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

Mealey's Patents

October 04, 2023
Ohio Case Won’t Be Stayed For Review Of Bird Feeder Patents

CLEVELAND — A plaintiff’s bid to stay its allegations of patent infringement leveled in connection with the manufacture and sale of nine hummingbird feeders failed Oct. 3 when a federal judge in Ohio ruled that the litigation will proceed despite a potential ex parte reexamination by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
October 04, 2023
Presuit Induced, Willful Infringement Claims Tossed In Patent Row

WILMINGTON, Del. — A federal judge in Delaware said allegations of direct infringement of myriad patents directed to sleep disorder testing and therapy are sufficient to withstand a motion to dismiss but agreed with a defendant that a patent owner’s assertion of induced and willful patent infringement fails.
October 03, 2023
Board: Mylan Failed To Prove Novo Nordisk Patents Are Obvious

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The Patent Trial and Appeal Board denied institution of inter partes review (IPR) of several claims in two challenged Novo Nordisk A/S patents directed to a modified peptide hormone on Oct. 2.
October 02, 2023
High Court Turns Away Request For Review Of Patent Eligibility Standard

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court in an Oct. 2 order list denied a petition for a writ of certiorari that posed the question of “whether a new and useful method for measuring a natural phenomenon, that improves upon prior methods for measuring that very same phenomenon, is eligible for patent protection.”
October 02, 2023
Federal Circuit’s Inter Partes Review Estoppel Holding Will Stand

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court announced Oct. 2 that it will not review an August 2022 ruling by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that inter partes review (IPR) estoppel bars a patent infringement defendant from asserting invalidity in Texas federal litigation.
October 02, 2023
Panel: Patent Infringement Defendant Can Challenge Venue After Final Judgment

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A determination by a federal judge in Texas that a defendant’s lease of office space after it was accused of patent infringement constitutes a “regular and established place of business” will not be disturbed, for now, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Sept. 29.
October 02, 2023
Massachusetts Federal Judge Undoes $176.5M Jury Award In Patent Row

BOSTON — A motion for judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) by an infringement defendant has been partially granted by a federal judge in Massachusetts, who declared the drug patents at issue invalid for having inadequate written description support and as insufficiently enabled.
October 02, 2023
Parties Agree To Dismiss Appeal In Dispute Over Cashless Gaming Patents

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Just days before planned Oct. 3 oral arguments, parties embroiled in a dispute over five patents directed to cashless casino gaming technology on Sept. 29 entered a voluntary stipulation to dismiss the case; their request was granted the same day by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
September 29, 2023
Certiorari Petition Over Prosecution Laches Goes Unanswered By Apple

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a long-running patent infringement dispute over digital rights management (DRM) technology, Apple Inc. waived its right to file a response in the U.S. Supreme Court to a patent holder’s petition for certiorari, in which it asks the high court to provide guidance on “the judge-made doctrine of prosecution laches.”
September 28, 2023
Centripetal Files Brief In Appeal Of Adverse Review Of Threat Detection Patent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Citing a malfunctioning electronic court filing (ECF) website, Centripetal Networks LLC has asked the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to excuse its filing of an appellant brief less than an hour after its deadline to do so in a dispute over a threat detection patent.
September 26, 2023
Biotech Company Says MRNA Detection Patent Should Be Canceled

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The maker of the molecular profiling “Visium” system says in a Sept. 25 petition for inter partes review (IPR) that a patent directed to the spatial detection of oligonucleotides, such as mRNAs, in samples of tissue by using spatially barcoded arrays was anticipated by prior art.
September 26, 2023
Panel Won’t Wade Into Disqualification Row Over Patent Licensing Testimony

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A bid for mandamus was denied Sept. 25 by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, leaving in place a ruling by an administrative law judge (ALJ) for the International Trade Commission (ITC) that bars the testimony of an attorney at an upcoming evidentiary hearing on whether a patent owner can satisfy the domestic industry requirement.
September 26, 2023
Claim Constructions By Texas Federal Judge Upheld By Federal Circuit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A stipulation that one patent directed to a mobile communication terminal with an alarm clock and another directed to an autofocus feature in a camera are both invalid will stand, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said Sept. 25.
September 25, 2023
Panel: Patent Settlement With Microsoft Dooms Later Infringement Claims

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals found Sept. 22 that a provision in a 2017 settlement between a patent owner and Microsoft Corp. reaches an allegedly infringing software program and website.
September 25, 2023
RELX Defends Patent Ineligibility Holding In Brief To Federal Circuit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A patent was correctly declared by a federal judge in New York to be directed to the abstract idea of “timekeeping for compensation,” and its implementation on a computer is not enough to transform the idea into a patent eligible application, RELX Inc., doing business as LexisNexis, maintains in an appellee brief filed with the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
September 21, 2023
Federal Circuit: Clotting Factor Patent Not Sufficiently Enabled

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In its second ruling in the case, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Sept. 20 affirmed findings by a fellow member of its own court, sitting by designation in a federal court in Delaware, that a patent allegedly infringed by the hemophilia drug Hemlibra is invalid for lack of enablement.
September 20, 2023
Patent Board: Change In Inventors Has ‘No Impact’ On Final Written Decisions

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In a Sept. 19 ruling on remand from the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board said that a correction of inventorship executed while the patent owner appealed two adverse final written decisions (FWDs) has no bearing on the FWDs.
September 20, 2023
Texas Federal Magistrate Judge: Meta Owes Patent Owner $138,004 In Costs

AUSTIN, Texas — A patent owner is entitled to recoup $138,004 in deposition and copying costs from Meta Platforms Inc., a federal magistrate judge in Texas has found nearly one year after a jury awarded $174,530,785 in connection with infringement by the “Facebook Live” feature.
September 19, 2023
New York Federal Judge: RPI Has Standing In Patent Row With Amazon

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A bid by Amazon.com Inc. for dismissal of allegations that it infringes a patent owned by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) has failed, with a federal judge in New York concluding that the school and a licensee of the technology have standing to pursue their claims.
September 18, 2023
Government Urges High Court To Uphold ‘Bedrock Principle’ Of Chevron Deference

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. secretary of Commerce, two National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) officials and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) (collectively, the government) urge the U.S. Supreme Court in a Sept. 15 brief to not overrule the doctrine of Chevron deference in a challenge to fishery regulations that were upheld by the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, writing that doing so could “cause disruption” to complex federal regulatory schemes.
September 18, 2023
Panel Articulates Standard For Comparison Prior Art In Design Patent Disputes

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Four years after vacating a summary judgment of infringement in a dispute over a patented heat reflecting material, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Sept. 15 vacated a jury’s verdict, on remand, of noninfringement in the same dispute.
September 18, 2023
Wal-Mart Prevails In Challenge Of Ceiling Light Retrofit Patent

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The Patent Trial and Appeal Board on Sept. 15 agreed with Wal-Mart Inc. that various claims of a patented kit that allows for the installation of a light emitting diode (LED) ceiling light in place of a previously installed fluorescent light fixture should be canceled.
September 15, 2023
Panel Confirms Patentability Of E-Cigarette Technology In Blow To Philip Morris

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Sept. 15 that substantial evidence supports a final written decision by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that rejected Philip Morris Products S.A.’s assertions that a patented e-cigarette would have been obvious to a person of skill in the art (POSITA).
September 15, 2023
Claim Added In Coverage Dispute Over Loss Of Patent Litigation Counsel

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Mostly granting two motions, a Tennessee federal magistrate judge on Sept. 14 implemented the parties’ proposed schedule in a coverage dispute over loss of patent litigation counsel, also allowing the plaintiffs to add allegations and a promissory estoppel claim.
September 13, 2023
After Review Denied, Patent Challenger Seeks PTO Director Intervention

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Citing the “rare” nature of a “split decision” by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, which denied institution of inter partes review (IPR) of a patented system for “cashing out” of a wager before an event has ended, the petitioner requested review by the director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.