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Mealey's Patents

  • March 07, 2025

    Federal Circuit OKs Rejection Of ImmunoGen’s Cancer Patent Application

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on March 6 affirmed a Virginia federal judge’s finding that a pharmaceutical company’s patent application for a treatment for ovarian and other cancers contains “‘fatally indefinite and obvious’” claims, nearly three years after the Federal Circuit vacated the judge’s grant of summary judgment against the company.

  • March 07, 2025

    Federal Circuit: Patent Applicant’s Constitutional Argument Comes Too Late

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 6 affirmed a Virginia federal judge’s grant of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) motion to dismiss a tech company’s complaint seeking review of the rejection of its patent application, holding that the company forfeited its arguments based on the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

  • March 07, 2025

    Photo Uploading Patent Holder Tells High Court Recusal Necessary

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel was wrong to uphold a federal judge’s denial of a patent owner’s recusal motion in an infringement dispute with Fitbit LLC and multiple other entities, the patent owner tells the U.S. Supreme Court in a petition for certiorari; the patent owner argues that the judge and her spouse’s alleged economic connections to Google LLC, a party to the suit, make recusal necessary.

  • March 07, 2025

    Federal Circuit Rules Again On IPR Proceedings Between USAA, PNC

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Once again, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed findings from the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that all claims of a patent owned by the United Services Automobile Association (USAA) related to remote depositing of checks were unpatentable as obvious.

  • March 06, 2025

    Federal Circuit Vacates Part Of ITC Ruling On False Lash Infringement

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on March 5 agreed with a beauty company that the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) incorrectly applied a test from the Tariff Act when considering whether artificial eyelash products imported into the country infringed on the company’s patents; the panel vacated the ITC’s denial of the company’s requested relief.

  • March 06, 2025

    Federal Circuit Affirms Another Injunction In Biosimilar Patent Fight

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — For the third time this year, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 5 affirmed a West Virginia federal judge’s decision to grant a preliminary injunction against a biosimilar manufacturer that barred it from marketing products that were biosimilars to an eye medication patented by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.

  • March 06, 2025

    Dismissal Granted In Patent Infringement Case Absent Web-Based Jurisdiction

    CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge on March 5 granted a defendant’s dismissal motion in a patent infringement case regarding a patent for a retractable water bottle, finding that the patent holder failed to establish personal jurisdiction over the defendant because the defendant’s maintaining an online marketplace that Illinois consumers can access does not suffice to establish jurisdiction.

  • March 05, 2025

    Federal Circuit Affirms Mixed IPR Findings On Gesture-Related Tech Patent

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In two opinions, a panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 4 affirmed findings from the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), which held that most challenged claims in a company’s patent related to gesture-related inputs from users are invalid as obvious.

  • March 05, 2025

    Federal Circuit: No Rehearing After Inhaler Patent Delisting Affirmation

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals rejected a rehearing petition from Teva Branded Pharmaceutical Products R&D Inc. and related entities, leaving in place a panel’s December opinion affirming a New Jersey federal judge’s order granting delisting counterclaims in a patent dispute stemming from a new drug application (NDA) for ProAir HFA (albuterol sulfate) Inhalation Aerosol.

  • March 05, 2025

    Stem Cell Company Failed To Show Patent Invalid, Federal Circuit Agrees

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on March 4 affirmed a decision from the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), agreeing that an appellant stem cell research company failed to show that a respondent competitor’s patent was invalid as obvious or anticipated by prior art references; the panel held that the PTAB did not err in its construction of multiple claim phrases.

  • March 04, 2025

    High Court Won’t Hear Arguments From Google Accuser On Patent Infringement

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 3 rejected a petition for a writ of certiorari from a tech company that a partly split panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals erred in affirming a federal judge’s summary judgments against the company and in favor of Google LLC, which it accused of infringing on seven of its patents.

  • March 03, 2025

    Federal Circuit: Judge Must Recalculate Prejudgment Interest In Patent Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 28 said a Nevada federal judge did not err in denying a plaintiff company its request for enhanced damages or a new trial on damages in a long-running patent infringement case now before the Federal Circuit for the fifth time.

  • February 28, 2025

    Federal Circuit Affirms IPR Finding In Netflix’s Favor On Streaming Patent

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Feb. 27 rejected an appellant’s argument that the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) was wrong to rule in favor of Netflix Inc; according to the panel, there was no error in the board’s analysis of the claims in the appellant’s patent that led it to find that all challenged claims in the patent are invalid as obvious.

  • February 27, 2025

    Federal Circuit Won’t Reverse Discovery Order In Memory Chip Patent Fight

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A California federal judge did not err when ordering a defendant-appellant technology company to turn over 73 pages of source code to plaintiff-respondent entities in a patent infringement dispute over flash memory chips, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Feb. 26, denying a petition for a writ of mandamus.

  • February 27, 2025

    Patent Holder Tells High Court Federal Circuit Wrongly Held Appeals Were Mooted

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The assignee of patents related to wireless earphones tells the U.S. Supreme Court in its petition for a writ of certiorari that the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals inappropriately adopted “a novel and expansive rule of collateral estoppel” when it held that two appeals it brought were moot because it failed to appeal a federal trial court order holding that the patent claims at issue were invalid in a separate case.

  • February 27, 2025

    Judge Nixes Breach But Not Patent Claims From Dispute Over Resort Lagoon

    SALT LAKE CITY — A federal judge in Utah delivered mixed results to a defendant resort company and related entities accused of violating a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) and infringing on a patent with the construction of a large manmade lagoon at the resort; the judge granted the defendant entities’ summary judgment motion on the contract claims against it but largely allowed infringement claims to survive.

  • February 26, 2025

    Infant Probiotic Patent Holder Appeals Invalidity Finding To Federal Circuit

    CHICAGO — A biopharmaceutical company and a related entity on Feb. 25 appealed to the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals a decision by an Illinois federal judge that claims of two patents related to probiotic infant products are invalid.

  • February 25, 2025

    Federal Circuit Vacates IPR Decision On Meat Curing Patent, Citing Analysis Errors

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 24 vacated a finding of obviousness from the U.S. Patent Trials and Appeal Board (PTAB) in a patent dispute between food packaging companies; the panel held that PTAB failed to adequately address elements of arguments presented by the appellant company.

  • February 25, 2025

    Supreme Court: No Certiorari In Patent Dispute Over Meat Slicing Products

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 24 rejected a food equipment company’s petition for a writ of certiorari, leaving in place findings by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the company’s theory of patent infringement was based on allegations without evidence and that the defendant companies were entitled to judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) and for a new trial on damages.

  • February 24, 2025

    Generic Drugmaker To High Court: Federal Circuit Patent Opinion Poses Risks

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was wrong to reverse a Delaware federal judge’s finding of no induced infringement in a patent dispute involving a generic bioequivalent of a prescription cardiovascular drug, the maker of the bioequivalent told the U.S. Supreme Court in a petition for a writ of certiorari.

  • February 24, 2025

    Supreme Court Won’t Hear DISH’s Patent Dispute Attorney Fees Arguments

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 24 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari from DISH Network LLC, leaving in place a decision from the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to deny the company’s bid for attorney fees in a patent dispute that spanned a federal court and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

  • February 20, 2025

    No Rehearing In Sprawling Shoe Patent, Trademark Suit, Federal Circuit Says

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A long-running intellectual property dispute between Crocs Inc. and a company it accuses of copying its shoe design will not be reconsidered by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which rejected Crocs’ bid to rethink its reversal of a Colorado federal judge’s grant of summary judgment on a false advertising counterclaim in the suit first launched in 2006.

  • February 19, 2025

    COVID-19 Treatment Patent Application Doesn’t Show Utility, Federal Circuit Says

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Feb. 18 said the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) did not err when it upheld an examiner’s rejection of multiple claims of a patent application for a treatment for the viral infection that causes COVID-19, but the panel partly disagreed with the PTAB and the examiner’s reasoning.

  • February 18, 2025

    Federal Judge Right To Toss DNA Preservation Patent Suit, Federal Circuit Says

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A California federal judge did not err during claim construction of the challenged phrase “reagent compartment” in a patent dispute involving COVID-19 testing products, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held, affirming the judge’s decision to dismiss the suit based on the claim construction.

  • February 14, 2025

    Federal Circuit: ITC Erred In Alice Analysis Of Diamond Drill Bit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A panel of the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 13 reversed a finding by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) that a synthetic diamond company’s patent was directed at ineligible abstract ideas, instructing the ITC to reconsider its resolution to a case brought by the company against entities it said imported materials that infringed the patent.