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April 7, 2020 In Business, Business Events, Patently Obvious®

Patently Obvious Update from TechDirt: “Those Ex-Theranos Patents Look Really Bad; Contest Opened To Find Prior Art To Get Them Invalidated”




A few weeks back we wrote about how Fortress Investment Group — a massive patent trolling operation funded by Softbank — was using old Theranos patents to shake down BioFire, a company that actually makes medical diagnostics tests, including one for COVID-19. Fortress had scooped up the patents as collateral after it issued a loan to Theranos, which Theranos (a complete scam company, whose founders are still facing fraud charges…) could not repay. Fortress then set up a shell company, Labrador Diagnostics, which did not exist until days before it sued BioFire. After it (and the law firm Irell & Manella) got a ton of bad press for suing BioFire over these patents — including the COVID-19 test — Fortress rushed out a press release promising that it would issue royalty-free licenses for COVID-19 tests. However, it has still refused to reveal the terms of that offer, nor has it shared the letter it sent to BioFire with that offer.
And while some have argued that after issuing this “royalty-free license” offer, the whole thing was now a non-story, that’s not true. It appears that the offer only covers half of the test: the pouches that have the test-specific reagents, but not the test device that is used to analyze the tests. And so while the COVID-19 test pouches may get a “free” license, the machines to test them are still subject to this lawsuit.

If you’re looking to help out and would like a place to start, the good folks at M-CAM, who analyze patents for prior art and obviousness, have a fairly remarkable analysis of the Theranos patents, and refers to Fortress/Softbank/Labrador as “graverobbers.” The analysis is worth reading, including this analysis of the 1st claim in the patent for “a two-way communication system for detecting an analyte in a bodily fluid from a subject…”:

Mike Masnick



Read the full article on Techdirt here

March 26, 2020 In Business, Business Events, Patently Obvious®

Patently Obvious: The Graverobbers of Theranos say they are “NOT” exploiting the Covid-19 Pandemic

For the last few weeks, we’ve been following an interesting story of opportunism, greed, and corruption. On March 6, 2020, The Corporation Trust Company registered a new Delaware LLC named “Labrador Diagnostics.” On March 9, 2020, this same Labrador, owned by investment funds managed by Fortress Investment Group LLC, filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the District of Delaware to “protect its intellectual property.” Two days later, the defendant announced that they were developing test kits for Covid-19. Fortress Investment was terrified of the PR ramifications of being seen as exploiting the pandemic, and rightly so. Within a week, they were under fire.

While this seems like a generous, philanthropic act, and more gutless observers may be tempted to drop the scrutiny, we see things differently. A patent troll (tragically the path Fortress took when IP financing for constructive business proved too hard) is still a patent troll, regardless of whether they are spinning free licenses to their worthless patents off as virtuous acts or not.



Click here to download the full report as a PDF

March 22, 2019 In Business Events, News Archive, Patently Obvious®

Patently Obvious® – Spandex Rumble Down Under

Several Australian news outlets have recently reported a story interviewing Carolyn Taylor, who alleges that Lorna Jane has infringed on her patent for compression tights filed in 2009. Is this a classic underdog story, where the little guy has been exploited and swept under the carpet by their bigger competitor, or is there more to it? With litigation proceedings set to commence on the 3rd of May, we take a closer look. How far has innovation really wandered from the corsets used in the brothels of Europe?

 

 

” For those new to the patent world, here is some background to the frivolous patent litigation scene: After a famous case involving the University of California and Microsoft, the long dormant eggs containing troll embryos hatched. When trolls feed, they observe goat passages across heavily trafficked bridges, and install toll booths with the cunning aid of men (and precious few women) in wigs and robes. By making the cost of litigation a burden on genuine businesses, these parasites can suck blood from active businesses and unsuspecting consumers. With the cost of litigation in both time and money extremely high, it is not uncommon for patent opportunists to select a single target with whom litigation or settlement is considered likely to build a war chest for going after much larger targets.”

 

Download the full report here

Patent review can be quite cheeky at times. Diagram from US 7260961. Stylistic throwback to the European brothels of yore

February 14, 2019 In Business Events, News Archive, Patently Obvious®

Catalyst Pharmaceutical’s Firdapse price hike – Patently Obvious®

3,4-DAP

Image courtesy: Edgar181 [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons

 

 

 

Senator Bernie Sanders wrote an open letter to Catalyst Pharmaceuticals on the 4th of February regarding their newly FDA approved drug to treat Lambert-Eaton Myasthenic Syndrome, saying “Catalyst’s decision to set the annual list price at $375,000 is not only a blatant fleecing of American taxpayers, but is also an immoral exploitation of patients who need this medication.”

Seeing this, M·CAM decided to investigate. What follows is a report on a company that has leveraged the patent system and orphan drug act against their intended use to profit on the suffering of vulnerable patients.

Download the Patently Obvious® report here