FedCircuitBlog

Here is an update on recent en banc activity at the Federal Circuit. As for the only pending en banc case, which relates to the President’s Article II removal powers, since our last update the petitioner filed their reply brief. As for pending petitions for en banc rehearing, one new petition was filed in a pro se case raising questions about claim construction. The court also denied two petitions in cases that raised questions about appellate procedure and the enablement and written description requirements. Here are the details.

Here is an update on recent en banc activity at the Federal Circuit. Since our last update, the court has set a date for oral argument in the only pending en banc case, which relates to the President’s Article II removal powers. Also, a new response was filed in response to a petition that raises questions about the written description requirement, and the court denied three petitions that raised questions regarding appellate procedure, claim construction, means-plus-function treatment, and damages. 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 suggesting that “[t]wo decisions issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit within the past couple of months have brought” the difference between patent and trademark preemptive infringement remedies “into sharper focus”;
• a blog post discussing how “[p]atent filings are now mined not only by competitors, but by governments, intelligence agencies, sovereign investors, and increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence systems capable of analyzing millions of documents simultaneously”;
• an article highlighting how “[t]wo important patent prosecution data points that are in tension: [t]he vast majority of patent applications are initially rejected by the patent examiner; and [t]he vast majority of patent applications eventually issue as a patent”; and
• an article arguing that, “over the past several months, the Trump administration has eroded” the Merit System Protection Board’s “authority in a series of steps that some former officials say have left the board a shell of the institution it once was.”

Here is an update on recent en banc activity at the Federal Circuit. Since our last update, one petition for rehearing en banc was granted in a case raising a question related to whether veterans’ preference rights are applicable to veterans currently employed by the federal government, and one new amicus brief was filed in a case raising a question related to the President’s Article II removal powers. In addition, one new petition for en banc rehearing was filed raising questions related to appellate procedure and means-plus-function treatment. Lastly, three petitions were denied in cases raising questions related to test for design patent infringement, the constitutional right to a jury trial, the Administrative Procedure Act, appellate procedure, and transfer. Here are the details.

Here is an update on recent en banc activity at the Federal Circuit. Since our last update, fourteen amicus briefs were filed in the only pending en banc case, which relates to the President’s Article II removal power. Also, two new response briefs were filed in response to petitions in patent cases raising questions related to damages, the written description requirement, and the enablement requirement. 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 discussing how, “[o]n the eve of the 250th anniversary of Independence Day, in the nation’s capital, the Federal Circuit Center for Innovation and Law invited the public to the Justice Up Close, History All Around civics program to explore how law, innovation, science, and civic action have shaped the nation”;
• a blog post highlighting how USPTO Deputy Director Coke Morgan Stewart “announced this week that she will be leaving the Office as of this Friday”; and
• a blog post noting how “[n]early four dozen Democrats are calling for the reversal of a key Merit Systems Protection Board decision that they say could greatly expand presidential firing powers across the career federal workforce.”

Here is an update on recent en banc activity at the Federal Circuit. Since our last update, three amicus briefs were filed in the only pending en banc case, which relates to the President’s Article II removal power. Three new petitions for en banc rehearing have been filed raising questions related to appellate procedure, the written description requirement, and claim construction. Finally, six petitions were denied in cases raising questions related to burden of proving unpatentability in inter partes review proceedings, obviousness, damages, appellate procedure, the domestic industry requirement, and objective indicia of nonobviousness. Here are the details. 

Here is an update on recent en banc activity at the Federal Circuit. Since our last update, the petitioner’s brief was filed in the only pending en banc case, which raises questions related to the President’s Article II powers and the Civil Service Reform Act. As for petitions, one new petition was filed raising questions related to appellate procedure and a motion to transfer. Finally, one petition was denied in a case raising several questions related to attorney’s fees. Here are the details.

Here is an update on recent en banc activity at the Federal Circuit. Since our last update, one amicus brief was filed in the only pending en banc case, which raises questions related to the President’s removal powers. The Federal Circuit also denied one petition for en banc review raising a question related the Hatch-Waxman Act. Here are the details. 

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

• a blog post explaining that “the detailed description of . . . non-provisional patent applications must be perfect when filed, and that even if new information is discovered after filing, no changes can be made”;
• an article discussing how a recent Federal Circuit “ruling underscores how even small structural discrepancies in provisional patent applications can have significant consequences for priority claims and patent validity in pharmaceutical litigation”;
• a blog post highlighting how “Federal procedure has long used money bonds to price the risk that preliminary relief turns out wrong”; and
• an article suggesting a recent Supreme Court’s ruling “bolstered the Trump administration’s quest to fire immigration judges and other civil servants who have legal shields protecting them from at-will removal.”