Assignor Estoppel
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Assignor Estoppel
The doctrine of assignor estoppel is a doctrine of United States patent law barring a patent's seller (assignor) from attacking the patent's validity in subsequent patent infringement litigation. The doctrine is based on the doctrine of legal estoppel, which prohibits a grantor (typically, of real property) from challenging the validity of his/her/its grant. In ''Diamond Scientific Co. v. Ambico, Inc.'', the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit distinguished the policies applicable to assignor estoppel from those applicable to licensee estoppel. It therefore held that the doctrine of '' Lear, Inc. v. Adkins'', which applies to licenses and holds that public policy requires that licensees not be muzzled from challenging the validity of possibly spurious patents, does not apply to assignments. The UK counterpart to this doctrine is the doctrine of non-derogation from grants. Under this doctrine, as explained in ''British Leyland Motor Corp. v. Armstrong Patents C ...
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United States Patent Law
Under United States law, a patent is a right granted to the inventor of a (1) process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, (2) that is new, useful, and non-obvious. A patent is the right to exclude others, for a limited time (usually, 20 years) from profiting of a patented technology without the consent of the patent-holder. Specifically, it is the right to exclude others from: making, using, selling, offering for sale, importing, inducing others to infringe, applying for an FDA approval, and/or offering a product specially adapted for practice of the patent. United States patent law is codified in Title 35 of the United States Code, and authorized by the U.S. Constitution, in Article One, section 8, clause 8, which states: Patent law is designed to encourage inventors to disclose their new technology to the world by offering the incentive of a limited-time monopoly on the technology. For U.S. utility patents, this limited-time term of pate ...
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Patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A patent is not the grant of a right to make or use or sell. It does not, directly or indirectly, imply any such right. It grants only the right to exclude others. The supposition that a right to make is created by the patent grant is obviously inconsistent with the established distinctions between generic and specific patents, and with the well-known fact that a very considerable portion of the patents granted are in a field covered by a former relatively generic or basic patent, are tributary to such earlier patent, and cannot be practiced unless by license thereunder." – ''Herman v. Youngstown Car Mfg. Co.'', 191 F. 579, 584–85, 112 CCA 185 (6th Cir. 1911) In most countries, patent rights fall under private law and the patent holder ...
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Legal Estoppel
Legal estoppel is a principle of law, particularly United States patent law, that an assignor or grantor is not permitted subsequently to deny the validity of title to the subject matter of the assignment or grant. Originally a principle of real property law, applicable to deeds of land and called estoppel by deed, the Supreme Court extended legal estoppel to patents in '' Westinghouse Elec. & Mfg. Co. v. Formica Insulation Co''. In that case, Chief Justice Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected p ... pointed out that no prior Supreme Court cases existed in which the Court had fully considered the matter, but many lower court decisions starting in 1880 had done so. His explanation for the principle was as follows: ere seems to be no reason why the principles of estopp ...
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Licensee Estoppel
Licensee estoppel is a doctrine under which a licensee of an intellectual property right, generally a patent or a trademark, is estopped from challenging the validity of the licensed property. The basis for the doctrine is the premise that a licensee should not be able to enjoy the benefit of an agreement and at the same time attack the validity of the intellectual property that forms the basis of the agreement. United States In United States patent law, the doctrine has been overturned. In 1969, the U.S. Supreme Court, in '' Lear v. Adkins'', held the doctrine inconsistent with a federal policy that the invalidity of specious patents should be unmasked in order to permit full and free competition in technology ideas that belong in the public domain. The strong public interest in invalidating patents, allowing public access to non-patentworthy technology, justified permitting licensees to challenge patents. In the United States, the doctrine remains valid in trademark law, where th ...
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Doctrine Of Non-derogation From Grants
The doctrine of non-derogation from grants is a principle of the law of England and Wales. As the House of Lords explained in '' British Leyland Motor Corp. v. Armstrong Patents Co.'', it states that a seller of realty or goods is not permitted to take any action (such as bringing an infringement action) that will lessen the value to the buyer of the thing sold. United States federal law recognises similar doctrines such as the exhaustion doctrine or doctrine of implied license. A similar effect has also been realised in United States patent law under the doctrine of repair and reconstruction.See '' Aro Mfg. Co. v. Convertible Top Replacement Co.'', 365 U.S. 336 (1961). An important difference between the doctrine of non-derogation from grants and other doctrines, particularly implied license, that are used to accomplish similar results is that the doctrine of non-derogation from grants is "inherent" as a matter of property law and apparently cannot be avoided by a seller's use of ...
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British Leyland Motor Corp
British Leyland was an automotive engineering and manufacturing conglomerate formed in the United Kingdom in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC), following the merger of Leyland Motors and British Motor Holdings. It was partly nationalised in 1975, when the UK government created a holding company called British Leyland, later renamed BL in 1978. It incorporated much of the British-owned motor vehicle industry, which in 1968 had a 40 percent share of the UK car market, with its history going back to 1895. Despite containing profitable marques such as Jaguar, Rover and Land Rover, as well as the best-selling Mini, BLMC had a troubled history, leading to its eventual collapse in 1975 and subsequent part-nationalisation. After much restructuring and divestment of subsidiary companies, BL was renamed the Rover Group in 1986, becoming a subsidiary of British Aerospace from 1988 to 1994, then was subsequently bought by BMW. The final surviving incarnation of the com ...
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British Leyland Motor Corp V Armstrong Patents Co
''British Leyland Motor Corp. v Armstrong Patents Co.'' is a 1986 decision of the House of Lords concerning the doctrine of non-derogation from grants. This doctrine is comparable to, but somewhat broader than, the doctrine of legal estoppel, assignor estoppel, or estoppel by deed in U.S. law. Under the doctrine of non-derogation from grants, a seller of realty or (after this decision) goods is not permitted to take any action (such as bringing an infringement action) that would lessen the value to the buyer of the thing sold. Background The factual context of the ''Leyland'' case was that British Leyland (BL), the owner of copyright in drawings of the exhaust pipe of a motor car (the Morris Marina) having sold or authorized the sale of the motor car, sought to use the law against copyright infringement to prevent the aftermarket sale of replacement exhaust pipes to purchasers of those motor cars. British Leyland's cars reproduced the drawings in a three dimensional form. A ...
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Patent Infringement
Patent infringement is the commission of a prohibited act with respect to a patented invention without permission from the patent holder. Permission may typically be granted in the form of a license. The definition of patent infringement may vary by jurisdiction, but it typically includes using or selling the patented invention. In many countries, a use is required to be ''commercial'' (or to have a ''commercial'' purpose) to constitute patent infringement. The scope of the patented invention or the extent of protection is defined in the claims of the granted patent. In other words, the terms of the claims inform the public of what is not allowed without the permission of the patent holder. Patents are territorial, and infringement is only possible in a country where a patent is in force. For example, if a patent is granted in the United States, then anyone in the United States is prohibited from making, using, selling or importing the patented item, while people in other co ...
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Mentor Graphics Corp
Mentorship is the influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. In an organizational setting, a mentor influences the personal and professional growth of a mentee. Most traditional mentorships involve having senior employees mentor more junior employees, but mentors do not necessarily have to be more senior than the people they mentor. What matters is that mentors have experience that others can learn from. According to the Business Dictionary, a mentor is a senior or more experienced person who is assigned to function as an advisor, counsellor, or guide to a junior or trainee. The mentor is responsible for offering help and feedback to the person under their supervision. A mentor's role, according to this definition, is to use their experience to help a junior employee by supporting them in their work and career, providing comments on their work, and, most crucially, ...
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Privity
Privity is the legal term for a close, mutual, or successive relationship to the same right of property or the power to enforce a promise or warranty. It is an important concept in contract law. Contract law {{main article, Privity of contract The principle of privity in the common law's law of contract dictates that persons may not reap the benefits nor suffer the burdens of a contract to which they were not a party. Under the doctrine, if a consumer bought goods from a retailer who had originally bought them from the manufacturer, then, if the goods proved faulty, the consumer should sue the retailer. The consumer could not sue the manufacturer in contract law because no contract existed between them. The retailer could then counterclaim against the manufacturer. In most cases, however, consumers may rely on the manufacturer's guarantee that will have been assigned to them. In England, the leading privity case was ''Tweddle v Atkinson'' 861EWHC J57 (QB), but this case immediat ...
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Westinghouse Elec
Westinghouse may refer to: Businesses Current companies *Westinghouse Electric Corporation, the company that manages the Westinghouse brand, with licensees: ** Westinghouse Electric Company, providing nuclear power-related services **Westinghouse Electronics, which sells LED and LCD televisions ** Russell Hobbs, Inc., licensed to make small appliances such as vacuum cleaners under the Westinghouse name, from 2002 to 2008 * Siemens Energy Sector, the acquired non-nuclear energy divisions of Westinghouse Electric Former companies and divisions *Westinghouse Electric Corporation, renamed CBS Corporation in 1997 **Westinghouse Broadcasting (Group W), now integrated into CBS Broadcasting, Inc. ** White-Westinghouse, acquired by Electrolux in 1986 ** Westinghouse Electronic Systems Group, sold to Northrop Grumman in 1996 **British Westinghouse, later subsumed into the General Electric Company * Westinghouse Air Brake Company, founding name of WABCO * Westinghouse Brake & Signal Co ...
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