FedCircuitBlog

On May 12, the Federal Circuit issued its opinion in Regents of the University of California v. Broad Institute Inc., a case we have been following because it attracted an amicus brief. In this appeal, the Federal Circuit reviewed a judgment of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board in an interference proceeding concerning competing patent applications related to using the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing system in eukaryotic (e.g., plant or animal) cells. In a unanimous opinion authored by Judge Reyna and joined by Judges Hughes and Cunningham, the Federal Circuit vacated the Board’s decision, holding the Board incorrectly applied the legal standard for conception. The panel also affirmed the Board’s determination of compliance with the written requirement and dismissed a cross-appeal as moot. This is our opinion summary. 

Here is a report on recent news and commentary related to the Federal Circuit and its cases. Today we highlight:

• a report covering how the Federal Circuit “agreed on Tuesday to allow President Trump to maintain many of his tariffs on China and other U.S. trading partners, extending a pause granted shortly after another panel of judges ruled in late May that the import taxes were illegal”;
• an article describing how “President Donald Trump on Wednesday hailed a favorable decision by [the Federal Circuit] over his sweeping tariff policy as a ‘great’ win for the United States”;
• a piece addressing how “[t]he typically apolitical and staid US Patent and Trademark Office has been swept up in the Trump administration’s efforts to reshape the federal workforce”;
• a blog post discussing how “[t]he Trump Administration’s nominee for U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Director, John Squires, has submitted written responses for the record following his May 21 testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee”; and
• an article highlighting how “[t]he acting U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director’s decision on Friday to reject patent challenges due to the petitioner’s longstanding knowledge of a patent has many attorneys bracing for either a massive rise or dip in Patent Trial and Appeal Board filings.”

Here is this month’s update on activity in cases pending before panels of the Federal Circuit where the cases involve at least one amicus brief. We keep track of these cases in the “Other Cases” section of our blog. Today, with respect to these cases we highlight several new opinions issued, relating to takings, trade, patents, and trademarks. Also, there was one principal and response brief filed in a patent case and two new reply briefs filed in two other patent cases. There were no new cases pending before panels of the Federal Circuit that attracted at least one amicus brief. Here are the details.

Here is an update on recent activity at the Supreme Court in cases decided by the Federal Circuit. With respect to granted petitions, there has been no new activity since our last post. With respect to pending petitions, one new petition was filed in a patent case; two waivers of right to respond to petitions were filed in patent cases; a new brief in opposition was filed in a patent case; and the Court denied two petitions, one in a patent case and one in a pro se case. Here are the details.

Late yesterday, the Federal Circuit issued an en banc nonprecedential order granting the motions filed by the United States for stays of the judgments and permanent injunctions entered by the Court of International Trade against President Trump’s Executive Orders imposing various tariffs. The court concluded that “a stay is warranted under the circumstances,” and that “these cases present issues of exceptional importance warranting expedited en banc consideration of the merits in the first instance.” Here is the full text of the order.

Here is an update on recent en banc activity at the Federal Circuit in patent cases. Since our last update, the Federal Circuit heard oral argument in an en banc government contract case. The Federal Circuit also received two amicus briefs and the government’s reply brief in President Trump’s pending case involving tariffs, in which the en banc court granted an immediate administrative stay of the judgments and permanent injunctions entered by the Court of International Trade. As for petitions, the court received an amicus brief in a case with a petition raising questions related to interpretation of the statute defining the power of the International Trade Commission. The Federal Circuit also denied a petition in a patent case. Here are the details.

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.”

Here is a report on recent news and commentary related to the Federal Circuit and its cases. Today we highlight:

• an article addressing how a “U.S. judge dismissed the state of California’s challenge to President Donald Trump’s tariffs, allowing the state to file an appeal over the court’s ruling that the dispute should have been filed in a specialized U.S. trade court in New York”;
• another report covering how a “federal judge in Washington, D.C., extended a pause on his order invalidating the bulk of President Trump’s tariffs” until the Federal Circuit can “resolve the case”; and
• a piece examining how the “U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) held a ‘USPTO Hour’ Wednesday in which it announced the results of a study it apparently conducted over the last five years.”

Here is an update on recent activity at the Supreme Court in cases decided by the Federal Circuit. With respect to granted petitions, there has been no new activity since our last post. With respect to pending petitions, there were three waivers of right to respond to petitions, one in a pro se case, one in a patent case, and another in a government contracts case. There were also two new replies filed in support of petitions in patent cases. Finally, there were two denials of petitions filed in patent cases. Here are the details.

Here is a report on recent news and commentary related to the Federal Circuit and its cases. Today we highlight:

• an article describing how the Federal Circuit “temporarily reinstated the most sweeping of President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Thursday, a day after a U.S. trade court ruled that Trump had exceeded his authority in imposing the duties and ordered an immediate block on them;”
• another article similarly addressing how the Federal Circuit “temporarily agreed to preserve many of President Trump’s sweeping tariffs on China and other U.S. trading partners”;
• a report outlining how “[t]hree appeals in federal patent-infringement lawsuits center on the legality of an East Texas judge’s unconventional choice to have juries answer a single yes-or-no question on whether defendants copied multiple patents rather than deciding separately whether each individual patent was infringed”; and
• a piece examining the “intellectual property-related provisions” in “the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act,’” which passed the House of Representatives on May 22.