Supreme Court Grants Certiorari in Microsoft Case Challenging Patent Validity Standard

The U.S. Supreme Court granted a petition for writ of certiorari Nov. 29 in Microsoft Corp.’s attack on the clear-and-convincing evidence standard for challenges to the validity of a patent ( Microsoft Corp. v. i4i L.P., U.S., No. 10-290, cert. granted 11/29/10 ).

The patent validity standard was established by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in 1984. Lowering the standard to a preponderance of evidence—as Microsoft requests—could significantly decrease the strength of every patent owner’s case in…

Infringement By Microsoft Word’s XML Editor Upheld By Federal Circuit

Microsoft Corp. had failed to properly challenge patent obviousness and damages decisions against it, and otherwise had failed to prove invalidity and noninfringement of a technology used by Microsoft Word, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled Dec. 22…