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

Mealey's Patents

June 18, 2024
Counterclaims Tossed In California Patent Row Over Chipmaking Robots

SAN FRANCISCO — An automation company accused of infringing five reissue patents for chipmaking robots saw its counterclaim for inequitable conduct dismissed, with a federal judge in California rejecting arguments that during patent prosecution an industry standard was purposely withheld from the examiner when the same standard is identified in the specification of the parent patent.
June 18, 2024
Federal Circuit Denies 2 Petitions For Rehearing In Antibiotic Patent Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied two petitions for rehearing of its decision affirming a Delaware federal judge’s final judgment directing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to delay approval of generic rifaximin until three patents covering the antibiotic Xifaxan expire.
June 17, 2024
Patent Covering Above-Ground Pool Frame Joint Singled Out For Review

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In a June 15 request for post-grant review (PGR), a petitioner says that a patentee’s own above-ground-pool (AGP), sold since 2007, renders various claims of a recently-issued pool frame joint patent obvious, as well as that other claims of the same patent are cancellable as indefinite.
June 13, 2024
Magistrate Judge Denies Bid To Seal Financial Data In Patent, Trademark Row

NEW YORK — A letter request to redact “the factual basis” for a request for damages by a patent and trademark infringement plaintiff against defaulting infringement defendants has been rejected by a federal magistrate judge in New York.
June 13, 2024
Amazon Did Not Infringe Upon Mermaid Sleeping Bag Patents, Magistrate Judge Says

SEATTLE — Amazon did not infringe upon three design patents for a mermaid sleeping bag by selling 37 different mermaid-shaped blankets and sleeping bags because an ordinary observer would not believe that the products were the same, a Washington federal magistrate judge found in granting Amazon’s motion to dismiss patent infringement claims brought against it by the patent holder.
June 12, 2024
Board Enters Adverse Judgment Following Patent Owner Disclaimer

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The Patent Trial and Appeal Board on June 11 denied a request to discretionarily terminate an inter partes review (IPR) without addressing allegations that petitioner BMW of North America LLC failed to follow through on a promise to drop the proceedings, purportedly causing a patent owner to miss the deadline to file its response.
June 12, 2024
Panel Reinstates Trade Secret Liability Verdict, Affirms Denial Of Fees

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Allegations of patent infringement voluntarily dismissed midtrial and copyright infringement on the eve of trial were not so devoid of merit as to justify an award of attorney fees in favor of a defendant medical equipment company, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed June 11.
June 11, 2024
Board: R.J. Reynolds’ Application For Cigarette Patent Properly Rejected

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Two prior art patents dating to the mid-1990s and assigned to R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (RJR) have doomed the tobacco titan’s latest effort to patent a “smoking article,” with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board on June 10 upholding an examiner’s rejection of 20 claims on grounds of obviousness.
June 11, 2024
New Jersey Federal Judge: Teva ‘ProAir’ Patents Improperly Listed

TRENTON, N.J. — Five patents listed by Teva Pharmaceuticals Inc. with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in connection with a new drug application (NDA) for ProAir HFA (albuterol sulfate) Inhalation Aerosol do not cover albuterol sulfate, a federal judge in New Jersey found June 10, granting judgment on delisting counterclaims by Amneal Pharmaceuticals Inc. and others, which were backed by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission as amicus curiae.
June 11, 2024
Biotech Companies Agree To Dismiss Appeals Over DNA Sequencing Patents

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In orders issued June 10, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted voluntary dismissal in two appeals of final written decisions (FWDs) by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board where Guardant Health Inc. prevailed.
June 11, 2024
Divided Panel Rebuffs Google In Appeal Of Texas Patent Verdict

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Findings by a jury empaneled in a Texas federal court that Google LLC infringed smart thermostat technology to the tune of $20 million in damages owed to a patent owner will not be disturbed, a majority panel of the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled.
June 05, 2024
U.S. High Court Extends Response Deadline In Review Of 9th Circuit FCA Suit Ruling

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 3 granted a 30-day extension for the qui tam plaintiff in a district court decision to respond to pharmaceutical companies’ petition seeking review of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ reversal of a district court’s dismissal of a suit accusing them violating the False Claims Act (FCA) by artificially inflating drug prices, arguing in part that the Ninth Circuit “created a circuit split by holding that a relator can avoid the public disclosure bar by ‘stitching together’ public disclosures.”
June 03, 2024
Patent, Trade Dress Row Over Vape Design Will Proceed Without Injunction

CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois overseeing a dispute between competing vape makers has rejected as premature a motion to dismiss counterclaims of design patent and trade dress infringement as well as a motion by the counterclaimant for a preliminary injunction.
May 31, 2024
Micron Defends Idaho Anti-Patent Troll Law As ‘Constitutionally Sound’

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an appellee brief in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Micron Technology Inc. pushes back on arguments by two appellants that an Idaho statute intended to deter bad faith patent infringement litigation, or patent trolling, is “arguably the most extreme” such law in the country as well as an “egregious” example of preemption.
May 31, 2024
Motorola: Board Analysis Of Motivation To Combine References Was Faulty

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A final written decision (FWD) by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board in an inter partes review (IPR) of a lens assembly patent must be vacated, Motorola Mobility LLC argues on appeal, because the board “largely misidentified” an asserted combination of prior art references.
May 31, 2024
Netflix Motion To Join Litigation Fund Manager To Failed Patent Case Denied

SAN FRANCISCO — Netflix Inc. was dealt dual blows by a federal judge in California, who denied the streaming service’s motion for an order to show cause, as well as its unopposed request to join a litigation fund manager to the case, in connection with a Netflix counterclaim for violations of state law against a former patent infringement plaintiff.
May 31, 2024
Terminal Disclaimer By Patentee Yields Partial Dismissal In Oklahoma

OKLAHOMA CITY — Litigation over wireless control and distribution technology will proceed with two fewer patents, following voluntary dismissal of one patent from the case and findings by an Oklahoma federal judge that another patent was rendered unenforceable by representations of common ownership in a terminal disclaimer.
May 31, 2024
Federal Circuit Agrees: Charge-Back Patents Lack Inventive Concept

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A panel of the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld findings by a federal judge in Georgia that five patents “essentially” cover the abstract idea of underwriting, rejecting the patent owner’s position at recent oral arguments that the “unconventional data flow” recited in the claims is sufficiently inventive to overcome a patent eligibility challenge.
May 30, 2024
Petitioner Seeks PTO Director Review Of Split Decision By Patent Board

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A recent denial of institution of inter partes review (IPR) by a divided Patent Trial and Appeal Board came under fire on May 29, with the petitioner asserting that “the record contains no evidence on which the majority could rationally base its decision.”
May 29, 2024
Hoverboard Design Patent Row Back At Federal Circuit For 2nd Time

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The decision by a hoverboard maker and its U.S.-based distributor to continue to press design patent infringement litigation despite an earlier appellate ruling that questioned their likelihood of success is evidence of anticompetitive intent, various China-based appellees maintain in a filing with the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
May 29, 2024
Patent Owner Wins More Time To Reply To Novartis Appellee Brief

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 28 granted a patent owner a 14-day extension of its deadline to reply to claims by Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. that the doctrine of collateral estoppel bars review of a decision by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that canceled a patented form of polymorphic fingolimod hydrochloride.
May 29, 2024
Tech Firm Asks High Court To Address Impact Of Patent Term Adjustment On Validity

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A cellular and mobile technology company filed a petition for certiorari asking the U.S. Supreme Court to determine that a patent that has had its expiration extended under patent term adjustment (PTA), due to application delays by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), should not then be susceptible to findings of obviousness and invalidity.
May 28, 2024
High Court Passes On Another Challenge To Federal Circuit Rule 36 Judgments

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The owner of a patent canceled by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) as anticipated by prior art failed May 28 to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ practice of affirming without an opinion when certain conditions exist and the panel determines an opinion will have no precedential value.
May 28, 2024
Board Institutes Google Petitions For Review Of Encryption Patents

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A method of securing data that relies on repeatedly parsing and splitting data will be the subject of inter partes review (IPR), the Patent Trial and Appeal Board has announced in a preliminary win for petitioner Google LLC.
May 24, 2024
Federal Circuit Undoes Patent Priority Determination, Endorses 2-Way Test

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A motion by the owner of a junior patent for a finding that a senior patent application was time-barred was wrongly rejected by the Patent Trial and Appeals Board in an interference proceeding, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held May 23, vacating and remanding the board’s subsequent decision to award priority to the patent applicants.