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 Patent and Trademark Office is “requiring all parties to appear in person for hearings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board”;
- a piece discussing how “[t]he full Federal Circuit on Wednesday declined to reconsider its first-ever patent eligibility decision involving machine learning”;
- a blog post analyzing how a recent Federal Circuit decision “allowed the court to sidestep broader questions about when patent law issues arising in arbitration contexts warrant Federal Circuit review”; and
- an article suggesting a recent Federal Circuit decision “could make it easier for major brands to oppose trademark applications by market rivals.”
Aruni Soni published an article on Bloomberg Law covering how the Patent and Trademark Office is “requiring all parties to appear in person for hearings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.'” According to Soni, “[t]he new attendance policy will apply starting Sept. 1,” and parties “are required to attend the hearings in person ‘absent a showing of good cause.'”
Hailey Konnath penned a piece for Law360 discussing how “[t]he full Federal Circuit on Wednesday declined to reconsider its first-ever patent eligibility decision involving machine learning.” Konnath indicates this leaves “in place a panel’s April findings that applying established machine learning methods to a new area cannot be patented.” For more information, check out our case page in Recentive Analytics, Inc. v. Fox Corp.
Dennis Crouch wrote a blog post for PatentlyO analyzing how a recent Federal Circuit decision “allowed the court to sidestep broader questions about when patent law issues arising in arbitration contexts warrant Federal Circuit review.” According to Crouch, the court’s “narrow holding” leaves “practitioners and lower courts without clear guidance on the boundaries of Federal Circuit jurisdiction over patent-related arbitration disputes.” For more information, check out the relevant opinion in Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. v. Alkermes PLC.
Nick Robertson authored an article on MLex suggesting a recent Federal Circuit decision “could make it easier for major brands to oppose trademark applications by market rivals.” For more information, check out the relevant opinion in Sunkist Growers, Inc. v. Intrastate Distributors, Inc.