Mealey's Patents : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Patents

January 22, 2024
Pixel Shifting Method Is Ineligible For Patenting, Federal Circuit Affirms

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Allegations of infringement leveled against the maker of an app that allows users to animate pixels were correctly rejected by a federal judge in Texas because “changing the position of components in an image to create the appearance of movement, i.e., animation” is “clearly an abstract idea,” the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Jan. 22.
January 18, 2024
Inventor Tells High Court ‘Expert’ Was Not Person Of Ordinary Skill In The Art

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a reply brief supporting her petition for certiorari, an inventor counters the respondent’s suggestion that she failed to raise any issues of law that would merit review by the U.S. Supreme Court, asserting that she sufficiently alleged that the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals erred “by declaring a non-expert as a” person of ordinary skill in the art (POSITA) “and by relying on his unsupported testimony” in affirming a judgment by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that invalidated her ventilator technology patent.
January 17, 2024
High Court Told ‘Chaos’ Will Ensue ‘In A World Without Chevron’ Deference

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court was told Jan. 17 that “chaos” will ensue “in a world without Chevron” deference by government attorneys, who urged it to apply stare decisis and uphold Chevron, which is being challenged in two cases arising out of federal fishing regulations.
January 16, 2024
Ericsson Seeks Cancellation Of 2 Surviving Patent Claims In New Petition

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A wireless patent that already saw its first 27 claims canceled in an earlier inter partes review (IPR) is under siege yet again in a new IPR petition by Ericsson Inc. filed Jan. 12 with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
January 12, 2024
Appellant: Dismissal Of Patent, Copyright, Lanham Act Claims Was Error

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A patent owner is seeking reinstatement of its lawsuit against a former employee and his new company, asserting in an appellant brief filed with the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that a Utah federal judge wrongly construed “positioned between” and “formed between” in relation to a claimed air gap in the steel core of a buckling-restrained brace (BRB).
January 12, 2024
Parties Continue To Spar Over Patent At Center Of Since-Vacated $1.5B Verdict

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a flurry of filings with the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Intel Corp., VLSI Technology Inc. and Patent Quality Assurance LLC (PQA) dispute how to move forward in an appeal of an inter partes review (IPR) by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that canceled a patent that served as the basis for a $1.5 billion infringement verdict, following a mid-December sanction order by the director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
January 12, 2024
Fintiv Defends Patented Mobile Financial Services System Before Board

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — All three grounds for inter partes review (IPR) of a mobile financial services (mFS) system fail, Fintiv Inc. asserts in a Jan. 11 patent owner response filed with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
January 11, 2024
Apple Fights Off Bid To Undo Patent Board Obviousness Holding

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Findings by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that a single challenged claim of a patented pulse oximetry system is obvious were affirmed Jan. 10 by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a win for inter partes review (IPR) petitioner Apple Inc.
January 11, 2024
Patented Radiofrequency Microneedling Method, Apparatus Challenged

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A new petition for inter partes review (IPR) urges the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to cancel a patent that relates to radiofrequency microneedling, asserting that a prior art patent not considered by a patent examiner discloses “most” of the claims.
January 10, 2024
Failed Bid For Correction Of Patent Inventorship Won’t Result In Fee Award

WILMINGTON, Del. — A federal judge in Delaware has concluded that a lawsuit seeking a correction of patent inventorship that failed on every count alleged was not so meritless as to qualify as “exceptional” for an award of attorney fees.
January 10, 2024
All Challenged Claims Of 2 Reissue Patents Are Obvious, Panel Affirms

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two reissue patents relating to a system for improving the integrity of a fastening assembly were correctly deemed obvious by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Jan. 9 in a win for General Motors LLC and others.
January 09, 2024
California Federal Judge: Plaintiff Lacks Standing In Patent Fight With Netflix

SAN FRANCISCO — A co-inventor’s claim that he regained ownership via appropriation of an abandoned patent application under Finnish common law was rejected Jan. 8 by a federal judge in California, who clarified, “Finnish common law does not matter here.”
January 08, 2024
Supreme Court Turns Away Latest Request For Section 101 Review

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A bid by a technology company for clarification from the U.S. Supreme Court on the proper standard for determining patent eligibility was turned away Jan. 8 with a denial of a petition for a writ of certiorari.
January 08, 2024
Intel Bid For Certiorari Denied In Patent Dispute Over Fintiv Instructions

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A March 2023 ruling by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals largely rejecting a challenge by tech leaders to U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) guidance for the Patent Trial and Appeal Board when deciding whether to institute inter partes review (IPR) will stand, in view of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Jan. 8 denial of a petition for writ of certiorari.
January 08, 2024
9th Circuit Denies Rehearing, Files Amended Opinion In FCA Drug Pricing Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 5 denied a petition for a panel rehearing and a rehearing en banc, issuing an amended opinion of its decision reversing a district court’s dismissal of a relator’s qui tam suit alleging violations of the federal False Claims Act (FCA) against pharmaceutical companies related to their alleged fraud by artificially inflating drug prices, finding “that the qualifying public disclosures here do not collectively disclose a combination of facts sufficient to permit a reasonable inference of fraud.”
January 05, 2024
Panel: Discretion Not Abused In Denial Of Preliminary Injunction In Patent Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An interlocutory appeal of a determination that preliminary injunctive relief is not warranted in a dispute over glucose monitoring patents has failed, with the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals finding no abuse of discretion.
January 05, 2024
False Patent Marking Counterclaim Dismissed By Alabama Federal Judge

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A dispute over carpenter bee traps will proceed in Alabama federal court without a counterclaim for false patent marking, a judge there has ruled.
January 04, 2024
‘A La Carte Approach’ To Patentability Challenge Fails, Owner Contends

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A patent owner in a Jan. 3 preliminary response filed with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board says that its “innovative technology” “has transformed the burgeoning field of light detection and ranging” (LIDAR) and that a petition for inter partes review (IPR) should be rejected.
January 03, 2024
Petitioner Seeks Director Intervention In Denial Of Inter Partes Review Request

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A recent denial of a petition for inter partes review (IPR) of a genomic sequencing patent was premised on misapprehension by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of the relevant prior art, the petitioner argues in a Jan. 2 request for rehearing by the director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
January 03, 2024
Ford Makes ‘Flawed,’ ‘Unsustainable’ Claims, Patent Owner Alleges

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A patent owner asserts that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board wrongly declared its technology for improved driver safety obvious based upon an erroneous construction of a disputed claim limitation and several other terms.
January 02, 2024
Claims Of Method For Making Steviol Glycoside Affirmed As Invalid, Patent-Ineligible

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in California did not err in granting a patent infringement defendant summary judgment that the claims asserted against it fail for lack of written description because “the one enzyme disclosed in the patents here has not been shown to be typical of the entire genus,” the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Jan. 2.
January 02, 2024
‘Barcode’ Wrongly Construed By California Federal Judge, Panel Concludes

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A final judgment of noninfringement entered by a federal judge in California in a dispute over barcoded coffee capsule technology was reversed by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on the basis of a misconstrued term that appears in every claim of all three patents in suit.
January 02, 2024
In Laser Scanner Contract, Patent Misuse Case, Parties Continue To Spar Over Venue

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Briefing is complete on the question of which venue — the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals or the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals — is the proper place for review of a North Carolina federal judge’s denial of summary judgment on allegations of patent misuse.
January 02, 2024
Federal Circuit Won’t Direct Texas Court To Disqualify Patent Counsel

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A bid for mandamus relief by LG Electronics Inc. and LG Electronics USA Inc. (LGE, collectively) from an order denying a request to disqualify the law firm Mayer Brown LLP from representing a patent owner in a Texas federal infringement action has been rejected by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
January 02, 2024
Patent Owner Critiques BMW Theory Of Motivation To Combine

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In a preliminary patent owner response filed with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, the maker of technology intended to hide GPS location data says a petition for inter partes review (IPR) by BMW of North America LLC relies on prior art that fails to “teach or disclose numerous claim limitations.”