IP Litigation Sanctions

CAFC Sanctions Patent Atty For Frivolous Appeal; Is USPTO Discipline Next?

District Court Litigation, IP Litigation Sanctions, Litigation Ethics, Patent Ethics, Patent Litigation Ethics /

The Federal Circuit on Friday affirmed a district court’s order imposing sanctions against a Colorado patent attorney and his patentee client for vexatious litigation.  Doubling down, the Federal Circuit imposed its own sanctions for what it says was a frivolous appeal.  See Walker v. Health International Corp., No. 15-1676 (Fed. Cir. Jan. 6, 2017).  The CAFC’s ruling opens the […]

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CAFC Muzzles Attorneys’ Appeal From Terminating Sanctions In Patent Case

District Court Litigation, IP Litigation Sanctions /

In a 2-1 decision, a panel of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled it lacked jurisdiction to hear an appeal of an order imposing terminating sanctions in a patent case based upon trial counsels’ conduct in misleading the court about evidence of an on-sale bar.  The Federal Circuit ruled that because the parties

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IP Litigators Beware: Bad News May Be Hazardous To Your Law License (Part 2 of 2)

IP Litigation Sanctions, Patent Ethics, Patent Litigation Ethics, Trademark Ethics, USPTO OED /

Bad news on the doorstep.  I couldn’t take one more step.  Don McLean – American Pie In the last year, many “bad news” articles have been published arising from IP litigation. Not surprisingly, a growing number of those articles have been based on exceptional case findings and awards of attorneys’ fees under the Octane Fitness

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IP Litigators Beware: Bad News May Be Hazardous To Your Law License (Part 1 of 2)

IP Litigation Sanctions, Patent Litigation Ethics, USPTO OED /

Many years ago, before Al Gore invented the internet and teenagers rode their bicycles before dawn, their palms black with ink, to deliver “the paper,” science fiction novelist Douglas Adams observed, “Nothing travels faster than the speed of light with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special laws.”  Truer words today could not be

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EXTRA EXTRA: Attorney Abides By Rules Of Professional Conduct; No Discipline Imposed

Duty to Tribunal, IP Litigation Sanctions, Misrepresentations /

Attorney disciplinary matters involving illegal, immoral, incompetent, negligent, unprofessional, or unethical behavior by intellectual property practitioners are a frequent source of news in the IP media outlets. When an attorney does not violate the ethics rules, that fact, in and of itself, is rarely the subject of discussion. Then there are those rare occasions where

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Courts Sanction Patent Counsel for Litigation Misconduct–Will USPTO Discipline Be Next?

IP Litigation Sanctions, Misrepresentations, Patent Litigation Ethics /

What happens in patent litigation does not necessarily stay in litigation.  This is especially true if a court sanctions counsel for litigation misconduct.  News about such conduct travels quickly. Inevitably, it catches the attention of a different, and potentially more dangerous, audience–the Office of Enrollment and Discipline (OED).  Depending on the nature and severity of the litigation misconduct, an OED ethics investigation followed by formal charges alleging litigation counsel violated the USPTO’s Rules of

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Patent Lawsuit Dismissed With Prejudice As Sanction For Counsel’s Misrepresentations

IP Litigation Sanctions, Misrepresentations, Patent Litigation Ethics /

“I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison may share the German philosopher Nietzsche’s view on lying in the wake of his recent decision in  Tesco Corporation v. Weatherford International Inc., 4:08-cv-02531 (S.D. Tex.), in which he dismissed a

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