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Mealey's Patents

  • March 28, 2025

    Federal Circuit: Costs Incurred In Hatch-Waxman Litigation Are Deductible

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a precedential opinion, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held that the U.S. Court of Federal Claims did not err when it held that a generic drugmaker could deduct costs it incurred while defending itself from patent claims under the Hatch-Waxman Act as ordinary business expenses, rejecting arguments made on appeal by the federal government.

  • March 28, 2025

    Federal Circuit: Patent Holder’s Claims Against U.S. Precluded By Earlier Suit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed the decision of a judge in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims dismissing patent infringement claims against the federal government; the panel agreed that a pro se plaintiff-appellant failed to show infringement of patents involving the detection of chemical and other hazards.

  • March 27, 2025

    Federal Circuit: Meta Showed Obviousness Of Xerox Messaging Patent

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) rightly held that all challenged claims in a patent held by Xerox Corp. related to messaging are unpatentable as obvious, affirming the results of an inter partes review (IPR) proceeding brought by Meta Platforms Inc.

  • March 27, 2025

    Invalidity Of Imaging Device Patents Affirmed By Federal Circuit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said it saw no error in a finding from the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that held all challenged claims in a series of patents related to medical imaging unpatentable, holding that the appellant patent holder failed to show that the board erred in construing relevant patent claims during inter partes review (IPR) proceedings before the board.

  • March 27, 2025

    2nd Circuit: Judge Missed Confusion Analysis In Lego Figure Injunction Order

    NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held March 26 that it cannot determine whether a Connecticut federal judge was right to rule that a toy company’s redesigned figurines still ran afoul of a preliminary injunction previously ordered in an intellectual property dispute with Lego A/S and affiliated Lego entities (collectively, Lego).

  • March 26, 2025

    Federal Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Patent, False Ad Claims In Tape Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals largely affirmed an Ohio federal judge’s finding that a patent describing a floor-marking tape product was anticipated by a prior art reference and the judge’s decision to grant summary judgment in favor of defendant entities on false advertising claims.

  • March 25, 2025

    Supreme Court: No Certiorari In Dispute Over Amazon’s Patent Evaluation Process

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court rejected on March 24 a patent holder’s petition for a writ of certiorari, leaving in place a finding from the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the initiation of an evaluation under the Amazon Patent Evaluation Express (APEX) system — which triggers the potential removal of an allegedly infringing product listing from Amazon.com if a seller fails to respond — constitutes a purposeful direction of activities at the seller’s forum state sufficient to confer specific personal jurisdiction.

  • March 25, 2025

    Supreme Court Rejects Another Challenge To Federal Circuit’s Rule 36

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court won’t consider whether a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals practice of affirming findings from the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) in one-word affirmations violates a section of the Patent Act requiring the issuance of an opinion; the court on March 24 rejected a patent owner’s petition for a writ of certiorari.

  • March 24, 2025

    High Court Won’t Hear Patent Holder’s Challenge To Federal Circuit Rule 36

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 24 rejected a patent holder’s petition for a writ of certiorari, turning down the request to consider whether the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was wrong for applying a local rule that allows it to affirm holdings from federal judges and agencies in single-word rulings; as such, the high court left untouched a federal judge’s finding that defendant banking organizations did not infringe on the company’s patents.

  • March 24, 2025

    Supreme Court Won’t Hear Estoppel Arguments In Earphone Patent Fight

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 24 rejected a petition for a writ of certiorari from the assignee of wireless earphone patents; the company had argued that the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals inappropriately adopted “a novel and expansive rule of collateral estoppel” when it held that two appeals it brought were moot because it failed to appeal a federal trial court order holding that the patent claims at issue were invalid in a separate case.

  • March 21, 2025

    Home Depot Showed LED Device Patent Claim Invalid, Federal Circuit Says

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) was wrong to hold that Home Depot USA Inc. failed to show the invalidity of one of three challenged claims in inter partes review (IPR) proceedings over another company’s LED lighting device patent; the panel said substantial evidence did not support the board’s finding.

  • March 21, 2025

    Federal Circuit Agrees Company Failed To Show Invalidity Of Lighting Patent

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) was correct to find that a petitioner lighting company failed to establish obviousness as to a claim in a patent for a recessed lighting system, holding that the company’s arguments are based in part on an attempt to raise new unpatentability grounds on appeal.

  • March 20, 2025

    Federal Circuit: No Review Of ITC’s Sanction Denial In Dropped Patent Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said in a brief precedential opinion that it could not review a decision by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) refusing to enter a show cause order sua sponte on sanctions in a lawsuit over the importing of allegedly infringing semiconductor parts that was eventually dropped by the plaintiff company.

  • March 19, 2025

    Magistrate Denies Motion To Compel Production Of Source Code In Patent Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A California federal magistrate judge denied in part a motion to compel discovery in a digital rights patent infringement suit, denying the motion to compel production of ground server source code and finding that the patent holder’s “one-sentence argument” “as to relevance does not satisfy its burden.”

  • March 19, 2025

    Federal Circuit Agrees Location Data Patent Obvious Due To Prior Art

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a finding from the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that an appellant company’s patent on location-based services for mobile devices was unpatentable as obvious; Apple Inc. sought inter partes review (IPR) of the company’s patent.

  • March 19, 2025

    PTAB’s Rejection Of Alternate Claims In Fracking Patent Row Affirmed

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed findings of the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that proposed alternate claims in two patents related to fracking were unpatentable as indefinite.

  • March 18, 2025

    Federal Circuit Agrees Location Data Patent Obvious Due To Prior Art

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a finding from the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that an appellant company’s patent on location-based services for mobile devices was unpatentable as obvious; Apple Inc. sought inter partes review (IPR) of the company’s patent.

  • March 14, 2025

    Federal Circuit Affirms Judge’s Acceptance Of Patent Reissuance For Medication

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on March 13 held that a biopharmaceutical patent holder was entitled to a patent term extension (PTE) for a reissued patent, disagreeing with arguments from generic drug manufacturers about how the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) calculated the date for patent reissuance.

  • March 13, 2025

    Federal Circuit Rejects Rehearing Bid In E-Cig Patent Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals rejected requests for rehearing from electronic cigarette entity R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. (RJR), leaving in place a partially split panel’s affirmation of a jury’s award of more than $95 million against the company for infringing on another company’s pod-based tobacco vapor technology.

  • March 13, 2025

    Federal Circuit: PTAB Didn’t Consider All Evidence In Metal Flake Patent Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held that the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) failed to consider the full evidence on the record during postgrant review proceedings in a dispute related to a type of metal flakes used in manufacturing; the panel vacated the board’s finding that the appellant failed to show that any of the challenged patent claims were unpatentable.

  • March 12, 2025

    Federal Circuit Affirms Invalidity Of Wearable Tech Patents, Moots ITC Proceedings

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel rejected a wearable technology patent holder’s argument that the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) violated its discovery obligations before holding that all challenged claims in the company’s patents were invalid during inter partes review (IPR) proceedings brought by Apple Inc., affirming the invalidity finding.

  • March 07, 2025

    Federal Circuit OKs Rejection Of ImmunoGen’s Cancer Patent Application

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on March 6 affirmed a Virginia federal judge’s finding that a pharmaceutical company’s patent application for a treatment for ovarian and other cancers contains “‘fatally indefinite and obvious’” claims, nearly three years after the Federal Circuit vacated the judge’s grant of summary judgment against the company.

  • March 07, 2025

    Federal Circuit: Patent Applicant’s Constitutional Argument Comes Too Late

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 6 affirmed a Virginia federal judge’s grant of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) motion to dismiss a tech company’s complaint seeking review of the rejection of its patent application, holding that the company forfeited its arguments based on the appointments clause of the U.S. Constitution.

  • March 07, 2025

    Photo Uploading Patent Holder Tells High Court Recusal Necessary

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel was wrong to uphold a federal judge’s denial of a patent owner’s recusal motion in an infringement dispute with Fitbit LLC and multiple other entities, the patent owner tells the U.S. Supreme Court in a petition for certiorari; the patent owner argues that the judge and her spouse’s alleged economic connections to Google LLC, a party to the suit, make recusal necessary.

  • March 07, 2025

    Federal Circuit Rules Again On IPR Proceedings Between USAA, PNC

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Once again, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed findings from the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that all claims of a patent owned by the United Services Automobile Association (USAA) related to remote depositing of checks were unpatentable as obvious.