Haynes and Boone, LLP Partner Eugene Goryunov was quoted in Bloomberg Law about the patent office’s recent decision that companies settling patent tribunal disputes must file certain “collateral agreements” even if they aren’t between the parties.
Here is an excerpt:
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) designated precedential a decision involving its termination of DTN LLC’s challenges to Farms Technology LLC’s commodity system patents. The parties have settled, and the Patent and Trademark Office tribunal ended the inter partes reviews.
But the PTAB, after reviewing the settlement agreement, scheduled a conference with the parties to discuss other collateral agreements, referenced in the settlement, and whether they needed to be filed.
Patent law requires “any” collateral agreement referenced in the settlement agreement, whether it’s between the parties or not, to be filed for PTAB trial settlement, the PTAB noted.
The case serves as a “warning to practitioners,” said Eugene Goryunov, intellectual property practice group partner at Haynes and Boone, LLP.
“Don’t mess around. Follow the rules,” Goryunov said.
To read the full article, click here.