FedCircuitBlog

• What’s Eligible for a Patent? The Section 101 Muddle Explained – Perry Cooper describes the uncertainty and confusion surrounding patent eligibility under Section 101 and highlights the Supreme Court’s upcoming opportunities to provide clarity after Alice.
• Fed. Circ. Agrees Fax Machine Patents Are Indefinite – The Federal Circuit found that two terms in the patent claim language failed to provide reasonable certainty of the terms’ scope and thus the patents were deemed invalid for indefiniteness.
• Afghan’s Land Takings Claim Against U.S. Army Rejected on Appeal – The Federal Circuit affirmed the U.S. Court of Federal Claims’ dismissal of a suit after an Afghan citizen failed to prove ownership of a property that he claimed the U.S. Army unjustly took from him when the U.S. Army constructed Combat Outpost Millet in 2010.

Here’s the latest.

• Deere Loses Patent Challenge at Federal Circuit – The Federal Circuit rejected Deere & Co.’s attempt to invalidate a patent over combine crop harvester technology as a misrepresentation of the PTAB’s decision.
• Federal Circuit Unlikely To Nix Apple’s Win In Memory Patent Case – Qualcomm met resistance when arguing before the Federal Circuit that the PTAB did not construe a key term in invalidating Qualcomm’s patent.

Here’s the latest.

• Challenging Therapeutics IP After Fed. Circ. Drink Can Ruling – Issued on the last day of 2020, the Federal Circuit’s opinion in Ball Metal Beverage Container Corp. v. Crown Packaging Technology Inc., raises important considerations for patent challengers alleging the indefiniteness of measurement claim terms that describe pharmacologic or physicochemical properties of an invention.
• Apple Transfer Win Survives Bid for Full Federal Circuit Review – The Federal Circuit denied a petition for an en banc review of an earlier decision that enabled Apple to transfer its case to the Northern District of California.
• Federal Circuit Says PTAB Failed to Provide Proper Notice to IPR Respondent of Anticipation Theory – A recent Federal Circuit decision held that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board erred in finding a claim anticipated by prior art even though the petition for inter partes review had only asserted obviousness as to the claim.  

Here’s the latest.

• Trademark Next Hot Area of IP Law, Federal Circuit Judge Says – At a recent webinar, Judge Kathleen O’Malley foresees an active next few years for trademark law.
• US Says Oil Companies’ WWII-Era Cleanup Cost Claims Barred – The federal government is asking the Federal Circuit to deny relief to oil companies for the costs related to pollution cleanup from World War II.
• Olaplex, L’Oréal Lose Federal Circuit Appeals Over Haircare Patent – The Federal Circuit upheld the PTAB’s decision in L’Oréal USA, Inc. v. Olaplex, Inc. to invalidate certain claims of an Olaplex patent while other claims remain valid.

Here’s the latest.

• Justices Told Patentees Deserve Fee Refund For PTAB Losses – A patent owner seeks Supreme Court review of a Federal Circuit’s ruling that one cannot recover fees and otherwise be compensated for patents invalidated by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. The petitioner argues such a ruling is unconstitutional under the Fifth Amendment takings clause.
• Companies ‘Doing Backflips’ at Top Patent Court Seek SCOTUS Help – A petition before the Supreme Court seeks to resolve uncertainty for parties in patent infringement cases who, under the current standard, risk revealing product secrets in order to challenge a competitor’s patent.
• SCOTUS Won’t Resuscitate Heart Monitor Patent Case – The Supreme Court refused to review a Federal Circuit decision that held that a cardiac monitor patent was a patent-eligible improvement to heart monitoring equipment and not directed to an abstract idea.

Here’s the latest.

• Federal Circuit Judge Calls High Court IP Decisions “Inconsistent” – At a conference on Thursday, Judge Raymond Chen noted that the Supreme Court’s policy towards novelty in the patent-eligibility inquiry seemed to be at odds with the Court’s decisions.
• Intel Trial Will Stay in Waco as Federal Circuit Declines to Weigh in – Judge Alan Albright will be able to hear the case involving VLSI Technology and Intel in Waco in February after the Federal Circuit’s decision in In re Intel Corp.
• Iancu Leaves Pro-Patentee Legacy as USPTO Director – Andrei Iancu stepped down on Wednesday after three years of instituting policies that favored patentees and that clarified USPTO procedures.

Here’s the latest.

• PTAB Axes 2 Uniloc Patents, Trims Another In Tech Giant Row – The Patent Trial and Appeal Board handed down three decisions invalidating Uniloc patents under the theory that the patent claims were obvious.
• U.S. Supreme Court rebuffs Merck appeal in hepatitis C patent fight with Gilead – The Supreme Court declined to revive a $2.54 billion jury verdict for Merck after the Federal Circuit found that Merck’s patent claims concerning a family of compounds used to treat hepatitis C were overly broad.
• Fed. Circ. Won’t Undo PTAB Rulings On Motorola Patents – On Tuesday, in a trio of unanimous opinions, the Federal Circuit affirmed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s decisions that upheld Motorola patents.

• Federal Circuit Patent Decisions In 2020: An Empirical Review – Dan Bagatell issues his fourth review of the Federal Circuit’s patent decisions of the past year.
• Boom! You Can’t Patent an Escrow Method – The Federal Circuit recently affirmed the dismissal of Boom! Payments’ claim due to a lack of patent eligibility.
• Nintendo’s Win in Wii Controller Patent Case Affirmed – Nintendo’s avoidance of a $10 million infringement award stands after the Federal Circuit affirmed the lower court’s decision in iLife Technologies, Inc. v. Nintendo of America, Inc..

Here’s the latest.

• ITC Cases Mean No Agency Patent Review for Nintendo, SK Innovation – Applying the NHK-Fintiv factors, the Patent Trial and Review Board refused to review Nintendo’s challenge to a video game controller patent.
• Supreme Court Will Review Doctrine of Assignor Estoppel – The Supreme Court granted certiorari last Friday in Minerva Surgical Inc. v. Hologic Inc., on appeal from the Federal Circuit. The case asks the justices to resolve whether a defendant in a patent infringement action who assigned the patent or is in privity with an assignor of the patent, may have a defense of invalidity heard on the merits.

Here’s the latest.

• QuikTrip Fails to Block Competitor’s “Kitchen” Logo – The Federal Circuit determined that Weigel’s logo did not infringe QuikTrip’s “QT Kitchens” trademark.
• Supreme Court Will Decide if Turnabout Is Fair Play in Patent Law – The Supreme Court will determine whether the doctrine of assignor estoppel should continue in a recently granted case.
• Vaccine Act Claimant Gets Second Chance at Attorneys’ Fees – A woman will be able to pursue attorney’s fees despite an unsuccessful claim after the Federal Circuit ruled that her claim may not have been unreasonable.

Here’s the latest.