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... the use of a product after it's sold. We checked in with WSJ Supreme Court reporter Jess Bravin to get the skinny on what happened and why it matters in the long run. LG Electronics bought up a bunch of patents in 1999, including patents for computer chips, which they later ... . When they sold them, however, they included a provision in the sale agreement - insisted upon by LG Electronics - that said you, the purchaser, can't combine these products with any others-that is, ...

... . This term the Supreme Court will rule on the future relevance of the so-called doctrine of patent exhaustion. In Quanta v. LG Electronics (06-937), the court will decide whether a license imposed restrictions on (1) the use of purchased products by ... of the intellectual property right. The Supreme Court soon will resolve the patent license conflict between Quanta and LG; but, this contemporary intellectual property conflict goes beyond the immediate dispute between the parties, and, ultimately, ...

Scott Kieff (Wash U., Hoover Project on Commercialization Innovation) has posted a paper on Quanta v. LG Electronics: Frustrating Patent Deals by Taking Contracting Options off the Table?: The Supreme Court's unanimous decision in Quanta v. LG ... patent license), almost everyone is likely to come out a loser going forward. The Court in Quanta decided that a patent license that LG Electronics sold only to Intel - and explicitly limited to exclude Intel's customers, like Quanta, and priced to reflect ...

Yesterday's decision in Quanta Computer, Inc. v. LG Electronics, Inc. is linked below (via scribd.com, which I am becoming quite enamored of as a place in the "cloud" to hold and link to documents or embed them in a web ... use" of the product is to practice to patent. For a more detailed treatment of this case, see this discussion at the Patent Prospector. Quanta Computer v LG (patent exhaustion) - Upload a Document to Scribd Read this document on Scribd: Quanta Computer v LG (patent exhaustion)

... , EFF filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in Quanta v. LG Electronics, a case that asks whether patent owners can impose restrictions on what you can ... CDs, DVDs, and other media that you've purchased. In Quanta v. LG, the Supreme Court will addresses this issue in the patent context. For over a century, the Supreme Court ... , NCR, independent auto repair services, and at least one biotech firm. Briefs in support of LG will be filed in December, and oral argument is set for January 16.

LG Electronics, no stranger to patent cases (at the Supreme Court and elsewhere) is involved in a case with Whirlpool over refrigerators. Reuters stated: Whirlpool said on Wednesday [23 Jan 2008] it filed the patent infringement action with the International Trade Commission (ITC), charging several LG refrigerator models infringe five Whirlpool patents. It asked for an ITC order to stop LG from selling and importing infringing products into the United States.

... . AP describes the case in the following manner: The case was brought by a group of Taiwanese computer makers, who have accused a South Korean rival [LG Electronics] of using its patents in an effort to "shake down the entire computer industry for several billion dollars in duplicative licensing fees." At issue is whether a patent holder can seek royalties from multiple companies as a patented product works its way through ...

South Korea's LG Electronics Inc. has signed a patent cross-licensing agreement with Microsoft Corp. covering a variety of hardware and software products, the companies said. Through the agreement, LG will obtain access to Microsoft's patents that may be used in its products such as computers and other home appliances. Read the article: SiliconValley.com

The link to the transcript for the January 16th oral arguments before the SCOTUS in Quanta Computer, Inc. v. LG Electronics, Inc. can be found here.

By Kevin E. Noonan -- The Supreme Court handed down its opinion in Quanta Computer, Inc. v. LG Electronics, Inc. today, deciding a question of patent exhaustion in the sale of computer components. The decision, strengthening the patent exhaustion principle, was not really a surprise for a number of reasons. First, it was consistent with Supreme Court precedent, most particularly United States v. Univis Lens Co., ...