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Mealey's Patents

  • August 29, 2024

    Wisconsin Federal Judge Dismisses Bulk Of Claims In Dispute Over Gardening Tools

    MADISON, Wisc. — The owner of two design patents that describe ornamental gardening tools is not entitled to summary judgment on its patent infringement claims because it failed to show that allegedly infringing products made by a competitor were sufficiently similar to its products, a Wisconsin federal judge found in disposing of motions for summary judgment filed by both parties.

  • August 28, 2024

    Dispute Over FCA Public Disclosure Bar Distributed For Conference In Supreme Court

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Aug. 28 distributed for conference a petition for certiorari filed by pharmaceutical companies seeking review of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling that the public disclosure bar was not triggered in a case where it reversed a district court’s dismissal of a suit accusing the companies of violating the False Claims Act (FCA) by artificially inflating drug prices.

  • August 28, 2024

    PTAB Panel Affirms Rejection Of Computer Tomography Scanner Application

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A patent examiner did not err in rejecting a patent application that disclosed a particularly configured computer tomography (CT) scanner because the examiner adequately showed that the claims can be produced by combining several components of prior art, a Patent Trial and Appeal Board held in affirming the examiner’s findings on Aug. 27.

  • August 27, 2024

    Texas Federal Judge Grants And Denies Motions To Dismiss In Data Patent Dispute

    WACO, Texas — In two separate orders filed Aug. 26, a Texas federal judge denied a motion to dismiss a counterclaim for patent invalidity and granted in part a motion to dismiss allegations of willful infringement in a patent infringement case concerning methods, systems and computer program products for processing data.

  • August 27, 2024

    PTAB Panel Affirms Patent Examiner’s Rejection Of Chewing Gum Patents

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A patent examiner did not err in rejecting an application for patent claims describing a process for reducing the stickiness of a chewing gum core composition because the claims were obvious in light of prior art, a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) panel found in affirming the examiner’s findings.

  • August 27, 2024

    Federal Circuit: Trial Court Wrongly Analyzed Attorney Fees Motion In Patent Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal district court erred in analyzing whether several telecommunications companies that prevailed against patent infringement claims were entitled to attorney fees because it erroneously gave weight to several “red flags” that supposedly made the case exceptional, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held in vacating the trial court’s order granting the companies’ motion for attorney fees.

  • August 23, 2024

    In Exercise Device Patent Row, Federal Circuit Affirms Claim Construction Decision

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal trial court correctly found that a claim within a patent for a personal athletic performance monitor device was indefinite for lack of corresponding structure because the patent’s specification failed to disclose an algorithm for computing athletic performance feedback data, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in affirming the lower court’s judgment in part.

  • August 22, 2024

    In High Court, PTO Director Says Patent Term Adjustment Does Not Affect Validity

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In her Aug. 21 brief in response to a petition for writ of certiorari filed by a tech firm in the U.S. Supreme Court, the director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) argues that a patent that had its expiration date extended under patent term adjustment (PTA) due to application delays caused by the PTO is still susceptible to findings of obviousness and invalidity.

  • August 22, 2024

    Mobile User Interface Patent Claim Is Not Indefinite, Federal Circuit Holds

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal trial court erred in finding that the representative claim of a mobile user interface patent was indefinite because the language of the claim and its prosecution history show that the claim can be properly constructed in a way that fits the patent, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in reversing and remanding the trial court’s judgment.

  • August 22, 2024

    Illinois Federal Judge Declines To Vacate $525M Jury Award In Tech Patent Dispute

    CHICAGO — A jury’s award of $525 million for patent infringement claims involving information storage and retrieval patents was supported by sufficient evidence and should not be vacated, an Illinois federal judge found in denying Amazon’s motion for judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) and its motion for a new trial.

  • August 22, 2024

    Enactment Of AIA Did Not Change The On-Sale Bar, Federal Circuit Holds

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congress did not intend to change the long-established interpretation of the on-sale bar by enacting the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) because textual changes brought on with the enactment of the AIA text did not materially affect the provision, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in affirming a decision from the U.S. International Trade Commission concerning artificial sweetener patents.

  • August 20, 2024

    Federal Circuit Dismisses Hydrogenated Silicon Patent Appeal For Lack Of Standing

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — There is no live case or controversy regarding hydrogenated silicon patent infringement claims because the patent owner dismissed its claims with prejudice, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in dismissing an appeal of a final written inter partes review decision issued by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

  • August 20, 2024

    Nike’s Shoe Patent Claims Against New Balance Will Continue In Mass. Federal Court

    BOSTON — New Balance failed to show that Nike’s factual allegations contradicted New Balance’s interpretation of three shoe patents it allegedly infringed by manufacturing and selling its own shoes, a Massachusetts federal judge found in denying New Balance’s partial motion to dismiss.

  • August 19, 2024

    Sale Of Invention Was Not ‘Public Disclosure,’ Federal Circuit Says In Patent Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The private sale of a product that contained the subject matter of a patent application that was filed several days later does not mean the application itself cannot be considered prior art because the sale did not result in the public disclosure of the inventive subject matter, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in affirming the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) finding that a patent for a port apparatus used with electronic devices was obvious in light of the application.

  • August 16, 2024

    Federal Circuit Vacates Preliminary Injunction In E-Cigarette Trademark Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Florida was wrong to issue a preliminary injunction against a Chinese e-cigarette manufacturer and its American wholesalers in a trademark and patent dispute brought by an American e-cigarette maker, a panel of judges in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held, saying that the judge did not adequately consider the Chinese company’s argument that the American manufacturer did not have a valid claim to the contested mark because it did not seek approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its product.

  • August 16, 2024

    Fla. Federal Judge: Patent Commission Case Belongs In Courts Of England And Wales

    MIAMI — A dispute over whether a consulting firm is entitled to an anticipated judgment allegedly arising from the firm’s efforts to monetize two service control technology permits must be heard in the courts of England and Wales because the brokerage agreement between the firm and the patent owners contains a forum-selection clause selecting that forum, a Florida federal judge found in granting the owner’s motion to dismiss.

  • August 15, 2024

    Owner Of Charging Bag Patent Fails To Secure Default Judgment In N.Y. Federal Court

    BUFFALO — The owner of a patent that describes a bag or luggage that has a USB charging connector is not entitled to default judgment on the claim of patent infringement it brought against a competitor because the owner failed to attach a copy of its patent to its motion for default judgment, a New York federal judge found in denying the motion without prejudice.

  • August 14, 2024

    Patent Attorney Urges High Court To Decline Review Of 9th Circuit FCA Reversal

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A patent attorney who was a district court’s qui tam plaintiff in a suit accusing pharmaceutical companies of violating the False Claims Act (FCA) by artificially inflating drug prices urges the U.S. Supreme Court to decline review of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling reversing the district court’s dismissal, arguing that the Ninth Circuit correctly “held that the public disclosures did not collectively disclose the fraud.”

  • August 14, 2024

    Federal Judge Adopts Recommendation, Says Ignition Mitigation Patents Are Invalid

    MIAMI — In adopting a federal magistrate judge’s report and recommendation, a Florida federal judge agreed that three patents that form a method and system of fuel tank mitigation were invalid under the on-sale bar because the inventor made three commercial offers for sale of the patented method before applying for patent protection.

  • August 13, 2024

    PTO Director’s Former Role In Case Didn’t Affect Due Process Rights, Panel Says

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The owner of three computer data patents was not deprived of its due process rights when the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) instituted inter partes review after opposing counsel in a dispute over the patents was nominated and appointed as director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) because the director properly recused herself from the case and the administrative law judges of the PTAB had no pecuniary interest in agreeing with the arguments she formerly presented before them, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in affirming three final written decisions from the PTAB.

  • August 13, 2024

    In COVID-19 Vaccine Case, Federal Judge Says Patent Preambles Must Be Considered

    WILMINGTON, Del. — The term “vaccine” within the preamble of a patent that was allegedly infringed upon by the manufacturing of various COVID-19 vaccines is a limitation of the patent’s claims because the term describes the intended use of the patent itself, a Delaware federal judge found in issuing a claim construction order interpreting the patent at issue.

  • August 13, 2024

    Patent Trial And Appeal Board Panel Says Blood Pooling Method Was Not Obvious

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A patent examiner erred in finding that a method of separating blood components by pooling blood samples together from multiple donors was obvious because none of the prior art mentions pooling blood together, a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) panel found Aug. 12 in rejecting the examiner’s findings.

  • August 12, 2024

    Animal Drug Patent Owners Had No Notice Of Methodology Change, Federal Judge Says

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) by changing, without notice, the methodology it uses to calculate regulatory review periods for new animal drug patents that are later used to extend the terms of such patents, a District of Columbia federal judge found in granting a patent owner’s motion for summary judgment.

  • August 09, 2024

    Examiner Failed To Show Fragrance Delivery Claims Were Obvious, PTAB Panel Finds

    WASHINGTON — A Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) panel on Aug. 8 reversed a patent examiner’s decision to reject as obvious a patent application that described a delayed chemical delivery system because the prior art referenced by the examiner failed to contain the same weight ratio as disclosed in the application.

  • August 08, 2024

    Federal Circuit Affirms PTAB’s Obviousness Findings In Dispute Over Robot Patents

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Patent Trial and Appeals Board (PTAB) did not err in finding that all but one of several challenged patent claims concerning a docking method for a robotic cleaning device were unpatentable in light of prior art, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in affirming the PTAB’s final written decision on Aug. 8.