FedCircuitBlog

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

• a blog post discussing how “[c]ourts continue to struggle with their use of evidence for claim construction” in patent cases;
• an article detailing how the “Senate’s April 5 confirmation of Winston & Strawn partner Kathi Vidal means the agency can finally make movement on pressing policy issues that have been in limbo while the leadership post remained vacant for more than a year”; and
• another article analyzing how the the Federal Circuit recently “criticized, but left intact, limits on when the Patent Trial and Appeal Board can devise reasons to reject requests to amend patents.”

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

• an article highlighting how “Kathi Vidal, President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, was confirmed by the Senate”;
• another article discussing how, “[a]s part of the ongoing confirmation process for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court, Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) submitted . . . 35 IP-related questions . . . and 15 antitrust questions” to Judge Jackson and how Judge Jackson has responded to those questions; and
• a third article identifying major trends in Patent Trial and Appeal Board trials.

This morning the Federal Circuit released a precedential opinion in a patent case appealed from the Western District of Washington. The opinion describes that the Federal Circuit reversed the judgment and remanded the case due to an incorrect claim construction ruling. The court also released two nonprecedential opinions in a patent case appealed from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board and a veterans case appealed from the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. Finally, the court issued three nonprecedential orders. Two of the orders dismiss cases for untimely filings, and one grants an unopposed motion to remand for arbitration. Here are the introductions to the opinions and orders.

• 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.