Mealey's Patents
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November 22, 2023
Federal Circuit: Missed Deadline By Patent Board No Jurisdictional Bar
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A challenge by a drugmaker to a determination of unpatentability by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that was issued after the statutory deadline to do so was rejected Nov. 21 by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, in what it deemed a matter of first impression.
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November 21, 2023
Panel: Patented Method For Trapping Wild Pigs Correctly Ruled Obvious
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The owner of a patented method and apparatus used for the remote capture of wild pigs on Nov. 20 failed to persuade the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to overturn a determination by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that the technology would have been obvious to a person of skill in the art.
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November 20, 2023
Citing Appeal Of Patent Board Rulings, California Federal Judge Continues Stay
SAN FRANCISCO — Efforts by a patent owner to lift a stay of infringement allegations failed when a federal judge in California said that a pending appeal by Apple Inc. of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) determination that the technology is patentable weighs in favor of maintaining the status quo.
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November 20, 2023
Method Of Making Semiconductor Devices Is Unpatentable, Panel Says
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an appeal “principally” of a claim construction by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said Nov. 17 that all seven challenged claims of a patented method of making semiconductor devices would be obvious to a person of skill in the art.
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November 20, 2023
Patent Owner Critiques Intel Theory For Motivation To Combine References
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A petition for inter partes review (IPR) by Intel Corp. is “riddled with holes,” a patent owner tells the Patent Trial and Appeal Board in a Nov. 17 preliminary patent owner response (POPR).
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November 17, 2023
In Divided Ruling, Federal Circuit Affirms Construction Of ‘Securing Yarns’
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A stipulation of noninfringement of two patents relating to fabrics used in ballistic applications will stand, a divided Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Nov. 16, finding no error in a New York federal judge’s claim construction of a disputed term.
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November 17, 2023
California Federal Judge: Content Activation Tech Ineligible For Patenting
WASHINGTON, D.C. — One of three patents at issue in an infringement case was dismissed without prejudice by a federal judge in California who agreed that the technology covers the abstract idea of “delivering and deriving a decryption key from a stream of data.”
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November 17, 2023
Guide Extension Catheter Correctly Confirmed As Patentable, Panel Rules
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Patent Trial and Appeal Board did not err in rejecting allegations of obviousness and anticipation by Medtronic Inc. in an inter partes review (IPR) of a patented guide extension catheter, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Nov. 16.
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November 17, 2023
Tech Firm Asks Supreme Court To Clarify Abstract Idea Patentability Standard
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A technology company that saw several of its patents invalidated by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals as unpatentable abstract ideas filed a petition for certiorari in which it asks the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider and clarify previous rulings establishing how to determine patent eligibility under Section 101 of the Patent Act.
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November 16, 2023
Delaware Jury: Guardant Willfully Infringed Patents With DNA Sequencing Kits
WILMINGTON, Del. — Jurors empaneled in Delaware federal court delivered a win to the owner and exclusive licensee of two cancer-detection patents, deeming the technology willfully infringed by Guardant Health Inc.
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November 16, 2023
Xerox Says Its Appeal Of Patent Cancellation Has ‘Constitutional Implications’
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has granted Facebook Inc. more time to respond to an October appellant brief in which Xerox Corp. maintains that because of “recent changes in the law” and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s “rejection of binding authority,” the parties’ patent dispute presents “an issue of first impression with constitutional implications.”
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November 15, 2023
Netflix To Federal Circuit: ‘Numerous Bases’ For Affirming Patent Board
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a recent appellee brief by Netflix Inc., the streaming service argues that “all” challenges by a patent owner to a finding of obviousness by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board lack merit and should be rejected.
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November 14, 2023
Coinbase Says Board Wrongly Denied Institution Of Inter Partes Review
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Institution of inter partes review (IPR) of a patented method for completing low- and zero-trust value transfers is warranted, Coinbase Inc. asserts in a Nov. 13 request for rehearing by the director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
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November 14, 2023
High Court Won’t Hear Dispute Over Standard For Reissue Patents
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A petition for a writ of certiorari that warned of an ever-weakening patent system attributable, in part, to the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ unduly restrictive standard for allowing broadened patent claims during reissue was rejected Nov. 13 by the U.S. Supreme Court.
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November 08, 2023
Patent Board: ‘Compelling Merits’ In Netflix Petition Warrant Review
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Upon finding that Netflix Inc. demonstrated a reasonable likelihood that at least one challenged claim of a patent directed to rendering content on a wireless device is obvious, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board on Nov. 7 instituted inter partes review (IPR) despite finding that a majority of factors for a discretionary denial are satisfied by the patent owner.
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November 08, 2023
Panel Says Appellant Lacks Standing To Challenge Patent Ruling
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A bid for review of a decision by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that confirmed as patentable two claims of an improved treatment for pterygium was rejected Nov. 7 by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on grounds that the appellant failed to establish an injury in fact.
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November 07, 2023
Panel: Extrinsic Evidence Wrongly Overlooked In Patent Claim Construction
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A dispute over a proposed generic version of the naturally occurring substance epoprostenol was remanded to a West Virginia federal judge on Nov. 6 by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which said three “highly relevant” textbooks should have been considered during construction of the disputed claim term “a pH of 13 or higher.”
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November 07, 2023
High Court Rejects Bid For Certiorari In Patent Inventorship Row
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A May ruling by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals undoing a trial court order directing the addition of an inventor to a patent covering a method of precooking bacon will stand, thanks to a Nov. 6 denial of a petition for writ of certiorari by the U.S. Supreme Court.
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November 06, 2023
Nichia Can’t Persuade Appellate Court To Undo Patentability Holding
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has rejected claims by Nichia Corp. that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board wrongly confirmed as patentable technology relating to improvements in surface mounts for opto-electronics.
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November 06, 2023
Divided Panel Upholds $5M Attorney Fee Award In Longstanding Patent Row
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Nov. 3 weighed in for a third time in a dispute over patents allegedly infringed by Amazon.com Inc.’s “S3” and “CloudFront” products, this time affirming in a divided ruling a California federal judge’s $5,187,203.99 attorney fee award on behalf of the e-tailer and Twitch Interactive Inc.
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November 06, 2023
Patent Owner To PTO Director: Board ‘Ignored Its Own Construction’
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The owner of a patent directed to biometrics that had claims recently canceled filed a motion on Nov. 3 for Katherine Vidal, director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, to rehear an inter partes review (IPR) initiated by Apple Inc.
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November 03, 2023
In Microcalorimeter Patent Row, Panel Vacates Stipulated Judgment
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Delaware erred in construing a key disputed claim term in two patents directed to a machine that measures energy absorbed or released during a chemical reaction, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has concluded.
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October 31, 2023
Meta Can’t Persuade Appeals Court To Transfer Patent Case To California
WASHINGTON, D.C. — An order by a federal judge in Texas directing intradistrict transfer of allegations that Meta Platforms Inc. infringed six virtual reality patents while denying the social media giant’s bid for transfer to California federal court will stand, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Oct. 30.
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October 30, 2023
Patented Roofing Tech Was ‘Exceedingly Well Known,’ Petitioner Says
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Pointing to a decision by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that “squarely rejected” claims of “identical scope” and “nearly-identical language” in a child application later abandoned, a petitioner for inter partes review (IPR) on Oct. 28 urged the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to follow suit and cancel various claims of the parent patent.
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October 30, 2023
Request For Declaration Of No Patent Infringement Will Proceed In Texas, Panel Says
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an Oct. 27 denial of a petition for writ of mandamus, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said a “threshold challenge” to venue in the Eastern District of Texas was not made by a declaratory judgment plaintiff in opposing transfer from the Northern District of Illinois.