Hyundai Motor Co. won its appeal of a $34 million verdict that said South Korea’s largest automaker infringed a Texas company’s patent for computerizing the sale of car parts. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit yesterday said Orion IP LLC’s patent was invalid and vacated the verdict stating that there was insufficient evidence to support the jury’s verdict. Orion, a patent-licensing firm based in Longview, Texas, had sued 20 automakers, claiming infringement of a patent for a way to help a salesperson select auto parts without relying on catalogs or order forms.  The other auto companies settled before trial.  Hyundai argued that companies other than Orion had come up with the idea of electric parts catalogs in 1987, and the patented computer-assisted system a year later wasn’t different enough to be considered a new invention.

Ruling against Microsoft, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday confirmed a patent held by Toronto-based i4i.  The tiny Canadian company had taken the software giant to court in 2007 over violations of its patent in Word applications and won the case and got $290 million in damages last December. The U.S. Court of Appeal had upheld a lower court order banning Microsoft from selling its patent-infringing Word processing software from January 11. the patent pertains to use of technology that can open documents using the XML computer programming language.  The Canadian company had said Microsoft stole its technology when it created Word 2003 and 2007. The so called “449 patent” was developed by Michel Vulpe, founder of i4i.

Dish Network Corp. may have to remotely disable millions of its customers’ DVR boxes if it loses a patent infringement case brought by TiVo.  Company officials say they are prepared to shut down approximately 7 million DVRs if the court sides with TiVo, which first brought a law suit against Dish Networks in 2004. TiVo claims that Dish Networks’ DVRs include technology which infringes on its real-time TV pausing and rewinding features. Although Dish Networks is prepared to shut down the DVRs immediately if it loses the case and the court issues an injunction, a more likely scenario is that it will pay damages and technology licensing fees to TiVo, having to remotely disable the DVRs as a last-resort move. A three-judge federal appeals panel in Washington sided with TiVo in March.  Dish Networks, the second largest satellite TV provider in the U.S., has asked the full appeals court to review the case.

Nokia, the world’s biggest maker of mobile phones, filed another patent-infringement lawsuit against Apple, this time over iPad.  The lawsuit, the fifth patent complaint between the two companies in the past year, broadens the fight to include Apple’s iPad touch-screen computer tablet. Nokia filled its law suit today in federal court in Madison, Wisconsin.  This recent battle between these industry giants helped push Apple shares down as much as 8.5% in New York trading, their steepest drop since October 2008. In the three years since iPhone was introduced, Apple has sized Nokia’s position as the company that defines the high-end smartphone market. The five patents in the newest complaint relate to enhance speech and data transmission, and antenna configurations that improve performance and ads space.  The patents are not the same ones at issue in prior cases between the two companies. Nokia is currently battling Apple in a different law suit accusing Apple of infringing 10 patents, demanding royalties on more than 51 million iPhones sold since 2007.

Lets review the latest legal skirmish between industry giants,  the world’s largest cell phone maker (Nokia) is suing the world’s largest smartphone maker (Apple) who is counter-suing Nokia and also suing the world’s faster growing smartphone operating system designer (HTC).   The future seems very litigious.

Taiwan-based smartphone maker HTC has singed a patent-sharing deal with Microsoft, allowing the company to use Microsoft technology in its Android-based smartphones. The deal, worth an undisclosed sum, will allow HTC direct access to the Microsoft patent portfolio in order to make smarter and more consumer-friendly Android-based handsets. A non-disclosure agreement prevents both companies from specifying exactly which Microsoft technologies would be used. Horacio Gutierrez, a corporate Vice President and deputy general counsel in Microsoft’s licensing and intellectual property division, said in a statement that “HTC and Microsoft have a long history of technical and commercial collaboration, and agreement is an example of how industry leaders can reach commercial arrangements that address intellectual property.

This patent licensing deal comes as HTC prepares to defend itself in a law suit filed by Apple, which accuses HTC of ripping of Apple’s technology in its range of Android-based handsets.

U.K. drug maker Shire PLC has filed a law suit against Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, alleging that the Israel-based generic drug maker infringed two patents for Shire’s hyperactivity medicine Intuniv.  Intuniv is used to treat Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in children and adolescents aged 6 to 17 years. Shire, the U.K.’s third-largest drug company, said its law suit results from an Abbreviated New Drug Application for making copycat versions of Intuniv by Teva, the world’s largest generic drugs maker. Shire’s hyperactivity product, which uses the active ingredient guanfacine, only went on the sale in the U.S. late last year and is protected by three patents, which runs until 2015, 2020 and 2022. Teva’s application refers to just two of those patents.  Alleging Trademark/patent infringement by Shire PLC is the latest one that Teva is facing in the U.S. as Teva is still fighting Pfizer for various patent infringements.

Austin-based DDB Technologies LLC, an intellectual property firm which owns a number of patents has filed a patent infringement suit against ESPN over three patents it owns.  The DDB patents cover live simulation of sporting events, play-by-play text, graphics and animation, and generating information about the state of game.  DDB said the lawsuit was filed in the United States District court for the Western District of Texas.  DDB said it has previously licensed its patents to SportLine.com and MLB Advanced Media, and had been in litigation with MLB since 2004 before a recent settlement. DDB claims it met with ESPN in the late 1990s when they established the patent, and then ESPN created its own version of Gamecaset, which now DDB claims infringed on their patents.

Three months after Kodak sued Apple for patent infringement, Apple has filed a counter-suit that accuses the film and imaging company of violating two of its own digital photography patents. Apple is claiming that several products owned by Kodak like the C, M, and Z series Easyshares cameras and camcorders are using its patent technologies. Apple filed its law suit in the Federal Court for the Northern District of California. Apple is certainly no stranger to courtroom battles, especially for copyright infringements. Apple is currently battling Nokia and HTC for various patent infringements. Similarly, Kodak has lunched suits against other phone makers, including Samsung and LG, in 2008 over the use of camera technology in mobile handsets.

Verizon Communications Inc.’s patent infringement complaint seeking to block digital set-top boxes brought into the U.S. by or on behalf of Cablevision Systems Corp., plus any related software, will be investigated by ITC.   The U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington stated that it will review the complaint filed last month and decide whether to ban the imports after Verizon claimed Cablevision infringed five patents.  The patents are related to boxes with advanced features such as the ability to download videos or provide functions such as game, local weather and social networking.  Verizon said it uses the inventions in its FiOS television service.

Cablevision, the New York -area cable-television provider, and Verizon are fighting for cable customers in the Northeast.  Verizon has committed to spending $23 billion over seven years to build out its fiber optic network for high-speed internet and high-definition television service.  Verizon is the second-largest U.S. phone company behind AT&T Inc.

On the basis of its dominant position in the digital music space, through the iTunes store, Apple has reportedly filed a new patent which entails the use of the iPhone and iPod Touch as digital tickets – or e-tickets – for concerts and events.  The patent, which mentions a system known as “Concert Ticket +”, will mark a notable shift, for the entertainment industry, towards the widespread use of the electronics medium for selling concert tickets.  The September 2008 patent will essentially use near field communications technology, allowing the iPhone or iPod owners to simply get their devices swiped as an entry procedure for a concert or an event. The iPhone and iPod uses will also be able to buy tickets to a venue via iTunes or their devices. This patent will not be restricted to the use of the iPhone or iPod for buying tickets for concerts as the patent will also allow purchasing for sporting events, amusement parks, as well as sending wedding invitations to one’s digitally-connected guests.