Seattle Patent Litgiation Update: July 2009

There were three patent cases filed in July. Here they are.

July 27, 2009
F5 Networks Inc v. Kemp Technologies Inc. (Judge Jones)

July 23, 2009
Sharafabadi v. University of Idaho et. al. (Judge Robart)

July 22, 2009
Avtech Corporation v. Day-Ray Products Inc. (Judge Pechman)

Th F5 case is another action to enforce US Pat. No. 6,473,802 entitled "Method and System for Storing Load Balancing information with an HTTP Cookie." You may recall that previous actions to enforce this patent were filed in 2007 against Coyote Point Systems, Inc. (Judge Pechman 2:2007cv01831), and A10 Networks Inc. (Judge Lasnik, 2:2007cv01927) Both suits settled short of discovery or claim interpretation.

The case against the U of I is also filed against WSU, U of O, and others. The case was filed pro se by inventor Soheil K. Sharafabadi, a resident of New Westminster, Canada. The patent-in-suit is US 4,980,186 entitled "Psuedoplastic Yellow Mustard Gum." This patent issued December 25, 1990 on an application that was filed August 14, 1989. According to GATT transition rules for calculating patent term of a patent that is in force on or that results from an application that was filed before the effective date of the 20-year patent term (June 8, 1995), this patent will expire, well, next Wednesday, August 14, 2009. The patent has claims drawn to "[a]n improved process of gum extraction from whole yellow mustard seed."

Claim 1 is reproduced below:

1. In a process of water extraction of gum from dried
yellow mustard seed, including the steps of
(a) treating said mustard seed with water
(b) separating the resulting water extract from said
seed, the improvement comprising
(c) said water being at a temperature in the range
from about 55'C. to about 100" C.

The third case filed by Avtech also involves a patent that was issued in 1990 and recently expired, U.S. 4,958,108, entitled "Universal Fluorescent Lamp Ballast." The plaintiff in this case is local company, Avtech Corporation, an "internationally recognized . . . leader in the design development, and manufacture of electronic systems for the aerospace industry" according to allegations in Avtech's Complaint. The defendant is California company, Day-Ray.