Daily Journal (California)
April.17.2013
This article, about the effects of the America Invents Act on patent cases, quotes intellectual property partner Mark Wine.
According to the article, the law's new system to challenge patents in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has replaced a popular method for defense attorneys to win validity challenges or narrow claims outside of district court. Not only did the old procedure, known as inter partes reexamination, cancel or modify claims in nearly 90 percent of cases, but attorneys also used it to stay parallel district court proceedings.
"One of the big reasons you do this is to stay the other side's litigation against you," Wine stated.
"You would love to have that whole train sidetracked while the reexam process goes forward. It's less expensive, less risky in terms of damages, and you might develop defenses you don't have."