18, 2015)  (available here).  A jury trial in the Northern District of California found that Samsung infringed Apple’s design and utility patents and diluted Apple’s trade dresses.  Chief Judge Prost held: “For the reasons that follow, we affirm the jury’s verdict on the design patent infringements, the validity of two utility patent claims, and the damages awarded for the design and utility patent infringements appealed by Samsung.  However, we reverse the jury’s findings that the asserted trade dresses are protectable.  We therefore vacate the jury’s damages awards against the Samsung products that were found liable for trade dress dilution and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”

All are invited to join us in our discussion during the SoCal IP Institute meeting on Monday, June 1, 2015 at Noon in our Westlake Village office. This activity is approved for 1 hour of MCLE credit. If you will be joining us, please RSVP to Noelle Smith by 9 am Monday morning.