FedCircuitBlog

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

• an article examining how “[t]ech companies are embracing an unorthodox appellate procedure to challenge policy shifts expanding the US Patent and Trademark Office director’s power”;
• another article covering how advocacy groups “have thrown their support behind” a challenge to the USPTO’s retroactive application of “a decision withdrawing earlier guidance on when the Patent Trial and Appeal Board should not review patent challenges”;
• a post discussing how “certain comments” by U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director nominee John Squires “during his Senate Judiciary Confirmation hearing . . . could reflect alignment not only with Acting Director Stewart, but with Congress’s objective when it passed the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act”;
• a blog post criticizing a recent Federal Circuit decision for offering “a concerning example of the Federal Circuit departing from well-established patent claim construction doctrine”; and
• a piece covering how “James Woodruff II, Trump’s nominee” for the Merit Systems Protection Board, saw his nomination advance out of a Senate committee “on an 8-4 vote.”

This morning, the Federal Circuit released a precedential opinion in a patent case appealed from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. The Federal Circuit also released nonprecedential opinions in three other patent cases, two in cases appealed from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board and one in a case appealed from the Southern District of Ohio. Finally, the Federal Circuit released a nonprecedential order dismissing an appeal from a judgment of the Merit Systems Protection Board. Here are the introductions to the opinions, along with a link to the dismissal.

This morning, the Federal Circuit released one nonprecedential opinion and five Rule 36 summary affirmances. The opinion addresses an appeal from a judgment of the Merit Systems Protection Board. Here is the introduction to the opinion and links to the summary affirmances.

This morning the Federal Circuit issued two nonprecedential opinions in patent cases appealed from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, a nonprecedential order denying a petition for writ of mandamus along with a concurring opinion by Judge Reyna, and one Rule 36 judgment. Here are the introductions to the opinions and order and a link to the Rule 36 judgment.

• Federal Circuit Snubs Extrinsic Evidence – Courts are not required to consult extrinsic evidence in every patent eligibility case.
• Defining the Contours of Arthrex Decision – The Federal Circuit’s recent decision has resulted in a large number of PTAB appeals.
• Federal Circuit Upholds Application of Dedication-Disclosure Doctrine – The Federal Circuit affirmed a district court’s application of the dedication-disclosure doctrine.

Here’s the latest.

This morning the Federal Circuit issued one nonprecedential opinion in a patent case, one nonprecedential opinion in a veterans case, one nonprecedential opinion in a government contracts case, and one nonprecedential erratum. Here are the introductions to the opinions and the text of the erratum.

This morning the Federal Circuit issued a nonprecedential opinion in a patent case, three nonprecedential opinions in patent cases, and a nonprecedential opinion in a veterans case. Here are the introductions to the opinions.