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

Mealey's Patents

March 04, 2024
Patent Owner Prevails In Appeal Of Adverse Inter Partes Review

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a March 4 ruling, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said final written decisions (FWDs) by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board canceling all claims of four patents relating to closure of an incontinence diaper relied on “unsupported assumptions,” necessitating vacatur and remand.
March 01, 2024
Panel Reinstates Contract Case Against MasterCard Over Patent Royalties

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a case the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said “illustrates the importance of carefully reviewing the language in a covenant not to sue when entering a license agreement,” the court has again reversed summary judgment in favor of MasterCard International Inc., which stands accused of breaching its contract with a patent owner.
March 01, 2024
Machine Company Tells High Court Petition Does Not Necessitate Rethinking Alice

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals correctly found that a competing machine company’s patent discloses an abstract process that is not patentable, a respondent tells the U.S. Supreme Court in a brief opposing a petition for certiorari that raises multiple questions about the abstract idea standard, contending that the case does not provide a vehicle for the court to reconsider the decade-old standard in Alice Corp. Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank Int’l.
February 28, 2024
Circuit Company Says USB Connection Patent Would Have Been Obvious

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In a Feb. 27 petition for inter partes review (IPR), a maker of microcontroller, mixed-signal, analog and flash integrated circuits seeks cancellation of dozens of claims of a patented method of connecting an upstream and downstream universal serial bus (USB).
February 27, 2024
Patent Owner: Prior Art Relied On By Instacart In Inter Partes Review Fails

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Two references cited by Maplebear Inc., doing business as Instacart, in a recently instituted inter partes review (IPR) do not qualify as prior art because they became publicly accessible after the priority date to which the patent is entitled, the patent owner tells the Patent Trial and Appeal Board in a Feb. 26 response.
February 27, 2024
Clear, Convincing Evidence Of Inequitable Conduct Lacking In Patent Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — While a jury verdict that Amazon.com did not infringe a voice processing patent was upheld Feb. 26 by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, the panel joined a Texas federal judge in finding that the patent in suit was not proven unenforceable.
February 26, 2024
Philips Defeats Patent Challenge Again When Panel Rejects Intel Appeal

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Findings by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that Intel Corp. failed to establish obviousness of a patented method of authenticating distance measurements have been affirmed by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which ruled, among other things, that the board adequately addressed the grounds presented for inter partes review (IPR).
February 23, 2024
Board, In Instituting IPR, Says Task Group Submission Was Publicly Accessible

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A patent directed to an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) network will face scrutiny from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, which instituted inter partes review (IPR) in response to a petition by Intel Corp.
February 21, 2024
Ohio Federal Judge Denies Dueling Motions To Exclude Experts In Patent Dispute

TOLEDO, Ohio — An Ohio federal judge denied two motions to exclude opposing expert witnesses testifying on how a person of ordinary skill in the art would view the patent infringement dispute involving the design of metal doors.
February 21, 2024
Method For Learning Sex, Health Of Chick Would Be Obvious, Petitioner Says

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A patent issued in 2020 that teaches an imaging technique for determining the sex and health of a recently hatched chick should be canceled, petitioners tell the Patent Trial and Appeal Board in a Feb. 20 request for inter partes review (IPR).
February 20, 2024
Inventor’s Challenge To Patent Board Reliance On Non-Expert Testimony Fails

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 20 revealed in its order list that it will not take up a petition for a writ of certiorari by the inventor of a patented method and apparatus for controlling a ventilator that was deemed invalid by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
February 20, 2024
In Post-Grant Review Halliburton Defends Fracking Technology As Patent-Eligible

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A petition for post-grant review (PGR) of a purportedly improved hydraulic fracturing process engages in oversimplification of the claims in making the case for a finding of patent ineligibility, Halliburton Energy Services Inc. contends in a Feb. 16 filing with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
February 20, 2024
Interlocutory Appeal Of Relief In Trade Dress, Patent Case Succeeds

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Texas abused his discretion in preliminarily enjoining a patent and trade dress infringement defendant from operating its trampoline park, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said Feb. 16.
February 16, 2024
In IP Row With Former Firm, Accused Engineer Defends Summary Judgment

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Utah correctly rejected on summary judgment a patent and copyright owner’s case in full against a former employee and his new, competing company, the employee and company tell the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in an appellee brief.
February 16, 2024
Federal Circuit Admonishes Patent Counsel Caught Skirting Word Limit Rules

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a Feb. 16 sua sponte per curiam order it said it “hoped not to have to write,” a panel of the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals clarified that exceeding word limits through an incorporation by reference is a sanctionable offense under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 28; although the court stopped short of sanctioning counsel for Comcast Cable Communications LLC for engaging in such conduct, in an opinion released in a companion case the same day, it reinstated infringement allegations against his client.
February 16, 2024
Patent Owner Says Outcome Of IPRs Not Preclusive In District Court Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Wisconsin wrongly concluded that final written decisions (FWDs) by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that declared certain independent patent claims obvious eliminated the need for a defendant in a subsequent infringement action to establish that its cited prior art satisfies the limitations of dependent claims of the same patents, the patent owner tells the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
February 16, 2024
Meta Handed A Setback When Panel Reinstates Infringement Litigation

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A finding on the eve of a planned November 2022 trial that Meta Platforms Inc. does not infringe four patents directed to query results was erroneous, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said Feb. 15, reversing and remanding a summary judgment order by a California federal judge.
February 15, 2024
Request For Contempt Finding In Trademark, Design Patent Case Denied

HOUSTON — A federal judge in Texas on Feb. 14 rejected as premature allegations that a defendant has violated a stipulated preliminary injunction in a trademark and design patent infringement case by manufacturing and selling a redesigned floating pool chaise.
February 15, 2024
Illinois Federal Judge Declares Trading Platform Technology Patent-Ineligible

CHICAGO — A defendant on Feb. 14 secured dismissal of allegations that it infringes three patents owned by a fellow provider of foreign currency trading and information services, with a federal judge in Illinois finding that although the technology improves upon prior art by providing “more accurate and reliable” metrics for traders, “the concepts of obtaining, filtering, and processing data to provide statistical information are abstract regardless of the quality of the process used to do so.”
February 15, 2024
Panel Preserves Win For Samsung In Smartphone Functionality Patent Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A pro se appellant, inventor and patent infringement plaintiff who unsuccessfully sued Samsung Electronics America Inc. has failed to persuade the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to revive the case, which was dismissed with prejudice by a federal judge in California.
February 14, 2024
Government: AI-Assisted Invention Patents Require ‘Significant Human’ Role

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Patent applicants must be “natural persons” — artificial intelligences cannot be listed as inventors — and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) analysis of applications including artificial intelligence-assisted inventions focuses on whether a significant human contribution exists, according to guidance published in the Federal Register on Feb. 13.
February 14, 2024
Federal Circuit Declines Call To Construe ‘OFF,’ Declares Patent Indefinite

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A system and method for deterring identify theft was correctly deemed indefinite by a federal judge in Illinois because the “specification and claims fail to provide adequate guidance as to the identity” of a recited “transaction partner,” a divided Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Feb. 14.
February 13, 2024
Dexcom Seeks To Add New Challenge To Abbott Glucose Monitoring Patent

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In a new petition filed with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, Dexcom Inc. says that two new claims of the same patent already the subject of inter partes review (IPR) should also be examined after patent owner Abbott Diabetes Care Inc. recently added allegations of their infringement in federal court.
February 09, 2024
Panel Issues Mixed Ruling In Appeal Of Post-Grant Review Of Vape Patent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 9 said that although an obviousness challenge by Philip Morris Products S.A. to patented vaping technology was correctly decided in favor of the tobacco giant, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board wrongly found inadequate written descriptive support for two other claims.
February 09, 2024
Manuals Wrongly Excluded From Prior Art Analysis, Federal Circuit Rules

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Inter partes review (IPR) of two patents relating to a meat and cheese slicer was reinstated Feb. 8 by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which said the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board not only wrongly found that manuals relied on by the petitioner were not publicly available but also erred in concluding that the remaining prior art failed to disclose two limitations.