3 Stocks With Short Term Legal Catalysts; En Banc And Markman Hearings

Shares of Vringo VRNG  have been on a roller coaster ride. Last month the federal court of appeals ruled against Vringo in its patent infringement lawsuit v. Google. In the controversial “per curiam” decision, usually reserved for single page comments, the 2-1 appellate majority panel overruled the district court jury verdict and found Vringo’s search patents to be Obvious. An appellate court has the authority to review the substantial evidence in a trial, with the power to set aside the jury verdict.  Key to this decision was Google’s trial expert ambiguous and weak testimony that offered no explanation why the accused combination of search engine technology would provide better results. Ruling in the majority, Justice Wallach and Mayer moved the burden of proof away from Google back to Vringo. This decision prompted Vringo to seek a 30 day extension to file for En Banc review. Vringo hopes a different conclusion may be reached by a larger panel of Appellate Justices, who have the power to set aside the earlier decision in a larger majority decision. Vringo may yet be in for another disappointment, a similar decision was reached on March 27, 2014 in Galderma Labs., L.P. v. Tolmar, Inc. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, on En Banc request, failed to reconsider its previous decision that shifted the burden of proof in certain patent infringement cases from the alleged infringer to the patentee. The Supreme Court also declined to intervene on that decision. 

Shares of Worlds Inc WDDD and MGT, Inc.MGT are expected to be impacted by their upcoming Markman hearings due this month in Federal court. Worlds is fighting Activision BlizzardATVI and MGT is pitted against Aruze Gaming. In a Patent Plays exclusive interview, Thom Kidrin CEO of Worlds, Inc., commented that there was much history between Worlds and executive leadership of Activision Blizzard. Kidrin also recounted that Activision formally rebuffed a patent license from Worlds several years ago. Worlds, Inc. is seeking damages for willful infringement of its MMORPG patents covering such Activision titles as Call of Duty, and World of Warcraft. MGT is fighting for its slot machine patents against casino giant Aruze Gaming America. MGT notably dropped its patent infringement action against WMS Gaming, Inc. with no explanation why.