FedCircuitBlog

This morning, the Federal Circuit released two precedential opinions, four nonprecedential opinions, and two Rule 36 summary affirmances. One of the precedential opinions addresses an appeal from a final written decision of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board in a post-grant review, which held certain claims unpatentable as obvious or lacking written description. The other precedential opinion addresses an appeal from a judgment of the Court of Federal Claims and addresses an assertion by the government of a right to practice a patent and have a patent practiced on its behalf under a provision of a Bayh-Dole Act. Two of the nonprecedential opinions address jurisdiction, one affirms the rejection of proposed patent claims for being directed to patent-ineligible subject matter, and one affirms the dismissal of a complaint due to the claims being timebarred. Late yesterday, the Federal Circuit also released five nonprecedential orders dismissing appeals. Here are the introductions to the opinions and links to the dismissals and summary affirmances.

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 the Federal Circuit judges investigating Judge Newman’s fitness asked “a Washington, D.C. federal court late on Friday to dismiss Newman’s lawsuit challenging the unusual probe”;
• an article discussing the argument by the special committee investigating Judge Newman that “the internal actions of the three-judge special committee of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit aren’t subject to judicial review”;
• an analysis of pending legislation entitled the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act, which according to former Federal Circuit Chief Judge Paul Michel “would overturn Supreme Court and Federal Circuit decisions that scrambled settled law, excluding many worthy classes of inventions, such as medical diagnostic methods and advanced computer applications”; and
• a blog post taking the position “that gen-AI tools will face high patent eligibility obstacles absent inclusion of strong technical implementation details placed at least within the specification, but more likely within the claims themselves.”

This morning, the Federal Circuit released three nonprecedential opinions and one nonprecedential order. One opinion addresses an argument that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board adopted erroneous constructions of claim terms. Another opinion addresses an appeal from a summary judgment holding claims invalid for lack of eligibility. The final opinion, also from a patent case, addresses the enforceability of an arbitration agreement and a finding of indefiniteness. The nonprecedential order grants a voluntary dismissal. Here are the introductions to the opinions and a link to the dismissal.