I have been holding a number of news stories and blog posts that will be valuable to retailers, but did not warrant a full blog post.  So, what follows are links to those and some thoughts on why you will find them valuable:

  • Federal Circuit Reaffirms Power of Arbitration Clauses.   David Healey at PatentMath looks at a recent Federal Circuit decision reaffirming the traditional American view in favor of arbitration, including in patent cases.  He also warns to look at the myriad of agreements, purchase orders, etc. between parties to understand the arbitration agreements that might control a particular relationship.
  • Internet Retailers Facing Increasing Patent Litigation.  Internet  Retailer has a number of good articles (also here) looking at the rise of patent litigation filings and demands against retailers, and specifically internet retailers.  Full disclosure, the article quotes me about the trend of rising patent litigation, as well as Peter Brann of Brann & Isaacson, another patent litigator that represents retailers.
  • Interview with The Original Patent Plaintiff’s Lawyer — Ray Niro.  Ray Niro is arguably the original patent troll, and an excellent trial lawyer.  Gene Quinn interviewed him at his IPWatchdog Blog (part 2 of the Niro interview here).  Most of the interview is what you would expect.  My favorite Niro quote from the interview (presumably sarcastic):  “Patent trolls are evil. I mean, it’s preordained, . . . .”
  • Trolls Moving to the ITC.  Dennis Crouch at Patently-O looks at an RPX study about the increasing trend of trolls filing suit in the ITC.  I will write more about this soon, but it is an interesting trend.  Although the ITC actions are usually accompanied by parallel district court cases, the new joinder law does not impact the ITC.  So, trolls can still file against multiple parties in a single action.  Plus, if the troll can overcome the domestic industry requirement (which is often doable based upon recent ITC decisions) they have the dual threats of speed (cases are typically complete in 15-18 months, as opposed to double that or more in the district courts) and an injunction, which trolls usually cannot obtain in the district courts pursuant to the eBay decision.