TC HEARTLAND: WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING: The Supreme Court earlier this week made a decision on a major patent case — TC Heartland v. Kraft Foods LLC — essentially limiting where patent lawsuits can be brought. "TC Heartland continues a trend of the Supreme Court, Congress and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit continuing to dial back a system that had become perceived by some, rightly or wrongly, as too patent-owner friendly," Kenneth Parker, chairman of the intellectual property litigation practice at Haynes and Boone, told PP via email. "The decision will likely have a positive impact for companies that primarily defend against patent cases but do not own or assert patents as part of their business — examples include financial institutions and retailers. Most observers believe patent-assertion entities that buy patents primarily for monetization through litigation will suffer a negative impact from this ruling."
The "most immediate and visible" effect "will be a net increase in filings in districts in which companies are incorporated or maintain their headquarters," he said. "So we should see spikes in patent infringement filings in the districts that encompass Delaware, New York City, Dallas/Fort Worth, Silicon Valley and San Francisco, Chicago, and Southern California."
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