Here is a report on recent news and commentary related to the Federal Circuit and its cases. Today we highlight:
- an article discussing how “President Trump on Friday said a potential U.S. court ruling denying his authority to impose a wide range of global tariffs could have devastating impacts on the US economy”;
- a post on highlighting how the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office “has thrown out tens of thousands of applications and registrations for trademarks prepared by a Chinese company that allegedly forged signatures and doled out legal advice despite not having the training to do so”;
- a piece describing how a “memo last week to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board specif[ied] that petitioners for inter partes review must link all limitations to prior art, without relying on expert testimony or ‘general knowledge'”;
- an article covering how “[t]he electronic case filing system used by the federal judiciary has been breached in a sweeping cyber intrusion that is believed to have exposed sensitive court data across multiple U.S. states”; and
- an article examining how “[t]he Trump administration on Friday ordered a comprehensive review of Harvard University’s federally funded research programs, and threatened to take title to or grant licenses from the school’s lucrative portfolio of patents.”
Alexis Keenan authored an article for Yahoo Finance discussing how “President Trump on Friday said a potential U.S. court ruling denying his authority to impose a wide range of global tariffs could have devastating impacts on the US economy.” According to Keenan, the President commented on the Federal Circuit’s “ideological composition” given that the court is “composed of seven judges appointed by former Democratic presidents and four appointed by Republican presidents.”
Adam Lidgett published a post on Law 360 highlighting how the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office “has thrown out tens of thousands of applications and registrations for trademarks prepared by a Chinese company that allegedly forged signatures and doled out legal advice despite not having the training to do so.” Lidgett indicated that “[m]ore than 52,000 registrations and applications for trademark registrations that were associated with the companies were terminated by the USPTO.”
Nick Robertson penned a piece for MLex describing how a “memo last week to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board specif[ied] that petitioners for inter partes review must link all limitations to prior art, without relying on expert testimony or ‘general knowledge.'” According to Robertson, “[s]trict enforcement of Rule 104(b)(4) at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, as ordered in a new memo by [USPTO] Acting Director Coke Morgan Stewart . . . still raises concerns over gray areas in the text.”
John Sakellariadis and Josh Gerstein wrote an article for Politico covering how “[t]he electronic case filing system used by the federal judiciary has been breached in a sweeping cyber intrusion that is believed to have exposed sensitive court data across multiple U.S. states.” The authors stated that the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts “is still trying to determine the full extent of the incident.”
Johnathan Stempel authored an article for Reuters examining how “[t]he Trump administration on Friday ordered a comprehensive review of Harvard University’s federally funded research programs, and threatened to take title to or grant licenses from the school’s lucrative portfolio of patents.” According to Stempel, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick “accused Harvard of breaching its legal and contractual requirements tied to the research programs and patents” and “has begun a ‘march-in’ process under the federal Bayh-Dole Act that could let the government take ownership of the patents or grant licenses.”