Here is a report on recent news and commentary related to the Federal Circuit and its cases. Today we highlight:
- an article covering how the Federal Circuit “ruled Friday that the United States must face potentially billions of dollars in legal claims over a temporary ban on residential evictions during the COVID pandemic that affected millions of landlords”;
- a blog post addressing how “Micron Technology has petitioned the Supreme Court for a writ of mandamus to reverse a discovery order requiring the company to produce 73 pages of its most sensitive source code in paper form to Chinese state-owned semiconductor manufacturer Yangtze Memory Technologies Company”;
- a report describing how the “US Patent and Trademark Office paused TikTok Inc.’s challenges to seven Bluetooth technology patents over concerns about the social media giant’s ties to the Chinese Communist Party”; and
- a piece observing how, “[a]ccording to the request for information posted on SAM.gov Wednesday, USPTO is seeking contractors with new AI tools or IT capabilities that could boost the agency’s efficiency in granting patents, registering trademarks and advancing intellectual property policies.”
Mike Scarcella wrote an article for Reuters covering how the Federal Circuit “ruled Friday that the United States must face potentially billions of dollars in legal claims over a temporary ban on residential evictions during the COVID pandemic that affected millions of landlords.” Scarcella highlighted how the Federal Circuit “rejected the government’s bid to overturn a decision by a panel of judges last year that refused to dismiss claims from landlords seeking compensation.” Scarcella suggested the court’s ruling “could spur the United States to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene,” explaining that “[d]amages have been estimated at tens of billions of dollars, as rental property owners were blocked from evicting people who were not paying rent.
Dennis Crouch wrote a blog post for PatentlyO addressing how “Micron Technology has petitioned the Supreme Court for a writ of mandamus to reverse a discovery order requiring the company to produce 73 pages of its most sensitive source code in paper form to Chinese state-owned semiconductor manufacturer Yangtze Memory Technologies Company (YMTC).” Crouch suggested this case “presents significant questions about the enforcement of protective order terms and the consideration of national security concerns in patent litigation discovery.”
Annelise Levy published a report on Bloomberg Law describing how the “US Patent and Trademark Office paused TikTok Inc.’s challenges to seven Bluetooth technology patents over concerns about the social media giant’s ties to the Chinese Communist Party.” Levy discussed how “Acting Director Coke Morgan Stewart initiated a review Thursday of a Patent Trial and Appeal Board decision . . . in view of the novel issues” raised in the dispute.
Miles Jamison penned a piece for ExecutiveGov observing how, “[a]ccording to the request for information posted on SAM.gov Wednesday, USPTO is seeking contractors with new AI tools or IT capabilities that could boost the agency’s efficiency in granting patents, registering trademarks and advancing intellectual property policies.” Jamison wrote that, “[t]hrough the RFI, USPTO aims to gain a better understanding of the commercial market to determine the potential of integrating low or no cost AI-powered tools or IT services into their operations to enhance their efficiency.”