Mealey's Patents
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July 16, 2024
PTAB Panel Reverses Examiner’s Rejection Of Robot Gripping Method
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A patent examiner erred in rejecting patent claims for a method of optimizing an automated process used to allow robots to grip objects from a conveyor belt because the references cited by the examiner failed to identify two specific elements of the method, a Patent Trial and Appeal Board panel found in reversing the examiner’s findings on July 15.
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July 15, 2024
Federal Circuit Affirms PTAB’s Obviousness Finding In Dispute Over Agricultural Patent
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) did not err in finding that a patent for counteracting certain biological processes in plants was obvious because it adequately showed that all aspects of the patent were disclosed in prior art, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found July 12 in affirming the PTAB’s final written decision.
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July 15, 2024
In Stem Cell Patent Dispute, More Facts Needed About Medical-Practitioner Immunity
FORT WORTH, Texas — The operator of two medical clinics where adipose-deprived stem cell therapies are performed is not entitled to medical-practitioner immunity from patent infringement claims at this stage because multiple questions of facts and law must be determined before such a determination can be made, a Texas federal judge found in denying the operator’s motion to dismiss.
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July 12, 2024
Developer Of Pokémon Go Gets Summary Judgment In Augmented-Reality Patent Case
SAN FRANCISCO — The developer of Pokémon Go and another augmented-reality (AR) video game is entitled to summary judgment on claims of patent infringement brought against it by the owner of an AR patent because the patent claims are not patent eligible, a California federal judge found in granting the developer’s motion for summary judgment.
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July 12, 2024
Pesticide Manufacturer Fails To Get Restraining Order Or Injunction In Patent Case
PHILADELPHIA — A pesticide manufacturer is not entitled to a temporary restraining order or a preliminary injunction because it failed to show that it is likely to succeed on the patent infringement claims it brought against a competitor, a Pennsylvania federal judge found in denying the manufacturer’s request for injunctive relief.
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July 11, 2024
Patent Claims For Fibromyalgia Treatment Method Were Not Obvious, PTAB Panel Says
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A patent examiner erred in rejecting as obvious a patent application for a fibromyalgia treatment that uses an antihistamine because the examiner failed to show that the referenced prior arts taught that the disease is induced by histamine, a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PATB) panel found in reversing the examiner’s rejection.
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July 10, 2024
Maker Of Body-Contouring Devices Gets Default Judgment In Patent And Trademark Row
NEW YORK — The manufacturer of body-contouring machines is entitled to default judgment and damages on its claims of patent infringement, trademark infringement and unfair competition brought against a salon that advertises nearly identical machines because it properly alleged and substantiated its claims, a New York federal judge found in granting the manufacturer’s motion for default judgment.
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July 10, 2024
Patent Examiner Failed To Show Prior Arts Taught Or Suggested Wind Energy System
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A patent examiner erred in rejected a patent application for a wind energy system that connects wind turbines to a cable network that transmits power generated by the wind turbines because the examiner failed to show how prior arts taught or suggested the specific system, a Patent Trial and Appeal Board panel found in reversing the examiner’s rejection.
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July 09, 2024
In Financial Patent Dispute, N.J. Federal Judge Issues Claim Construction Order
TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey federal judge constructed the meaning of six patent terms in a dispute over whether a financial services company’s website infringed two patents that disclose a method for online currency transactions.
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July 08, 2024
Electronic Document Signature Is Not A Patentable Idea, Federal Circuit Rules
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal trial court did not err in finding that a system and method for embedding a written signature into a secure electronic document is unpatentable because the idea is directed to an abstract idea and fails to contain and inventive concept, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in affirming the trial court’s judgment.
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July 01, 2024
COMMENTARY: Non-Competes No More? What Businesses Should Do To Protect Trade Secrets And Confidential Information Now
By Geri Haight and Danielle Bereznay
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July 03, 2024
PTAB Panel Agrees With Examiner That Cancer Treatment Method Was Obvious
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A patent examiner did not err in finding that a method for treating cancer was obvious in light of two previous publications because the publications described methods for treating different types of cancers with similar compounds, a Patent and Trademark Office panel found in affirming the examiner’s rejection of the patent application on July 2.
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July 03, 2024
Wooden Liquor Barrel Was Anticipated By Older Patent, Split Board Panel Finds
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A patent examiner did not err in rejecting a patent application for a wooden liquor bottle that ages liquor by allowing gas to flow into it because a previous patent for a wooden demijohn anticipated the claimed invention, the majority of a Patent Trial and Appeals Board (PTAB) panel found in affirming the examiner’s findings on July 2.
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July 01, 2024
Patent Board Agrees With Examiner That Watermelon Popsicles For Dogs Are Obvious
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In light of two former patents, a patent application and an online recipe, a Patent Trial and Appeals Board panel agreed in a June 28 opinion with a patent examiner’s findings that a patent application describing electrolyte-replenishing, watermelon-based popsicles for dogs was obvious.
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June 28, 2024
High Court Overrules Chevron Deference, Changes Standard For Regulatory Review
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 28 voted 6-3 to overrule the doctrine of Chevron deference as incompatible with the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) in two cases arising out of federal fishing regulations, changing governing precedent for federal courts reviewing agencies’ regulatory actions.
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June 27, 2024
Federal Circuit: Patent Defendant Not Entitled To Fees After Voluntary Dismissal
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A company that produces contactless data carrying technology that is used in federal identification documents is not entitled to attorney fees in a patent infringement case because the claims against it were voluntarily dismissed after the plaintiff removed the claims from its amended complaint, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in affirming a judgment from the U.S. Court of Federal Claims on June 26.
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June 25, 2024
Counterclaims Will Continue In Patent Dispute Over Apple Watch’s Visual Designs
NEW YORK — Counterclaims of invalidity and noninfringement filed by Apple Inc. in response to patent infringement claims relating to certain visual designs used in the Apple Watch can go forward because Apple has met its pleading requirements, a New York federal judge found in refusing to dismiss the company’s counterclaims.
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June 24, 2024
Panel: Mobile Gambling Patents Abstract And Fail To Contain Inventive Concept
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge did not err in dismissing patent infringement claims regarding a series of patents that disclose a method for placing gambling bets from a remote location because the patents are based on an abstract idea and do not contain an inventive concept, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in affirming June 21.
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June 24, 2024
High Court Again Extends Response Deadline In Review Of 9th Circuit FCA Reversal
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 21 granted a district court qui tam plaintiff’s second request for additional time to respond to pharmaceutical companies’ petition that seeks review of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling reversing the district court’s dismissal of a suit accusing the companies of violating the False Claims Act (FCA) by artificially inflating drug prices.
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June 21, 2024
German Companies Claim Microsoft Infringed Patents Through Its AI Infrastructure
MARSHALL, Texas — Microsoft Corp. infringed three patents by using certain computing systems that allow for artificial intelligence (AI) computer programs to run more efficiently, two German companies allege in a complaint filed in Texas federal court.
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June 20, 2024
Claim Construction In Communications Patent Case Was Proper, Federal Circuit Says
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) claim construction in a dispute over certain methods for controlling transmission power in communication systems and found that the PTAB correctly gave the claim language its plain meaning.
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June 19, 2024
Federal Circuit: Injunction Over Trade Secrets Was Not Given Proper Analysis
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal trial court abused its discretion in granting a preliminary injunction to a company that alleges that one of its competitors used trade secrets in developing an insulin patch because the trial court did not properly consider relevant factors such as the applicable statute of limitations and the proper definition of a trade secret, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals found in reversing the trial court’s judgment.
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June 19, 2024
Federal Circuit: PTAB Used Wrong Construction In Dispute Over Control Devices
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) used an erroneous claim construction in rejecting an obviousness challenge filed by television manufacturer Roku Inc., which was sued for allegedly infringing upon a patent for enhanced appliance control methods, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals found June 18 in vacating PTAB’s final written decision (FWD).
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June 18, 2024
Judgment Requiring Inhaler Patents To Be Delisted Stayed For 30 Days
TRENTON, N.J. — While stopping short of granting a request to stay his recent order that a drugmaker must delist five patents from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s “Orange Book” pending resolution of an appeal, a federal judge in New Jersey has agreed to put the judgment on hold for 30 days.
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June 18, 2024
Federal Circuit Judge Stands By Nonobviousness Holding In Drug Dispute
WILMINGTON, Del. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals judge, visiting in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, said that a recent decision by a panel of his court that reversed and remanded findings that a patented schizophrenia drug is nonobvious won’t prompt him to revisit his own findings in a separate case that confirmed the same formulation as patentable.