Posts Tagged: "Google"

Alden Abbott recently captured Europe’s digital-policy contradiction with a memorable image: Brussels says it wants technology champions, but when a champion emerges, it makes the winner share the trophy. The European Commission’s July 16 binding specification measures (BSMs) against Google turn that metaphor into an administrative program. One measure requires Google to provide eligible search engines—including AI chatbots with search functions—access to anonymized ranking, query, click, and view data. The other requires “free and effective” interoperability with 11 categories of Android functionality, including device sensors, app context, app and operating-system control, on-device AI models, and background execution. Google must furnish documentation and technical assistance and extend access to covered future functionality when it becomes available to its own services.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) issued a decision Monday in Google LLC v. Parus Holdings, Inc., vacating a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) final written decision that upheld two claims of a voice browsing patent owned by Parus Holdings, Inc. The court found that the Board made multiple errors under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) in rejecting Google’s obviousness challenge and remanded the case for further proceedings.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) issued a precedential decision Friday in Hafeman v. Google LLC affirming Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) final written decisions (FWDs) invalidating all claims of three related patents owned by inventor Carolyn Hafeman.  The court also dismissed Hafeman’s argument that the inter partes reviews (IPRs) should have been terminated based on the district court’s finding that LG–a real party in interest to the IPRs–violated its Sotera stipulation.

In its recent petition to the U.S. Supreme Court, Google argues that patents can be invalid at any time, even decades after issuance, and therefore should remain open to inter partes review (IPR) challenges, regardless of age or how long they have been relied upon. At first glance, this sounds like a defense of patent quality. Coming from one of the most frequent users of the Patent Trial and Appeal board (PTAB) over the past decade — and arriving just as the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO’s) “settled expectations” doctrine begins to limit late-stage IPR challenges — it raises a sharper question: why now?

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) issued a decision today in TJTM Technologies, LLC v. Google LLC, affirming the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California’s dismissal of a patent infringement lawsuit and holding that the asserted patent claims are directed to patent-ineligible subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101. The nonprecedential decision was authored by Judge Chen and joined by Judges Dyk and Stark.

The U.S. Supreme Court today denied certiorari in EscapeX IP, LLC v. Google LLC, letting stand a precedential decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) affirming a district court’s award of more than $250,000 in attorneys’ fees to Google and finding that EscapeX had pursued a “frivolous” patent infringement lawsuit against Google and its attorneys had acted recklessly in prolonging the litigation.  

A panel on day three of IPWatchdog LIVE 2026 offered the IP community a candid look at how large operating companies actually evaluate and respond to patent assertions. The answers carry direct implications for every practitioner advising clients on the sell side of a transaction. The session, titled The Big Tech View on Patents and the Patent Market, featured Russell Binns (Allied Security Trust (AST)), Ola Adekunle (Google), Caroline Pinkston (Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)), and Dean Geibel (Samtec).

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) on Thursday, January 22, issued a precedential decision affirming a district court ruling that granted Google’s motion to dismiss a patent owner’s infringement suit for failure to state a claim. The CAFC agreed with the district court that the software claims in question were directed to a patent-ineligible abstract idea. The opinion was authored by CAFC Chief Judge Moore and joined by Judges Hughes and Stoll.

On December 19, Google LLC filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against SerpApi, LLC, alleging violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The suit centers on claims that SerpApi, a “scraping” service, unlawfully circumvents Google’s technological barriers to scrape copyrighted content from its search results pages on a massive scale, thereby profiting from Google’s efforts without compensation.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) on Thursday reversed a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) finding that Google had failed to prove one claim of a patent directed to CAPTCHA-like technology unpatentable. The opinion was authored by Judge Taranto and the panel included Chief Judge Moore and Judge John H. Chun of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, sitting by designation.

This Monday, Irvine, CA-based memory technology developer Netlist filed a complaint  with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) alleging rampant infringement of its patent rights by dynamic random access memory (DRAM) devices manufactured by Samsung, including those used in Google products. The complaint is Netlist’s latest action against Samsung following a breached joint development agreement and two jury verdicts entered in U.S. district court awarding Netlist more than $420 million for Samsung’s infringing memory modules.

The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) today announced an agreement with Google for the “Gemini for Government” platformto provide federal agencies with access to Google’s artificial intelligence and cloud services at discounted rates.Gemini is Google’s flagship generative AI chatbot, supporting text, image, video, and code generation across multiple platforms, including Gmail, Docs, Sheets, and Meet. Under the GSA agreement, which is valid through 2026, agencies can access Google’s AI-optimized and accredited commercial cloud services, Gemini models, and agentic capabilities.

Samsung today lost its bid at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) to transfer a suit brought against it by Mullen Industries LLC from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas  to the Northern District of California.

Mullen sued Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (SEC) and Samsung Electronics America, Inc.  (SEA) in Judge Rodney Gilstrap’s Texas court for infringement of its patents through Samsung smartphones, tablets, and watches, including Google Maps and Wear OS functionalities, both of which were developed by Google. Samsung moved to transfer the case to the Northern District of California (NDCA) based mostly on Google’s presence there, and the district court denied the motion.

The U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari Monday in Cellspin Soft v. Fitbit, a case arguing in part that a district judge should have been recused due to her spouse’s financial ties to Google and her own ownership of Google stock through heavily managed investment funds. The petition for writ of certiorari, filed by Bluetooth media upload developer Cellspin in April, claimed that Rogers’ impartiality could reasonably be questioned based on those financial interests, some of which were only disclosed following summary judgment.