Of all the people claiming Facebook Inc. ripped off their ideas, the one that probably got closest to winning in court is Michael McKibben. In this breathless YouTube video, he claims that “essentially everything you do on Facebook” is infringing a patent issued to his software company, Leader Technologies Inc., in 2003. With the help of King & Spalding, McKibben got himself in front of a jury in 2010 the first jury trial in Facebook’s history. That trial ended in a verdict that Facebook literally infringed Leader’s patent, but that the patent was invalid. Facebook’s lawyers at Cooley and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher have now gotten that verdict upheld on appeal. McKibben, for his part, has taken to the Internet once again to express his outrage.
In a short and sweet 3-0 decision handed down on Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the jury’s July 2010 verdict invalidating Leader’s patent based on the “on-sale bar,” which holds that an invention is no longer patentable if it’s been for sale for more than one year. The ruling follows a star-studded oral argument that pitted former Deputy U.S. Solicitor General Thomas Hungar of Gibson Dunn against another seasoned U.S. Supreme Court advocate, King & Spalding’s Daryl Joseffer, who argued for Leader.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.
For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]
