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Conditional Sale Doesn’t Trigger Patent Exhaustion

Client Alert | 1 min read | 07.10.06

In LG Electronics, Inc. v. Bizcom Electronics, Inc. et al. , (No. 05-1261, July 7, 2006), a Federal Circuit panel affirms in part, reverses in part and vacates in part a district court's summary judgment of non-infringement in favor of third-party installers who purchase microprocessors and chipsets from Intel Corporation, which is itself authorized to sell such products under an agreement with LG Electronics (“LGE”). Under this agreement, however, Intel is required to notify its customers that combining Intel products with non-Intel products is not permitted.

In reversing the district court's holding that the system claims of LGE's asserted patents were “exhausted” by Intel's sales, the panel reasons that requiring Intel to notify its customers that they were prohibited from infringing LGE's combination patents makes both the license and subsequent sales by Intel expressly conditional and, as such, does not trigger the patent exhaustion doctrine.

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Client Alert | 3 min read | 03.28.24

UK Government Seeks to Loosen Third Party Litigation Funding Regulation

On 19 March 2024, the Government followed through on a promise from the Ministry of Justice to introduce draft legislation to reverse the effect of  R (on the application of PACCAR Inc & Ors) v Competition Appeal Tribunal & Ors [2023] UKSC 28.  The effect of this ruling was discussed in our prior alert and follow on commentary discussing its effect on group competition litigation and initial government reform proposals. Should the bill pass, agreements to provide third party funding to litigation or advocacy services in England will no longer be required to comply with the Damages-Based Agreements Regulations 2013 (“DBA Regulations”) to be enforceable....