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Mealey's Patents

  • November 19, 2024

    Judge Tosses Patent Suit Against Google Over Ineligible HVAC Claims

    OAKLAND, Calif. — A federal judge in California on Nov. 18 granted Google LLC’s motion to dismiss a patent infringement suit brought against it by a technology company over smart thermostat technology, holding that the company’s patent is directed at unpatentable abstract ideas.

  • November 19, 2024

    Federal Circuit: No Transfer Between Districts Of Smartwatch Patent Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel rejected a defendant company’s petition for a writ of mandamus to force a Texas federal judge to transfer a patent infringement case involving smartwatches to a California federal court.

  • November 18, 2024

    Supreme Court Won’t Take 2nd Pass At Patent Dispute With Government Over Mail

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Denying a patent holding company’s petition for a writ of certiorari on Nov. 18, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that it would not again hear a dispute between the company and the U.S. government over the government’s alleged infringement of the company’s patent on a technology system for more easily sorting return mail.

  • November 15, 2024

    Split Judgment Issued On Infringement, Invalidity Of Wastewater Treatment Patent

    NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Ruling on both parties’ summary judgment motions in a four-year-old patent infringement suit, a Connecticut federal judge found that the plaintiff established infringement of its patent related to wastewater treatment, but mixed findings on invalidity based on anticipation and obviousness related to prior art led to partial judgment denials for both parties.

  • November 14, 2024

    Judge Issues Preliminary Injunction Targeting Online Patent Infringers

    MIAMI — A company that owns a collection of health and beauty patents saw a Florida federal judge shut down the websites and freeze the assets of parties selling counterfeit, infringing products online as the judge granted the plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction.

  • November 14, 2024

    Federal Circuit Affirms Denial Of Transfer Of Patent Fight From Texas To New York

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Nov. 13 denied a defendant electronics company’s petition for a writ of mandamus directing a federal judge in Texas to transfer a patent infringement suit to a New York federal court; the panel agreed with the Texas judge that practical considerations favor keeping the case there.

  • November 12, 2024

    Judge: Tech Company Fails To Support Patent, Antitrust Claims Against Google

    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A federal judge in Florida dismissed most of a web development company’s suit against Google LLC, holding that the company failed to substantiate both its antitrust claims and patent infringement claim related to Google’s reverse phone number lookup technology.

  • November 12, 2024

    Wireless Tech Firm Has Standing To Sue AT&T, Others In Patent Disputes

    MARSHALL, Texas — A plaintiff that claims a license in two cellular technology patents and ownership of a third has sufficiently established that it has standing to pursue a consolidated patent infringement suit against AT&T Mobility LLC, T-Mobile US Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc., a Texas federal judge ruled as he adopted four reports and recommendations issued by a magistrate judge.

  • November 11, 2024

    Judge: No Stay In Patent Dispute Over Hotel Room Key Smart Phone App

    MARSHALL, Texas — A federal judge in Texas on Nov. 8 denied a defendant hotel chain company’s motion to stay a patent infringement case involving room key technology while a Virginia federal judge considers a related patent infringement case, holding that most applicable factors weigh against granting the stay.

  • November 11, 2024

    Federal Circuit Affirms 2 PTAB Decisions Invalidating Network Threat Patents

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Issuing rulings in two patent infringement disputes between the same parties pertaining to the same technology, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals found that in both cases the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) correctly concluded, after conducting inter partes reviews (IPRs), that the patents in suit were invalid as obvious in light of prior art.

  • November 11, 2024

    Judge: Patent Holder’s Patent Too Abstract To Be Protectible; Complaint Tossed

    PHOENIX — A federal judge in Arizona dismissed a patent holding company’s infringement claims against a sporting good company over its golf swing measurement device, agreeing with the defendant company that the claims contained within the patent are too abstract to be protectible.

  • November 08, 2024

    Judge: Counterclaims From Nokia In Patent Dispute Exceed Its Role As Intervener

    MARSHALL, Texas — A federal judge in Texas dismissed counterclaims brought by Nokia of America Corp. in a patent infringement suit in which it intervened; the judge said Nokia’s counterclaims exceeded Nokia’s stated intention only to assist in defending AT&T Corp. and several affiliated entities in the complaint.

  • November 07, 2024

    Judge: Drone Seller Didn’t Show Patent Claims Were Baseless For Restraining Order

    SEATTLE — A federal judge in Washington denied a request from a plaintiff company for a temporary restraining order (TRO) against defendant companies it said is bringing takedown actions against it in bad faith for alleged patent infringement; the judge said that the evidentiary record is still too thin to determine whether the defendant companies were acting in good faith.

  • November 06, 2024

    Federal Judge: No Jury Would Find Infringement In Patent Dispute Over Chairs

    PITTSBURGH — A federal judge in Pennsylvania on Nov. 5 dismissed with prejudice a patent infringement suit involving two furniture companies, holding that no reasonable jury could find that the defendant company infringed on the plaintiff company’s patents related to chair designs.

  • November 05, 2024

    Federal Circuit Affirms Summary Judgment, Recusal Denial In Tech Patent Cases

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a pair of opinions, a panel of judges in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed both a California federal judge’s entries of summary judgments of noninfringement in a set of related cases brought by a patent owner that accused multiple companies of infringing on a patent related to the automatic uploading of photos and the judge’s later order denying the patent owner’s motion for the judge’s recusal.

  • November 04, 2024

    U.S. High Court Won’t Hear Inventorship Correction Arguments From Patent Owner

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rejecting a patent holder’s petition for a writ of certiorari, the U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 4 let stand a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling affirming a Virginia federal judge’s order of a correction of inventorship for a patented container for transporting gaseous fluids.

  • November 01, 2024

    Judge Rejects Online Sports Betting Company’s Request For Fees In Patent Dispute

    WILMINGTON, Del. — While a federal judge in Delaware held that a defendant online sports gambling company is the prevailing party in a suit brought against it by a patent owner accusing it of infringement, he said the company is not owed attorney fees or other costs because the case is not “exceptional” as defined under the Patent Act.

  • October 31, 2024

    Federal Circuit Upholds PTAB’s Unpatentability Finding In Favor Of Vehicle Makers

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A panel of judges in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a finding by the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that an audio company’s claims are unpatentable in a dispute with a car manufacturer; the panel also denied as moot the company’s appeal of the PTAB’s finding of unpatentability in its dispute with a different manufacturer.

  • October 30, 2024

    Federal Circuit Rejects Mandamus Bid From Plastics Company In Patent Fight

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Days before a trial is set to begin in a Massachusetts federal court, a panel of the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Oct. 29 rejected in a per curiam order a plastics company’s bid for a writ of mandamus instructing the District Court to dismiss counterclaims by a defendant company in a patent dispute, holding that the plaintiff company did not satisfy the standard for a writ of mandamus.

  • October 30, 2024

    Federal Circuit Rejects Mandamus Bid From Plastics Company In Patent Fight

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Days before a trial is set to begin in a Massachusetts federal court, a panel of judges in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Oct. 29 rejected in a per curiam order a plastics company’s bid for a writ of mandamus instructing the trial court to dismiss counterclaims by a defendant company in a patent dispute, holding that the plaintiff company did not satisfy the standard for a writ of mandamus.

  • October 30, 2024

    Lenovo Can’t Dodge Patent Infringement Suits With Jurisdictional Arguments

    MARSHALL, Texas — Technology firms from Canada and Ireland may proceed with their patent infringement claims against Lenovo Group Limited, a Texas federal judge found, concluding that the computer manufacturer had sufficient contacts with Texas to confer jurisdiction over the Chinese firm and to overcome the defendant’s motions to dismiss.

  • October 28, 2024

    9th Circuit Says It Lacks Jurisdiction To Consider Patent Row Discovery Issue

    SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals dismissed Apple Inc.’s appeal of a California federal judge’s decision to grant an Australian patent holding company’s application for discovery for use in a yet-to-be-filed patent infringement suit in Germany; the panel held that it lacked appellate jurisdiction because the judge’s order was not final.

  • October 28, 2024

    Federal Circuit Vacates Denial Of Injunction In Standard-Essential Patent Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed a North Carolina federal judge’s decision to deny related technology companies an antisuit injunction to bar a patent holder from enforcing in the United States injunctions the patent holder obtained in Colombia and Brazil related to standard-essential patents (SEPs), finding that whether the patent holder complied with obligations related to the SEPs is a question before the court.

  • October 25, 2024

    Federal Circuit Majority Says Comcast Didn’t Infringe On Online Phone Patent

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A panel of judges in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Oct. 24 affirmed a federal judge’s entry of judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) finding that Comcast Cable Communications LLC did not infringe on one of two patents related to internet-based phone calls, but the panel disagreed on whether the judge should have granted Comcast’s post-trial JMOL request on the other patent.

  • October 23, 2024

    Container Computing Suit Against Hewlett Packard Dismissed As To 1 Patent

    MARSHALL, Texas — Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. (HPE) saw its motion to dismiss a patent infringement suit against it partially granted, with a Texas federal judge determining that the patent holder failed to sufficiently plead either constructive or actual notice for one of two container computing patents asserted in its complaint.