FedCircuitBlog

• Federal Circuit Judge Newman Calls for Overhaul of Patent Law – Judge Newman advocated for patent law reform at an intellectual property conference on Friday.
• Federal Circuit Will Not Second-Guess IPR Institution Denials – The Federal Circuit confirmed its stance on refusing to review denials of inter partes review through a number of orders this week.
• Federal Circuit Grants Apple Petition for Writ of Mandamus to Transfer Uniloc Suit – Uniloc’s case against Apple will continue in California after the Federal Circuit issued a writ of mandamus directing the Western District of Texas to transfer the case.

Here’s the latest.

• USPTO Says Interested Party Rulings Aren’t ‘Shenanigans’ – The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office defended against accusations that the agency engaged in “shenanigans” when it did not require Google to be named as an interested party during a review of a mobile website patent.
• Guitar Pedalboard Patent Sent for New PTAB Review by Fed. Cir. – The Federal Circuit ruled on Monday that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board erred when the board analyzed a guitar pedalboard patent and rejected an earlier electrical relay patent as analogous prior art.
• Heart Monitor Maker Asks High Court to Clear Eligibility Muddle – InfoBionic Inc. suggests that a Supreme Court review of its case involving a dispute over a cardiac monitoring patent could provide clarity around which inventions are eligible for patents.

Here’s the latest.

This post summarizes recent activity at the Supreme Court in cases decided by the Federal Circuit.

• The Supreme Court received one new cross-petition for writ of certiorari in Hologic, Inc. v. Minvera Surgical, Inc.
• One new response to the petition in Minerva Surgical, Inc. v. Hologic, Inc. was filed with the Court by Hologic.
• Two new amicus briefs were filed in Minerva Surgical, Inc. v. Hologic, Inc. in support of Minerva, the first by Engine Advocacy and the second by a group of Intellectual Property Professors.
• One waiver of right to respond to the petition in Rutila v. Department of Transportation was filed with the Court by the Department of Transportation.
• Lastly, the Supreme Court denied the petitions for writ of certiorari in two cases: (1) Personal Audio, LLC v. CBS Corp. and (2) Arctic Cat Inc. v. Bombardier Recreational Products Inc.

Here are the details.

• Investors Eye Patents After ‘Extraordinary’ Damage Awards Run – The past year has seen several large damages awards in patent infringement cases but the Federal Circuit has overturned some of the larger awards.
• Federal Circuit Limits Venue for Hatch-Waxman Cases – The Federal Circuit ruled that venue was only proper in judicial districts sufficiently related to the submission of an abbreviated new drug application (“ANDA”) and not where a generic drug could be distributed.
• Fed. Circ. Mulls Fate Of Wi-Fi Co.’s $8M Infringement Verdict – Oral arguments before the Federal Circuit took place on Friday for SIMO Holdings Inc. v. Hong Kong uCloudlink Network Technology Ltd. reviewing a jury verdict of uCloudlink’s willful infringement.

Here’s the latest.

• Fed. Circ. Asked To Keep Movie Theater IP Suit In Texas – Arguing that the case should stay in Texas, Intertrust Technologies Corp. asks the Federal Circuit to reject a petition from Regal Cinemas, AMC, and Cinemark to transfer the lawsuit to California.
• Nike Golf Club Patent Dispute Do-Over Weighed by Fed. Cir. Panel – Saso Golf, Inc. urges a Federal Circuit panel to send its patent infringement case back down to the lower court and assign the case to a new a judge, even though the original suit was filed twelve years ago.
• Fed. Circ. Affirms Chevron Loss In PTAB Interference – A split Federal Circuit found that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board correctly construed a key term to find that the University of Wyoming Research Corporation was entitled to a patent involving a method for analyzing crude oil in an interference proceeding against Chevron.

Here’s the latest.

This post summarizes recent activity at the Supreme Court in cases decided by the Federal Circuit.

• Two briefs in response to petitions were filed with the Court, the first by Comcast in Rovi Guides, Inc. v. Comcast Cable Communications, LLC, and the second by the government in Strand v. United States.
• One waiver of right to respond to the petition in Consumer 2.0, Inc. v. Tenant Turner, Inc. was filed with the Court by Tenant Turner.
• Lastly, the Supreme Court denied the petition for writ of certiorari in HZNP Finance Ltd. v. Actavis Laboratories UT, Inc.

Here are the details.

• Three Damages Questions for the Supreme Court – Cochlear Corp. petitioned the Supreme Court to review the Federal Circuit’s damages decision and recently received an amicus brief in support.
• Threshold Issues, Misdirected Lawyering, and a Frustrated Federal Circuit – Earlier this October, the Federal Circuit remanded AntennaSys, Inc., v. AQYR Technologies, Inc. to resolve the claim construction issues left undecided by the lower court and expressing their disdain towards unhelpful arguments from both parties.
• Apple Hit With $503M Verdict In VirnetX Patent Retrial – After the Federal Circuit vacated the damages award, on remand, the lower court jury awarded similar damages against Apple.

Here’s the latest.

• Wrong case, right result, Fed Circuit holds in trademark win for Sprouts Farmers Market – The Federal Circuit concluded that the TTAB correctly determined that a challenger to Corcamore, LLC’s registration for the mark SPROUTS had standing, despite the fact that the TTAB applied the incorrect legal standard.
• USPTO Sees ‘Unprecedented Growth’ In AI Patent Apps – On Tuesday, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published a report recognizing the surge of AI-related patent applications.
• Trademark Office Issues Guidance for Post-Booking.com World – Although the Supreme Court rejected the USPTO’s bright-line rule against generic.com, applicants still have to establish that the mark holds distinct meaning to consumers.

Here’s the latest.

This post summarizes recent activity at the Supreme Court in cases decided by the Federal Circuit.

• One new petition for writ of certiorari was filed with the Supreme Court in Rutila v. Department of Transportation.
• Two reply briefs were filed with the Court, the first by HZNP in HZNP Finance Ltd. v. Actavis Laboratories UT, Inc. and the second by Whitserve in Whitserve LLC v. Donuts Inc.
• One amicus brief was filed with the Court in Cochlear Corp. v. Alfred E. Mann Foundation for Scientific Research by a group of Intellectual Property Professors.
• Finally, one waiver of right to respond was filed with the Court by RPX in IYM Technologies LLC v. RPX Corp.

Here are the details.

This month we highlight two scholarly articles related to the Federal Circuit.

• Retroactivity and Appointments
• Does Conjoint Analysis Reliably Value Patents?

Here are the details.