Mealey's Patents
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March 12, 2024
Crocs Must Face Defamation Claims In Colorado Over Patent Press Release
DENVER — Allegations by a Canadian shoe seller and former patent infringement defendant that it was defamed in a press release by Crocs Inc. that touted a settlement of their longstanding litigation as a “judgment of infringement” were deemed plausible on March 11 by a federal judge in Colorado.
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March 11, 2024
Board Issues New Ground Of Rejection For Proposed ‘Medical Avatar’ Patent
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The Patent Trial and Appeal Board on March 11 disagreed with an examiner that all 21 claims of an application to patent a “method of using a simulation of a patient’s anatomy for engaging the patient” are anticipated by an application to patent a “medical avatar” but said that three of those claims are nonetheless rendered obvious by the same reference.
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March 11, 2024
Patent Owner Wins Interest, But No Enhancement Of $42M Jury Award
MINNEAPOLIS — A federal judge in Minnesota on March 8 denied a bid by the owner of a lighted artificial tree patent for enhanced damages after its win at trial in January.
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March 08, 2024
Trade Secret Disclosed In Patent Is Public Knowledge, Interlocutory Appellant Says
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In corrected opening and response briefs in an interlocutory appeal of a Massachusetts federal judge’s preliminary injunction, two makers of competing insulin patch pumps square off on several issues including whether purported trade secrets were made public in filings with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO).
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March 08, 2024
Panel Rejects Finding That Patent Limitations Are Contradictory, Indefinite
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The owner of a patented rechargeable lithium-ion battery has won reinstatement of infringement litigation against a competitor by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which ruled that a federal judge in Texas wrongly declared claim language indefinite.
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March 07, 2024
Petitioner Seeks Burden Shift For Rule 105 Requests During Patent Prosecution
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Crossing the “PH1VNA” and “PH1D84” corn varieties to arrive at a newly claimed “1PFHC43” corn variety was “well within the level of skill for a person of ordinary skill” in 2021, the effective date of a patent issued in 2023 to Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc., a competitor tells the Patent Trial and Appeal Board in a March 6 petition for covered business method (CBM) review.
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March 07, 2024
Apple, Corephotonics Jointly Move To Terminate Multiple Inter Partes Reviews
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — On remand from the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Apple Inc. and Corephotonics Inc. have reached a confidential settlement and jointly moved March 6 to terminate five inter partes reviews (IPRs) pending before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
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March 07, 2024
Summary Judgment That Graco Baby Swing Doesn’t Infringe Patent Will Stand
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A bid by an inventor to overturn a California federal judge’s finding that Graco Inc. and its parent company do not infringe a patented infant soothing device failed March 6, with a summary affirmance by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
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March 06, 2024
IBM Largely Loses Appeal In Clash With Chewy Over Online Advertising Patents
WASHINGTON, D.C. — An appeal by International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) of a New York federal judge’s summary judgment of patent noninfringement and ineligibility was partly successful March 5 when the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said Chewy Inc. must face allegations that it infringed a single claim of a patent directed to online advertising.
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March 06, 2024
YouTube Video Of Waffle Sandwich Dooms Design Patent Plans, Panel Says
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Efforts by two inventors to patent an ornamental design for a waffle featuring one smooth side were properly rejected as anticipated by a widely disseminated video on YouTube, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said March 6; in a separate opinion issued the same day, the same panel upheld a rejection of a similar utility patent application, this time on obviousness grounds.
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March 06, 2024
Board Must Reconsider Amendments To 2 Patent Claims Proposed By Pfizer
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a review of five inter partes reviews (IPRs) by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of patented pneumococcal vaccine technology, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled March 5 that although the board correctly deemed 45 claims obvious to a person of skill in the art (POSITA) and properly denied a bid by Pfizer Inc. to add five substitute claims, it must revisit its denial of two other newly proposed claims.
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March 06, 2024
Parties Spar Over When Obviousness Type Double Patenting Doctrine Applies
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a recent reply brief filed with the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, a group of patentees urges rejection of a suggestion by various appellees that the obviousness double patenting (ODP) inquiry can be reduced to a comparison of patent expiration dates.
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March 05, 2024
Appellants Drop Dispute With Board Over Application Of ‘Fintiv Factors’ To PGRs
WASHINGTON, D.C — An unopposed motion to dismiss an appeal of a Virginia federal judge’s determination that jurisdiction is lacking over a challenge to the “Fintiv instructions” — a set of nonexclusive factors considered by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board when deciding whether to institute post-grant review (PGR) of certain patents — was granted March 4 by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
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March 05, 2024
Google Beats Bid By Patent Owner To Lift Stay Of Texas Litigation
AUSTIN, Texas — On the heels of winning cancellation or disclaimer of 38 of 40 claims it challenged in an inter partes review (IPR) of two patents, Google LLC’s stated intention to appeal the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s findings for at least one of the two claims that survived IPR means a stay of Texas infringement litigation will stay in place, a federal judge there ruled March 4.
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March 04, 2024
Patent Owner Prevails In Appeal Of Adverse Inter Partes Review
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a March 4 ruling, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said final written decisions (FWDs) by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board canceling all claims of four patents relating to closure of an incontinence diaper relied on “unsupported assumptions,” necessitating vacatur and remand.
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March 01, 2024
Panel Reinstates Contract Case Against MasterCard Over Patent Royalties
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a case the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said “illustrates the importance of carefully reviewing the language in a covenant not to sue when entering a license agreement,” the court has again reversed summary judgment in favor of MasterCard International Inc., which stands accused of breaching its contract with a patent owner.
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March 01, 2024
Machine Company Tells High Court Petition Does Not Necessitate Rethinking Alice
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals correctly found that a competing machine company’s patent discloses an abstract process that is not patentable, a respondent tells the U.S. Supreme Court in a brief opposing a petition for certiorari that raises multiple questions about the abstract idea standard, contending that the case does not provide a vehicle for the court to reconsider the decade-old standard in Alice Corp. Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank Int’l.
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February 28, 2024
Circuit Company Says USB Connection Patent Would Have Been Obvious
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In a Feb. 27 petition for inter partes review (IPR), a maker of microcontroller, mixed-signal, analog and flash integrated circuits seeks cancellation of dozens of claims of a patented method of connecting an upstream and downstream universal serial bus (USB).
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February 27, 2024
Patent Owner: Prior Art Relied On By Instacart In Inter Partes Review Fails
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Two references cited by Maplebear Inc., doing business as Instacart, in a recently instituted inter partes review (IPR) do not qualify as prior art because they became publicly accessible after the priority date to which the patent is entitled, the patent owner tells the Patent Trial and Appeal Board in a Feb. 26 response.
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February 27, 2024
Clear, Convincing Evidence Of Inequitable Conduct Lacking In Patent Row
WASHINGTON, D.C. — While a jury verdict that Amazon.com did not infringe a voice processing patent was upheld Feb. 26 by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, the panel joined a Texas federal judge in finding that the patent in suit was not proven unenforceable.
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February 26, 2024
Philips Defeats Patent Challenge Again When Panel Rejects Intel Appeal
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Findings by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that Intel Corp. failed to establish obviousness of a patented method of authenticating distance measurements have been affirmed by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which ruled, among other things, that the board adequately addressed the grounds presented for inter partes review (IPR).
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February 23, 2024
Board, In Instituting IPR, Says Task Group Submission Was Publicly Accessible
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A patent directed to an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) network will face scrutiny from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, which instituted inter partes review (IPR) in response to a petition by Intel Corp.
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February 21, 2024
Ohio Federal Judge Denies Dueling Motions To Exclude Experts In Patent Dispute
TOLEDO, Ohio — An Ohio federal judge denied two motions to exclude opposing expert witnesses testifying on how a person of ordinary skill in the art would view the patent infringement dispute involving the design of metal doors.
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February 21, 2024
Method For Learning Sex, Health Of Chick Would Be Obvious, Petitioner Says
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A patent issued in 2020 that teaches an imaging technique for determining the sex and health of a recently hatched chick should be canceled, petitioners tell the Patent Trial and Appeal Board in a Feb. 20 request for inter partes review (IPR).
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February 20, 2024
Inventor’s Challenge To Patent Board Reliance On Non-Expert Testimony Fails
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 20 revealed in its order list that it will not take up a petition for a writ of certiorari by the inventor of a patented method and apparatus for controlling a ventilator that was deemed invalid by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.