Will forum shopping days, like holiday shopping days, soon come to an end?

It's no secret that plaintiffs bringing patent litigation choose the forum carefully. Though the appellate review of patent litigation is centralized in one appellate court with limited jurisdiction the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit patent litigations proceed in district courts of general jurisdiction throughout the nation.

US Supreme Court backs Samsung in smartphone fight with Apple

Photo: Reuters/Dado Ruvic The US Supreme Court on Tuesday sided with Samsung in its big-money smartphone patent fight with Apple, throwing out an appeals court ruling that the South Korean company had to pay a $399 million penalty to its American rival for copying key iPhone designs. The 8-0 ruling, written by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, held that a patent violator does not always have to fork over its entire profits from the sales of products using stolen designs, if the designs covered only certain components and not the whole thing.

Oracle takes Java copyright dispute with Google to appeals court

Oracle has taken its bid for up to $9 billion in damages to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit after a judge in a federal court in California recently struck down its bid for a retrial in a copyright infringement suit against Google over the use of Java code in the Android operating system. A jury had cleared Google of copyright infringement in May this year, upholding the company's stand that its use of 37 Java APIs in the Android mobile operating system constituted " fair use " under the Copyright Act, which allows copying of creative works under certain circumstances.

Google’s Use of Oracle APIs Fair Use

A jury in federal court yesterday found that Google's use of Oracle's Java code and package names in its Android operating system is lawful under the principle of "fair use." Oracle, which filed suit against Google in 2010 after acquiring the Java software platform through its purchase of Sun Microsystems, is expected to appeal that decision.