FedCircuitBlog

Here is a report on recent news and commentary related to the Federal Circuit and its cases. Today’s report highlights:

• an article reflecting on the first five months of the Federal Circuits’s precedential rulings in patent cases in 2024; and
• an article expressing the opinion that a new rule proposed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office would seriously harm U.S. inventors.

Here is a report on recent news and commentary related to the Federal Circuit and its cases. Today’s report highlights:

• an article expressing the opinion that the Federal Circuit’s effort to clarify design patent law in LKQ Corporation v. GM Global Technology Operations LLC “utterly failed”; and
• an article suggesting a Federal Circuit case is “set to shape false advertising law.”

Late last month the Federal Circuit issued its opinion in LKQ Corporation v. GM Global Technology Operations LLC, a design patent case that attracted eighteen amicus briefs. In this case, the en banc court reviewed the continuing vitality of the so-called Rosen-Durling test to asses nonobviousness of design patents. In an opinion authored by Judge Stoll, the en banc court overruled the cases using that test and adopted in its place a new approach for assessing nonobviousness of design patents. Notably, Judge Lourie filed a concurring opinion. This is our opinion summary.

Here is a report on recent news and commentary related to the Federal Circuit and its cases. Today’s report highlights two articles discussing the Federal Circuit’s recent en banc decision changing the court’s interpretation of design patent law’s nonobviousness requirement, along with a memorandum from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office addressing the same decision:

• an article detailing the effects that the Federal Circuit’s decision will have on design patent challenges;
• another article discussing how the new test has created uncertainty over what’s obvious; and
• a memorandum from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office entitled “Updated Guidance and Examination Instructions for Making a Determination of Obviousness in Designs in Light of LKQ Corporation v. GM Global Technology Operations LLC.“

Here is a report on recent news and commentary related to the Federal Circuit and its cases. Today’s report highlights:

• an article reporting on the Federal Circuit’s biennial judicial conference in which six Federal Circuit judges “appeared on a panel . . . to discuss best-and worst-practices” used by appellate litigators in court; and
• an article discussing implications of the Federal Circuit’s recent elimination of its historical test for design patent law’s nonobviousness requirement; and
• another article reporting on the Federal Circuit’s biennial judicial conference in which Chief Justice Roberts spoke about “the Federal Circuit’s own important role in deciding intellectual property disputes, from copyrights to patents.”

Today the Federal Circuit issued an en banc opinion in LKQ Corporation v. GM Global Technology Operations LLC, a design patent case. In the opinion, the en banc court overruled the long-standing Rosen-Durling test used to assess the nonobviousness of design patents. The court decided to apply “the same conditions for patentability that apply to utility patents.” Notably, Judge Lourie concurred in the judgment, suggesting it was unnecessary to overrule Rosen and Durling. Here is the introduction to the majority opinion. We will post an opinion summary later this week.

Here is a report on recent news and commentary related to the Federal Circuit and its cases. Today’s report highlights:

• an article discussing “what’s at stake in pending Federal Circuit design patent case”;
• an article highlighting a recent notice by the USPTO published in the Federal Register “providing updated guidance for agency decision-makers on proper determinations of obviousness under the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2007 ruling in KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc.”; and
• an article about how “[t]he Federal Circuit reversed a district court judge’s dismissal of a breach-of-contract lawsuit against MasterCard International Inc. over a licensing agreement the company entered with patent owner AlexSam Inc.”

Here is a report on recent news and commentary related to the Federal Circuit and its cases. Today’s report highlights:

• an article discussing how the Supreme Court “justices declined to review the Federal Circuit’s holding that the one-year window for filing inter partes review petitions does not apply to companies seeking to join a challenge brought by another company”; and
• an article presenting “post-argument thoughts” on the Federal Circuit’s recent “en banc oral argument to reconsider the obviousness test for design patents.”

Earlier this month, the Federal Circuit heard oral argument in LKQ Corporation v. GM Global Technology Operations LLC, a design patent case being heard by the court en banc. In this case, the Federal Circuit is reviewing a judgment of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board and, in the process, determining whether to adopt a more flexible test for analyzing design patent obviousness compared to the existing “Rosen-Durling” test. This is our argument recap.

Here is a report on recent news and commentary related to the Federal Circuit and its cases. Today’s report highlights:

• an article discussing how “Judge Pauline Newman on Wednesday lost a bid to persuade the federal court system’s governing body to review her suspension from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit”;
• a similar article about how “Judge Pauline Newman . . . faces a difficult path to getting reinstated without complying with an investigation into her mental fitness”; and
• an article highlighting how the Federal Circuit “met to consider a design patent appeal en banc for the first time in more than 15 years.”