News

Here is a report on recent news and commentary related to the Federal Circuit and its cases. Today’s report highlights:

  • a blog post about a “pro-patentee eligibility decision [that] offers some ideas for patentees seeking to help ensure that their patents survive eligibility challenges”;
  • an article about the Federal Circuit affirming a Judge Albright rejection of a request to transfer patent infringement suit; and
  • another article anticipating the potential impact of the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act of 2022.

Dennis Crouch authored a blog post for PatentlyO about a “pro-patentee eligibility decision [that] offers some ideas for patentees seeking to help ensure that their patents survive eligibility challenges.” Crouch summarized how the Federal Circuit found “some importance in the fact that the intrinsic evidence recognizes the [alleged] inventive concept as inventive.”

Samantha Handler wrote an article for Bloomberg Law about the Federal Court affirming “Judge Alan Albright’s rejection of Monolithic Power Systems Inc.’s request to transfer a patent infringement suit to California.” Handler highlighted how the decision “was backed by a divided Federal Circuit panel” and represents “one of the few times the appeals court agreed with the Waco, Texas, judge in a binding decision.”

Robert L. Maier published an article with Law.com about the potential impact of the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act of 2022 proposed by Senator Thom Tillis. Maier explained how “[t]he bill would amend 35 U.S.C. § 101 to include express exceptions to patent eligibility,” provide “guidance for how to analyze patent claims to determine patent eligibility,” and create “a mechanism addressing related discovery in patent litigation.” Notably, Maier highlighted that the legislation would change the approach to patenting biotechnology, “effectively overrul[ing] the Supreme Court’s decisions in Myriad Genetics.”