IP Law Daily, WORTH NOTING—Other IP law developments, (Sep 23, 2022)

By WK Editorial Staff

A periodic roundup of other items of interest to the Intellectual Property community.

PATENT—Fed. Cir.: Switzerland-based Wenger S.A. was not entitled to a writ of mandamus to direct the federal district court in Waco, Texas, to transfer a patent infringement action to the southern District of Florida, the headquarters location of a non-party that Wenger contended designed and sold the accused products. Swissdigital USA Co., Ltd. alleged that Wenger's USB-charging backpacks infringed patents covering bags for convenient charging of personal devices and a sheath incorporated into a bag that performs the same task. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit found that Wenger had not made a compelling case for transfer to the Southern District of Florida, given that no party was located there and Wenger had delayed in filing its transfer motion (In re Wenger S.A., September 23, 2022, per curiam).

COPYRIGHT OFFICE NEWS: The U.S. Copyright Office announced it will hold a closing plenary session via Zoom on technical measures that identify or protect copyrighted works on October 4, 2022. This session will conclude the series of consultations with stakeholders the Office held during the spring and summer of 2022 in addition to the first plenary in February 2022. In a letter dated June 24, 2021, Senators Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) requested that the Copyright Office “convene a representative working group of relevant stakeholders to achieve the identification and implementation of technical measures.” These consultations have identified various issues and potential new approaches relating to the development and implementation of technical measures, the Office said. Registration for the webinar is available here.

TRADE SECRET NEWS: In accordance with a jury’s verdict following an eight-week trial, the Circuit Court for Fairfax County, Virginia, has entered a final judgment awarding Appian Corporation $2.036 billion in damages for willful and malicious trade secret misappropriation committed by Pegasystems Inc. Appian was awarded damages of $5,000 against defendant Youyong Zou for misappropriation that was not willful. The jury also found that Pegasystems was liable for violation of the Virginia Computer Crimes Act, but awarded only nominal damages. The trial court additionally awarded attorney fees in the amount of $23.6 million and $3780 in costs, plus post judgment interest at a rate of 6 percent (Appian Corp. v. Pegasystems Inc., September 15, 2022, Gardiner, R.).

TRADE SECRET NEWS: The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California has announced that former Broadcom Inc. engineer Peter Kisang Kim has been sentenced to eight months in prison and three years of supervised release for trade secret theft involving Broadcom trade secrets. The sentence was handed down by the federal district court in San Jose, California. Kim had been employed by Broadcom for over 20 years and worked as a principal design engineer at the company. In the days before he left Broadcom in July 2020, Kim copied more than 500 Broadcom files from its document repository system. Kim admitted to possessing Broadcom trade secrets related to Broadcom’s Trident family of chips, including those contained in test plans, design verification environment files, and design specifications. Less than two weeks after he left Broadcom, Kim began working as IC Design Verification Director for a startup company based in the People’s Republic of China. Kim acknowledged in his plea agreement that the company was seeking to become a leading chip designer. On November 4, 2021, a federal grand jury indicted Kim charging him with 18 counts of trade secret theft associated with Broadcom. Kim pleaded guilty to three counts.

USPTO PATENT NEWS: The USPTO announced that on September 30, the Office’s?new?Patent Public Search tool (PPUBS) is replacing four legacy tools—Public-Examiner’s Automated Search Tool (PubEAST), Public-Web-based Examiner’s Search Tool (PubWEST), Patent Full-Text and Image Database (PatFT), and Patent Application Full-Text and Image Database (AppFT). Existing links to U.S. patents and U.S. pre-grant publications in PatFT and AppFT will be terminated following the retirement of these services. Users can directly access U.S. patents and U.S. pre-grant publications via Patent Public Search and can set up links for direct document access to U.S. patents and U.S. pre-grant publications on a webpage or document. A step-by-step guide to performing these functions is available here. Patent Public Search provides more convenient, remote, and robust full-text searching of all U.S. patents and U.S. pre-grant publications. The new tool streamlines the search process for users, provides alternatives for existing services, and incorporates new features. More information is available on the Patent Public Search webpage, including FAQs and training resources.

Attorneys: Christine E. Lehman (Reichman Jorgensen Lehman & Feldberg LLP) for Wenger S.A. Dariush Keyhani (Keyhani LLC) for Swissdigital USA Co., Ltd. Ellen D. Marcus (Holmes Costin & Marcus PLLC) for Appian Corp. Douglas R. Kay (Offit Kurman, P.A.) for Pegasystems Inc.

Companies: Wenger S.A.; Swissdigital USA Co., Ltd.; Appian Corp.; Pegasystems Inc.; Broadcom, Inc.

News: Copyright Patent TechnologyInternet TradeSecrets FedCirNews VirginiaNews