United States of America
The United States of America is the country where there are, by far, the most examples of court cases over software patents.
Contents
Legislation
- (see Legislation in the USA)
FTC hearings
(What happened about this: FTC hearings about the patent system, announced December 2008)
Patent office decisions
- Main article: United States Patent and Trademark Office
Patent judgements
Patent applications are initially judged by an examiner at the USPTO. This decision can be appealed to the USPTO's Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences. The next step is to go to the United States Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit, and the final step, if accepted, would be to go before the United States Supreme Court.[1]
The place for lawsuits
Most of the world's patent litigation happens in the USA.
Within the USA, a disproportionately large amount of patent litigation takes place in the district of East Texas. This phenomenon is known as forum shopping.
Related pages on ESP Wiki
- Patent office practice in the USA
- Case law in the USA
- USA patents courts and appeals
- Bilski overview
- US FTC report on innovation
- Calculating infringement damages in the USA
- Obama administration
- The Patent Reform Act
- President's Commission on the Patent System (1966)
- Vermont patent troll law
External links
- ESP: Resources For Lawyers
- Presention about swpats in USA by Dan Ravicher
- AIPLA: information about software and business method patents in the USA
- FFII's page about swpats in the USA
References