FedCircuitBlog

• Lin Names Sebela Ireland Ltd. v. Prinston Pharmaceutical Inc. as the Case of the Week – In his weekly summary of Federal Circuit activity, Eric Lin named Sebela Ireland Ltd. v. Prinston Pharmaceutical Inc. as his case of the week.
• Spotlight on Upcoming Oral Arguments – May 2021 – Kaitlyn Pehrson summarizes upcoming oral arguments that will occur in the first week of May.
• Welcome To The Next Era of The Federal Circuit – Dani Kass provides an informative overview of how the makeup of the Federal Circuit will change in the near future.

Here’s the latest.

On Monday, the White House announced that President Biden officially transmitted to the United States Senate the nomination of Tiffany P. Cunningham to become a Circuit Judge of the Federal Circuit. The Senate, in turn, referred the nomination to its Committee on the Judiciary.

• Roche Challenges $171M Patent Judgment At Federal Circuit – Meso Scale Diagnostic’s $171M verdict has been appealed by Roche to the Federal Circuit on Wednesday.
• Raytheon Engine Patent Wrongly Nixed by “Futuristic” Invention – In a precedential opinion issued Thursday, the Federal Circuit reversed the PTAB’s decision to invalidate Raytheon’s patent based on obviousness.
• Federal Circuit Told Albright Has “Impossible Barrier” To Stay Cases – The Federal Circuit received a petition for a writ of mandamus to order Judge Albright to grant a stay during a review by the PTAB.

Here’s the latest.

• NYIPLA Amicus Brief in Ericsson v. Samsung Advocates the Adjudication of U.S. Patent Rights by U.S. Courts – The New York Intellectual Property Law Association (NYIPLA) recently submitted an amicus brief urging the Federal Circuit to balance the interests of the U.S. in resolving domestic patent protection against the rule of comity.
• Vivint Patent Ruling Upheld Over Belated Appointments Argument – The Federal Circuit ruled that Vivint forfeited the constitutional arguments from Arthrex when it failed to raise such arguments on appeal, even though Arthrex had not yet been issued at the time of the appeal.
• Banks Face Lawsuit ‘Frenzy’ After Business Patent Reviews End – In the last eight months, nearly three times as many patent suits involving financial services patents have been filed against banks and e-commerce companies after the PTO’s covered business method review program expired last September.

Here’s the latest.

• The Upshot of Google v. Oracle: An Absurd Ruling Will Lead to Absurd Results – This recent decision in copyright law may transform how copyrights in software are viewed and force copyright owners to be more secretive with their code.
• Federal Circuit Appears Unswayed by Patent Board Bias Attack – In oral argument, a majority of the panel seemed skeptical of New Vision’s argument of bias towards institution of IPRs by the PTAB.
• Justices Asked To Revisit “Life Issues” In Tinder’s IP Alice Win – The Supreme Court was asked to reconsider the Federal Circuit’s decision in NetSoc LLC v. Match Group LLC over concerns of the application of Alice to NetSoc’s patent.

Here’s the latest.

• Supreme Court Backs Google in Copyright Fight With Oracle – A 6-2 ruling ended the decade-long copyright dispute between Google and Oracle over Google’s use of Java programming code in its Android operating system.
• Apple Can’t Appeal Patent Board Rulings After Qualcomm Deal – In a precedential decision, the Federal Circuit ruled that a settlement agreement between Apple and Qualcomm bars Apple from challenging a PTAB decision that upheld two Qualcomm patents.
• Fitbit Wins Challenge to Health Technology Patent at Tribunal – On remand from the Federal Circuit, the Patent Trial and Appel Board ruled in favor of Fitbit and concluded that parts of a health-monitoring patent were invalid as obvious.  

Here’s the latest.

• Set Phase to Subject Matter Ineligible: More Accurate Haplotype Phase Method Still Abstract – A patent for determining haplotype phase could not survive review under Alice according to the PTAB and the Federal Circuit.
• Federal Circuit Says Hawaii Telecom’s FCC Suit Belongs In DC Circuit – In Sandwich Isles Communications v. United States, the Federal Circuit denied an appeal seeking nearly $200 million in lost subsidies after the FCC cut off funding.

Here’s the latest.

• Full Fed. Circ. Won’t Review Motion Sensor Patent Fight – The full Federal Circuit chose not to disturb a panel’s decision to uphold part of a Patent Trial and Appeal Board ruling that struck down several claims of a motion sensor patent.
• Good News/Bad News: Patent Owners and Petitioners Both Make Gains in CAFC Uniloc Decision – Experts analyze the effects of the Federal Circuit’s recent Uniloc 2017 v. Facebook Inc. decision that raised numerous estoppel issues.

Here’s the latest.

• Judge O’Malley Thinks Federal Circuit Could Be Back This Summer – A trio of past and current Federal Circuit judges gave their thoughts on a return to in-person arguments and other pandemic-related adjustments.
• A Resilient Petticoat – In Transtex Inc. v. Laydon Composites Ltd., the Federal Circuit affirmed the findings of the PTAB regarding the obviousness of some claims within a patent covering a strut holding a tractor-trailer skirt in place.
• Federal Circuit Backs Lyft in Ride-Sharing Patent Fight – The Federal Circuit affirmed the lower court’s invalidity finding of RideApp’s patent in its suit against Lyft.

Here’s the latest.

• Patent Appeal Lessons From Fed. Circ. Remote En Banc Args – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has sat remotely en banc for only two cases in the past year, both of which have been veterans cases, but their oral arguments can provide insight to all practitioners.
• Novartis Patent on MS Drug Gilenya Evades Supreme Court Scrutiny – The Supreme Court will not explore the debate over whether being in regular competition is enough to challenge a PTAB ruling on a rival’s patent without having been sued for infringement.  
• Fourth Circuit Finds ‘Pretzel Crisps’ Plaintiffs are Not Bound to Federal Circuit Across Appeals from Distinct TTAB Decisions – The Fourth Circuit joins the Seventh and Ninth Circuits in considering the reach of the Lanham Act’s permission to seek review of a TTAB decision at either the CAFC or in federal district court.

Here’s the latest.