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Mealey's Patents

  • 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.

  • October 23, 2024

    10th Circuit: Covenant Not To Sue Did Not Obviously Apply To Canadian Patent

    DENVER — The 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a Colorado federal magistrate judge’s findings in a contract dispute stemming from claims of patent infringement, holding that the magistrate judge committed no error in finding that a covenant not to sue between two competing fuel supply companies may not apply to the relevant Canadian patent; a federal jury held that the defendant company violated the covenant.

  • October 23, 2024

    Some Counterclaims Axed As Improperly Pleaded In Stem Cell Therapy Patent Row

    LOS ANGELES — Partly granting a biotechnology firm’s motion to dismiss a rival’s counterclaims against it in a dispute over stem cell therapy patents, a California federal judge found that two noninfringement claims failed to identify the relevant products or plead sufficient facts.

  • October 21, 2024

    Federal Circuit: More Claim Construction Needed In Patent Row Over Utility Lines

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A panel of the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said Oct. 18 that a California federal judge wrongly dismissed a complaint stemming from a dispute over patents related to buried utility lines, holding that the judge must conduct a “fuller claim-construction analysis” to “determine the scope of the dispute claim language” for the plaintiff company’s claim of patent infringement.

  • October 18, 2024

    Federal Circuit Reverses Judge’s Dismissal Of Patent Suit Involving Debit Cards

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Connecticut was wrong to dismiss a patent owner’s complaint that it brought against a health care company for allegedly marketing Mastercard and VISA products that infringe its patent, a panel of judges in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held, saying the judge erred while reviewing “a license agreement and failed to take all of the complaint’s well-pled factual allegations as true.”

  • October 18, 2024

    Judge Approves Stay Of Patent Claims Over Neck Fan While Parties Prep Settlement

    CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois granted a joint motion from the holder of patents related to a fan device that hangs around a wearer’s neck and an electronics company it accused of infringing its patents to stay the infringement case while the parties prepare a stipulation for dismissal in the wake of a settlement agreement.

  • October 17, 2024

    Drone Maker’s 2nd Patent Infringement Suit Barred By Res Judicata

    SALT LAKE CITY — Granting a motion to dismiss by a drone technology firm, a Utah federal judge found that a second patent infringement lawsuit brought by a rival drone company was barred as impermissible claim splitting because the plaintiffs’ infringement claim over a third patent could have been brought in its nearly identical suit against the same defendant over the same technology.

  • October 17, 2024

    Federal Circuit Vacates Noninfringement Finding In Semiconductor Patent Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Oct. 16 vacated a California federal judge’s finding of noninfringement in a patent dispute over a type of semiconductor light source, holding that the order was based on an improper term construction.

  • October 16, 2024

    Patent Holder’s Infringement Claims About Microscope Slides Survive Dismissal Bid

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A federal judge in Delaware denied a defendant laboratory company’s motion to dismiss a plaintiff patent holder’s infringement complaint against it, finding that the plaintiff company adequately substantiated its claim that the defendant infringed on patents related to the analysis of microscope slides to survive the motion.

  • October 16, 2024

    Federal Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Patent Holder’s Suit Against Amazon

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Maryland was correct to dismiss a patent holder’s suit against Amazon.com Inc. and the home security technology company it owns, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held Oct. 15, affirming both the judge’s finding that the patent holder brought his claims in an incorrect venue and that he failed to substantiate his claim of direct infringement.

  • October 15, 2024

    Parties In Neck Fan Patent Dispute Request Stay While Settlement Is Finalized

    CHICAGO — The holder of patents related to a fan device that hangs around a wearer’s neck and an electronics company it accused of infringing its patents filed a joint motion to stay the infringement case in Illinois federal court, indicating in their Oct. 14 motion that they had reached a settlement agreement.

  • October 15, 2024

    Federal Judge Dismisses Most Trademark, Patent Claims For Lack Of Jurisdiction

    LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California dismissed most of the claims brought by a pro se plaintiff who accused a blind manufacturing company of infringing on marks he held, finding that the plaintiff failed to establish personal jurisdiction or that the court was the appropriate venue.

  • October 15, 2024

    Researcher’s Contract Claims Over Penn’s Patent Policy Mostly Survive Dismissal

    PHILADELPHIA — A former University of Pennsylvania (Penn) employee’s claims over royalties to which she is purportedly entitled under the university’s patent policy because of her work on a gene therapy patent were largely deemed adequately alleged by a Pennsylvania federal judge, who found that additional information and discovery were necessary to further consider the university's statute of limitations and sufficiency of pleadings arguments.

  • October 11, 2024

    Federal Circuit Vacates Claim Construction, Summary Judgment, Fees In Patent Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Nevada erred in construing the claim “automatically detecting” in a patent dispute between two technology companies, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals said Oct. 10; the panel reversed the entry of summary judgment of noninfringement in the defendant company’s favor and vacated the award of nearly $6.9 million in attorney fees.

  • October 11, 2024

    7th Circuit: New Issues On Appeal Doom Claims For Intellectual Property Royalties

    CHICAGO — The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed an Indiana federal judge’s dismissal of a breach of contract suit brought by a plaintiff manufacturer who claimed that a defendant manufacturer allegedly failed to pay royalties for a lung-expansion therapy device required by a licensing agreement; the panel noted that the plaintiff company predicated its arguments on appeal on a new theory not raised before the district court.

  • October 08, 2024

    High Court Won’t Consider Manuals’ Exclusion From Prior Art Analysis

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 7 denied a patent owner’s petition for a writ of certiorari, declining to hear arguments that the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals erred when it held that the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board wrongly found that manuals related to a meat and cheese slicer were not publicly available and that other prior art failed to disclose two limitations.

  • October 08, 2024

    Supreme Court Denies ‘Hypermedia’ Method Patent Owner’s Certiorari Petition

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 7 denied a patent owner’s petition for a writ of certiorari, leaving in place a February decision from the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that upheld a California federal judge’s finding of ineligibility for the company’s patent related to a content distribution system.