Maryland Court Denies Patentee's Use at Trial of Favorable Reexamination Results
In IA Labs v. Nintendo, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland granted Nintendo’s motion to exclude evidence at trial pertaining to the outcome of a reexamination proceeding involving one of IA Labs' patents. In doing so, the district court agreed with Nintendo that evidence related to IA Labs’ reexamination proceedings would have little or no probative value and could be prejudicial in front of a jury. Moreover, the district court found that Nintendo was not judicially estopped from arguing that the reexamination determinations were not probative evidence even though Nintendo’s litigation counsel had previously lauded the expertise of the U.S. Patent Office.
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Why Has America Stopped Inventing? By Darin Gibby, Esq., Morgan James Publishing, New York, 2012.png)
Patent Office data show that the number of individuals in Maryland receiving at least one patent in 2010 that was not assigned to a company was at an eight year high. Overall innovation in Maryland, however, has declined, when measured by the number of U.S. patents and patent applications issued to Maryland inventors. On a per capita basis, the numbers look even worse, as patents issued per Maryland resident declined about 3% when comparing 2011 numbers to 2010 levels. Moreover, Maryland ranks a lowly 37th when it comes to commercializing research and development, despite being at the top in terms of research and development spending per capita.
