Here is a report on recent news and commentary related to the Federal Circuit and its cases. Today’s report highlights:
- a blog post indicating a recent Federal Circuit opinion provided a “fascinating exploration of three distinct doctrines of equivalence in patent law”;
- another blog post suggesting the USPTO sits “at an inflection point that requires us to build examination capacity to achieve . . . long-term pendency goals”;
- an article discussing how President Trump’s decisions to mandate “a hiring freeze across the federal government” and require “federal government employees come back to the Office five days per week” might impact the USPTO; and
- a news update analyzing how the “Skinny Labels, Big Savings Act, introduced at the end of last year and reintroduced this month in the new Congress,” is seeking to “protect generic-drug makers from patent suits when using so-called skinny labels.”
Dennis Crouch authored a blog post for PatentlyO indicating a recent Federal Circuit opinion provided a “fascinating exploration of three distinct doctrines of equivalence in patent law,” namely the reverse doctrine of equivalents, the doctrine of equivalents, and means-plus function equivalents. You can review in the case, Steuben Foods, Inc. v. Shibuya Hoppmann Corp., here on our website.
Former Acting Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Derrick Brent penned a piece for the USPTO Blog suggesting the USPTO sits “at an inflection point that requires us to build examination capacity to achieve . . . long-term pendency goals.“ Brent noted how “in FY 2024” the USPTO “hired 969” patent examiners and “[s]o far in FY 2025” the USPTO has already “onboarded more than 500 new examiners.”
Eileen McDermott wrote an article for IP Watchdog discussing how President Trump’s decisions to mandate “a hiring freeze across the federal government” and require “federal government employees come back to the Office five days per week” might impact the USPTO. McDermott pointed out that the USPTO’s “current backlog stands at 826,736 unexamined applications/26.1 months total pendency for patents.” According to McDermott, moreover, a return to work policy “would be virtually impossible” because the USPTO “has remote workers all over the country.”
Ryan Davis posted a news update for Law360 analyzing how the “Skinny Labels, Big Savings Act, introduced at the end of last year and reintroduced this month in the new Congress,” is seeking to “protect generic-drug makers from patent suits when using so-called skinny labels.” According to Davis, the legislation “could give the law more clarity if passed, but it wouldn’t likely halt such cases since they involve issues that are more complex than lawmakers may realize.”