by Dennis Crouch
In Roku, Inc. v. ITC, the Federal Circuit has affirmed determinations by the International Trade Commission (“ITC”) favoring the patent holder Universal Electronics, Inc. (“Universal”). The most interesting part of the case for me is the assignment issue - whether the patents had been properly assigned at the appropriate time. This can become in cases like this because Universal has created a large patent portfolio that all claim back to original priority documents from more than a decade ago. While most of patents are attributable to both joint-inventors, some are only attributable to one or the other. Here, though the Federal Circuit supported the simple approach of a "hereby assigns" transfer of rights that includes future continuations. The decision is lacking though because the court does not ground its decision in any particular contract or property tradition.
