Freitas & Weinberg LLP

Justice Department statement on Section 230. https://www.justice.gov//justice-department-issues-recomme

Today, in U.S. Futures Exchange, L.L.C. v. Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Inc., No. 18-3558, the Seventh Circuit rejected the notion of a "pattern" exception to the Noerr-Pennington doctrine. The court confirmed that the Supreme Court's opinion in California Motor Transport Co. v. Trucking Unlimited does not create an exception to the Professional Real Estate Investors, Inc. v. Columbia Pictures Indus., Inc. "objective baselessness" standard. The possible existence of a "pattern" exception was one of the issues we litigated in the Intellectual Ventures/Capital One case. We're pleased to see the Seventh Circuit join the First Circuit in rejecting the idea of a separate "pattern" exception.

December 19, 2019 USPTO, DOJ, NIST Policy Statement On Remedies For Standards-Essential Patents Subject To Voluntary F/RAND Commitments https://www.justice.gov/atr/page/file/1228016/download In the years since the 2013 policy statement issued, the USPTO, NIST, and the DOJ, along with other agencies and courts in the United States and internationally, have developed additional experience with disputes concerning standards-essential patents. In that time, the agencies have hea...rd concerns that the 2013 policy statement has been misinterpreted to suggest that a unique set of legal rules should be applied in disputes concerning patents subject to a F/RAND commitment that are essential to standards (as distinct from patents that are not essential), and that injunctions and other exclusionary remedies should not be available in actions for infringement of standards-essential patents. Such an approach would be detrimental to a carefully balanced patent system, ultimately resulting in harm to innovation and dynamic competition. Accordingly, the USPTO and the DOJ withdraw the 2013 policy statement, and together with NIST issue the present statement to clarify that, in their view, a patent owner’s F/RAND commitment is a relevant factor in determining appropriate remedies, but need not act as a bar to any particular remedy. See more

Law360 report on the denial of Capital One’s petitions for rehearing and rehearing en banc. https://www.law360.com/articles/1227326

The Federal Circuit has denied the petitions for rehearing and rehearing en banc filed by Capital One in response to the court's affirmance of the summary judgment in favor of our Intellectual Ventures clients. This should be the end of Capital One's second attempt to assert identical antitrust counterclaims. The initial counterclaims were dismissed in the Eastern District of Virginia in 2013. After a lengthy discovery period, summary judgment was granted on the second set of... counterclaims in late 2017 in the District of Maryland. The Federal Circuit affirmed the judgment in the Maryland case earlier this year. http://www.cafc.uscourts.gov//18-1367.Order.12-11-2019.1.p http://www.cafc.uscourts.gov//18-1367.Order.12-11-2019.2.p

IR Global friend Neil Montgomery from Montgomery & Associados in São Paulo visited FAW today. Great to see you, Neil. #irglobal

Bob Freitas and Dan Weinberg are attending the 2019 IR Global Annual Conference in Amsterdam. #IRAMSTERDAM19

The Federal Circuit has affirmed the grant of summary judgment in favor of our Intellectual Ventures clients on antitrust claims filed by Capital One in a lengthy precedential opinion by Judge Bryson. http://www.cafc.uscourts.gov//18-1367.Opinion.9-10-2019.pdf

Oral argument in Intellectual Ventures I LLC, et al. v. Capital One Financial Corporation, et al. set for June 3, 2019 before the Federal Circuit. https://www.law360.com//doj-antitrust-chief-to-appear-for-

The Supreme Court rules 5-4 in an opinion written by Justice Kavanaugh that consumers are direct purchasers who can sue Apple under the Sherman Act for alleged App Store overpricing. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf/17-204_bq7d.pdf

The CLA Antitrust, UCL & Privacy Section is presenting a timely free program on "Sailing Through Uncertainties Views from Practitioners on Legal Issues Affecting Businesses in the Wake of China-US Trade Tensions" on May 17, 2019 at The St. Regis San Francisco. You can find the program description and the list of speakers here: https://calawyers.org//sailing-through-uncertainties-view/

FAW is sponsoring the IR Global On the Road conference in Tokyo this week. Looking forward to seeing our friends from around the world. #IRTOKYO19

Senate Judiciary Committee Intellectual Property Subcommittee releases draft outline of section 101 reform. http://image.fedcirbar-mail.org//2/outline-of-101-reform.p