Mealey's Patents : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Patents

May 03, 2024
Maker Of Muscular Dystrophy Drug Found Liable For Patent Infringement

WILMINGTON, Del. — Rejection by a federal judge in Delaware of allegations that the phrase “in which uracil bases are thymine bases” is indefinite has yielded a summary judgment by a different federal judge in Delaware in favor of a patent owner on the question of infringement.
May 03, 2024
With Patents Confirmed Obvious, Panel Vacates Texas Damage Award

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 2 said its affirmance the same day of findings by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that three patents are invalid has an issue preclusive effect on a separate appeal of an amended final judgment by a Texas federal judge who, on remand, recalculated damages for infringement of the same patents.
May 01, 2024
PTO Grants Reexam Of 4th AI Patent; Delaware Infringement Case Stayed

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In an office action, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) said it will reexamine a patent directed to a method of dental arch image analysis that relies on artificial intelligence on the heels of other reexaminations and an inter partes review (IPR) it has recently initiated of three patents from the same family, which led to a stay of related infringement litigation in Delaware federal court.
May 01, 2024
Panel: Texas Federal Judge Wrongly Found Standing Lacking In Patent Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Allegations that a radio frequency identification (RFID)-related patent was infringed were revived May 1 by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which found that contrary to the conclusion reached by a federal judge in Texas, a creditor’s “unexercised” right to license a patent does not deprive a patentee of its right to exclude.
April 29, 2024
Infringement Judgment Will Stand, But Redo On Validity Ordered By Panel

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Although a divided Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on April 29 said it found no genuine dispute that an appellant literally infringed a patented panoramic viewing system, it said evidence of obviousness presented to a California federal judge should have precluded summary judgment in favor of the patent owner on the question of validity.
April 29, 2024
Abiomed: ‘Revolutionary’ Heart Pump Rightly Cleared In Infringement Action

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Massachusetts did not err in rejecting on summary judgment allegations that five patents are infringed by “Impella” heart pump product line, Abiomed Inc. tells the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in an April 26 appellee brief.
April 26, 2024
Board Breathes New Life Into Halliburton Effort To Patent Charge Liner

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Although rejecting a position advanced by Halliburton Energy Services Inc. that an examiner erred in conducting an appeal conference with an unqualified conferee, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board on April 26 found examiner error in a rejection of all 25 claims of Halliburton’s application to patent a liner used in shaped charges.
April 26, 2024
Patent Owner’s Post-Trial Motion Denied In Full By Delaware Federal Judge

WILMINGTON, Del. — A bid by the owner of a pipe coupling patent declared not infringed by a Delaware federal jury to undo the verdict and a pretrial ruling that eliminated two other patents from the case failed April 25.
April 25, 2024
Contract, Patent Case In Massachusetts Stayed In Favor Of Inter Partes Review

BOSTON — A recent decision by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to institute inter partes review (IPR) of a patented method for allocating employee gratuities led a federal judge in Massachusetts on April 24 to stay litigation there, in a case that also involves allegations that the IPR petitioner breached two nondisclosure agreements.
April 25, 2024
Parties Spar Over Motivation To Combine References At Patent Board Hearing

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In a dispute over an oft-litigated patent that allows users not only to track a vehicle but also to control, remotely, various vehicle functions, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board on April 24 heard oral arguments that focused primarily on a motivation to combine two prior art references and the patent owner’s secondary considerations of nonobviousness.
April 23, 2024
Challenge By Meta To Eligibility Of Object Detection Patent Fails

WILMINGTON, Del. — A partial motion to dismiss by Meta Platforms Inc. was granted in part on April 22 by a visiting judge in Delaware federal court, who said that although one of the two patents being challenged by the social media giant is ineligible for patenting, allegations that Meta infringed the other patent will proceed.
April 23, 2024
Briefing Complete In Row Over Digital Imaging Patents Declared Ineligible

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An appellee brief by Google LLC “incorrectly diminishes” the role of a patent specification in “providing guidance” on whether the claims of the patent “recite a computing improvement” and in so doing “manufactures its own facts as a substitute,” the owner of four invalidated digital image processing patents tells the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in an April 22 reply brief.
April 22, 2024
Rejecting Recommendation, Delaware Federal Judge Deems Patent Ineligible

WILMINGTON, Del. — An objection to a February report and recommendation by a federal magistrate judge was sustained April 19 by a Delaware federal judge, who agreed with a defendant that the patent it stands accused of infringing recites the abstract idea of “communicating identification information using an image” and lacks sufficient inventiveness at step two of the eligibility inquiry.
April 22, 2024
Vanda Bid For Clarification On Obviousness Standard Turned Away By High Court

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on April 22 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari by Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc., which sought to undo findings that four patents relating to the use of tasimelteon to treat the sleep-wake disorder known as “non-24” would have been obvious to a person of skill in the art (POSITA).
April 19, 2024
Aptiv Says Patent Was ‘Designed To Resolve’ Deficiencies In Cited Art

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Global technology company Aptiv Technologies AG is defending its patented module, used in Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which allows a mobile device to connect to an automotive system having a Universal Serial Bus (USB) hub, urging the Patent Trial and Appeal Board on April 18 to deny a petition for inter partes review (IPR).
April 19, 2024
California Federal Judge Limits Damages, Patents In Aprisa Patent Litigation

SAN FRANCISCO — Siemens Industry Software Inc. has secured a finding that it did not infringe one of two patents asserted against it by a rival, as well as a determination that failure by the patent owner to mark its products and present evidence of foreign sales will limit the reasonable royalty calculation at an upcoming trial over the “Aprisa” place-and-route platform.
April 19, 2024
Patent Row Over Coca-Cola ‘Freestyle’ Dispenser Back At Federal Circuit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The owner of a patented beverage dispensing system that saw its infringement case against Coca-Cola Co. reinstated by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in May 2020 is again seeking appellate review, this time of what it calls a “frankly disturbing” summary judgment ruling by a Georgia federal judge on remand.
April 18, 2024
Natera Method For Genetic Mutation Analysis Should Be Canceled, Petitioner Says

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Despite recognition that three steps outlined in a Natera Inc. patent for analyzing mutations in cell-free DNA were not new on their own or in combination, a patent examiner wrongly allowed the claims based on two amendments that would also be obvious to a person skilled in the art (POSA), a petitioner for inter partes review (IPR) maintains in an April 17 filing with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
April 17, 2024
2 Claims Of 2 Fortinet Patents Declared Ineligible By California Federal Judge

SAN FRANCISCO — A defendant won partial judgment on the pleadings on April 16 when a California federal judge agreed that two claims of two Fortinet cybersecurity patents recite the abstract ideas of disabling security for trusted communication and performing tasks in a sequential order, while both lack sufficient inventiveness to be considered patent eligible.
April 17, 2024
Toyota: Automobile User Profiles Were Already Taught By Prior Art

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A petition for inter partes review (IPR) by Toyota Motor Corp. takes aim at a patent that purportedly was the first to teach setting and transferring a user profile, including preferred radio, seat and temperature settings, to a “compatible” vehicle.
April 15, 2024
Corrected Judgment Entered After $525M Awarded In Patent Case

CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois on April 12 entered a corrected judgment two days after jurors awarded a plaintiff $525 million in damages for infringement by Amazon Web Services Inc. of three information storage and retrieval patents.
April 15, 2024
Patent Covering Toddler Dining Mat Could Be Unenforceable, Panel Rules

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 12 said a cross-appellant was wrongly cleared by a Louisiana federal judge of allegations that it committed inequitable conduct before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO).
April 12, 2024
Federal Circuit Upholds Outcome Of Bench Trial In Antibiotic Patent Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A final judgment by a federal judge in Delaware directing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to delay approval of generic rifaximin until three patents covering the antibiotic Xifaxan expire was affirmed April 11 by a three-judge panel of the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
April 12, 2024
Board Win For Netflix Preserved After Panel Agreed Patent Is Obvious

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A final written decision (FWD) by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that canceled various claims of a patented method for switching network connections during the receipt of digital media content will not be disturbed, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled April 12.
April 10, 2024
Pharma Companies Seek High Court Review Of Ruling Reversing FCA Suit Dismissal

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Pharmaceutical companies accused of violating the False Claims Act (FCA) by artificially inflating drug prices filed a petition for writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking review of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ reversal of a district court’s dismissal of a qui tam suit against them, arguing, in part, that the panel “created a circuit split by holding that a relator can avoid the public disclosure bar by ‘stitching together’ public disclosures.”