patent Archives - David L. Cohen, P.C.

Meet the IP Thought Leaders: Eric Stasik

October 8, 2018/in News /by David L. Cohen, Esq.

I first met Eric Stasik some 5 years ago when I was at Vringo. When we first met, it took no more than 10 minutes to appreciate how lucky I was to have him on my team. Eric has an uncanny ability to, very quickly, see through can’t and cut to the core issues at hand. More importantly, he finds solutions. Eric gets stuff done quickly, effectively, and cost efficiently. Having seen him at work in the years since, my appreciation of Eric and what he brings to the table has only deepened.

Eric currently provides assistance and guidance to firms engaged in commercial patent license negotiations through his consultancy, Avvika AB. I am honored he agreed to this interview.
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Meet the IP Thought Leaders: Donal O’Connell

August 29, 2018/in News /by David L. Cohen, Esq.

Over the course of my 20+ years practicing law, I have had the honor of working with many individuals at the cutting edge of all aspects of intellectual property. I consider myself very lucky that most of these folks, in addition to being luminaries in the industry, are good people and have welcomed me into their professional world with open arms. To celebrate these individuals, I am inaugurating a series of interviews. Read more

Steps to Take if You Receive a Patent Demand Letter (Part 3)

August 6, 2018/in News /by David L. Cohen, Esq.

This article is the next piece of my series discussing patent demand letters. Part one, reviewed the initial considerations and steps one should make upon receiving a patent demand letter. Part two explored the subject or content of the letter — i.e., what is the sender asking for? Part three addresses evaluating the merits.

At this stage it might not be worthwhile to perform a full analysis of the letter’s claims, but it is definitely worth performing at least a high-level review. Read more

A Short History of Vringo’s Battle with ZTE

August 2, 2018/in News /by David L. Cohen, Esq.

This paper was originally written as a source material for my presentation at the ABA’s 2017 IP West as part of the The China Paradox – October 11-12, 2017, Long Beach, CA, and subsequently edited and supplemented.

I. The Vringo Background

The following paper is a short history of the thirty-nine-month battle between Vringo, Inc. and ZTE Corporation. Vringo (now called FORM Holdings) was a technology company that became involved in the worldwide patent wars.[1] The company won a 2012 intellectual property lawsuit against Google, in which a U.S. District Court ordered Google to pay 1.36 percent of U.S. AdWords sales. Analysts estimated Vingo’s judgment against Google to be worth over $1 billion.[2] The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit overturned the District Court’s ruling on appeal in August 2014 in a split 2-1 decision,[3] which Intellectual Asset Magazine called “the most troubling case of 2014.”[4] Vingo also pursued worldwide litigation against ZTE Corporation in twelve countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Malaysia, India, Spain, Netherlands, Romania, China, Malaysia, Brazil and the United States.[5] The high profile nature of the intellectual property suits filed by the firm against large corporations known for anti-patent tendencies has led some commentators to refer to the firm as a patent vulture or patent troll.[6] Read more

Steps to Take if You Receive a Patent Demand Letter (Part 2)

June 30, 2018/in News /by David L. Cohen, Esq.

In my previous article, I discussed the initial considerations and steps one should make upon receiving a patent demand letter. Particularly, identifying the allegations and sender. In part two, I discuss the subject or content of the letter — i.e., what is the sender asking for? As with most things, infringement letters come in a number of flavors. Read more

Steps to Take if You Receive a Patent Demand Letter

June 18, 2018/in News /by David L. Cohen, Esq.

While not as prevalent as it may have been in the go-go days of the early 2000s, in certain industries in the United States, it is only a matter of time before a company will receive a patent demand or cease and desist letter. Read more

Will the IoT Patent Wars be like the Smartphone Wars? Part 2

April 23, 2018/1 Comment/in News /by David L. Cohen, Esq.

It is worth noting that many of the use cases for IoT that are currently receiving much attention (like connected cars), likely won’t fall into litigation because of SEP enforcement challenges. Frankly, I don’t see a scenario where the number of cars being sold and the proportionate value that IoT will bring to those cars (with the possible exception of self-driving cars) are such that high value licensing will make sense. On a volume basis, a connected car manufacturer like BMW probably sells fewer cars than the smallest smartphone manufacturer and the absolute value of any apportioned royalty base is likely smaller than that of a smartphone. Additionally, it is worth noting that many of the higher value IoT products and services will have wireline connections to the Internet, and wireline has traditionally had a less contentious licenses ecosystem than wireless connections. Read more

Will the IoT Patent Wars be like the Smartphone Wars?

April 16, 2018/1 Comment/in News /by David L. Cohen, Esq.

I believe we may be due in the next two to three years for a large-scale re-eruption of the patent wars that have been a constant presence in the telecommunications industry since at least 2005. Unlike the prior iterations of those wars, I believe these wars will not only be international, but much of their driving force will occur ex-USA. Moreover, they will be across multiple industries. They will be much more impacted by direct government policy and will be much broader in impact than just mobile cell phones and terminals.

I believe that the playing field of this war will be the Internet of Things often abbreviated as IoT. Read more

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