KLARQUIST NEWS
Klarquist Nullifies Six Patents in Victory for Microsoft
Klarquist Sparkman, LLP scored another victory for its client Microsoft Corporation. On November 23, 2005, the District of Arizona, the Honorable Manuel L. Real, presiding, ruled that three of the six patents asserted by Research Corporation Technologies (RCT) are unenforceable due to inequitable conduct by the patent applicants. The Court had previously ruled in April 2005 that each of the asserted claims of the other three patents is invalid. The six asserted patents are directed to an alleged invention of a blue noise mask for use in halftoning digital images. As a result of the Court’s rulings, all of RCT’s claims against Microsoft based on its entire U.S. portfolio of blue noise mask patents have been defeated.
Microsoft was represented in the district court by Klarquist, including attorneys Scott E. Davis, Stephen J. Joncus, Todd M. Siegel, John D. Vandenberg, and Garth A. Winn; and Tucson co-counsel, the firm of Snell & Wilmer, LLP, including attorneys Jeffrey Willis, Andrew Jacobs, and Adrienne Ehrhardt.