Media Coverage
Source: Law360
Media Coverage
Press Contacts: Erik Cummins, Matt Hyams, Olivia Thomas
03.15.17
The Central District of California’s ruling in favor of Pixar, NVIDIA Corp. and Autodesk Inc. in a patent infringement case against the three companies was affirmed by a panel of the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, DC on Wednesday, according to Law360.
Louis Coffelt Jr. claimed that 3D shadowing techniques employed by Pixar, NVIDIA and Autodesk to derive pixels in graphic images used a method that was protected by a patent he owns. Last June, the California federal district court ruled that Coffelt’s patent is invalid because it is directed at “the abstract mathematical algorithm of comparing and calculating regions in space,” reports Law360.
The Federal Circuit affirmed that ruling finding that the patent is ineligible under Section 101 of the Patent Act because abstract ideas implemented using a computer cannot be patented.
Los Angeles Intellectual Property partner Evan Finkel and senior associate Michael Shigeyori Horikawa represent Pixar.
Read more about Coffelt’s suit on Law360.