Olloclip founder Patrick O’Neill has left the Huntington Beach company he established in 2011, a company that brought consumers quality attachable lenses to improve smartphone photos.
O’Neill, who grew the accessory maker from humble beginnings in his kitchen to global distribution in Apple stores and more than 90 countries, wants to embark on a new challenge.
“I have been thinking about so many new product ideas and things I could do and people I could work with, this is the most exciting time for me,” O’Neill said in a recent Instagram post. “I am looking forward to this next chapter in my life, sitting down in that very same kitchen where we developed the olloclip that touched the lives of millions of people.”
The company has sold more than a million lenses—its flagship is the 4-IN-1 Photo Lens—and developed and manufactured several innovative products over the years in Huntington Beach, including pivot grips, clips and other accessories, as it surpassed $15 million in annual sales.
O’Neill, who launched olloclip in a three-minute, 34-second Kickstarter video that featured its fish-eye, wide-angle and macro lens capabilities capturing visitors along Huntington Beach’s iconic strand and pier, was the recipient of the Business Journal’s annual Excellence in Entrepreneurship Awards in 2014.
Supreme Patent Vote
The U.S. Supreme Court recently weighed in on two cases regarding patent enforcement and legitimacy.
In Oil States Energy Services LLC v. Greene’s Energy Group LLC, the high court addressed the constitutionality of proceedings of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in which the validity of a granted patent is reviewed.
If a patent challenger’s petition is granted, the petitioner and patent holder participate in litigation regarding the patent’s validity, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board deciding whether the challenged claims should be invalidated.
The court, in a 7-2 decision, held that the reviews don’t violate the Constitution, concluding that patent rights are public, not private, rights. Ultimately, Congress acted within its constitutional powers in authorizing the patent office to determine whether to revoke patent rights through an inter partes review proceeding.
“The Court’s decision should discourage patent holders from pursuing haphazard patent enforcement measures,” said Clint Conner, a partner in the Minnesota office of Dorsey & Whitney. “Companies subject to a seemingly never-ending stream of patent infringement suits should be encouraged by the Court’s decision because it solidifies the leverage that inter partes review proceedings can provide to alleged infringers.”
In SAS Institute Inc. v. Matal, the court considered whether the Patent Trial and Appeal Board is required to issue a final written decision on all claims challenged in an inter partes review petition, or just the claims the board reviews and finds substantial.
The Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision essentially mandates the board must address every claim the petitioner has challenged.
Nicole Jantzi, who leads McDermott Will & Emery LLP’s Global Intellectual Property Practice in Washington, D.C., said the ruling will likely benefit petitioners and patent owners. Petitioners, she said, will need to show only a likelihood of success with respect to a single challenged claim, improving their chances of convincing the board that all challenged claims are unpantentable. For patent holders, the decision removes the possibility they’ll face parallel invalidity proceedings at the board and in district courts, a typical occurrence when the board doesn’t take up every challenged claim.
“Collectively, the Court’s decisions in Oil States and SAS reinforce the vital role of the PTAB in improving patent quality and streamlining litigation,” Jantzi said.
The rulings will affect OC’s vast contingent of tech companies, as well as the cottage service industry around patents, and could hold several ramifications for Newport Beach-based patent licenser Acacia Research Corp., which has struggled to monetize patents over the past few years in an increasingly challenging environment.
