Mealey's Patents : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Patents

April 23, 2024
Briefing Complete In Row Over Digital Imaging Patents Declared Ineligible

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An appellee brief by Google LLC “incorrectly diminishes” the role of a patent specification in “providing guidance” on whether the claims of the patent “recite a computing improvement” and in so doing “manufactures its own facts as a substitute,” the owner of four invalidated digital image processing patents tells the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in an April 22 reply brief.
April 22, 2024
Rejecting Recommendation, Delaware Federal Judge Deems Patent Ineligible

WILMINGTON, Del. — An objection to a February report and recommendation by a federal magistrate judge was sustained April 19 by a Delaware federal judge, who agreed with a defendant that the patent it stands accused of infringing recites the abstract idea of “communicating identification information using an image” and lacks sufficient inventiveness at step two of the eligibility inquiry.
April 22, 2024
Vanda Bid For Clarification On Obviousness Standard Turned Away By High Court

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on April 22 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari by Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc., which sought to undo findings that four patents relating to the use of tasimelteon to treat the sleep-wake disorder known as “non-24” would have been obvious to a person of skill in the art (POSITA).
April 19, 2024
Aptiv Says Patent Was ‘Designed To Resolve’ Deficiencies In Cited Art

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Global technology company Aptiv Technologies AG is defending its patented module, used in Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which allows a mobile device to connect to an automotive system having a Universal Serial Bus (USB) hub, urging the Patent Trial and Appeal Board on April 18 to deny a petition for inter partes review (IPR).
April 19, 2024
California Federal Judge Limits Damages, Patents In Aprisa Patent Litigation

SAN FRANCISCO — Siemens Industry Software Inc. has secured a finding that it did not infringe one of two patents asserted against it by a rival, as well as a determination that failure by the patent owner to mark its products and present evidence of foreign sales will limit the reasonable royalty calculation at an upcoming trial over the “Aprisa” place-and-route platform.
April 19, 2024
Patent Row Over Coca-Cola ‘Freestyle’ Dispenser Back At Federal Circuit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The owner of a patented beverage dispensing system that saw its infringement case against Coca-Cola Co. reinstated by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in May 2020 is again seeking appellate review, this time of what it calls a “frankly disturbing” summary judgment ruling by a Georgia federal judge on remand.
April 18, 2024
Natera Method For Genetic Mutation Analysis Should Be Canceled, Petitioner Says

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Despite recognition that three steps outlined in a Natera Inc. patent for analyzing mutations in cell-free DNA were not new on their own or in combination, a patent examiner wrongly allowed the claims based on two amendments that would also be obvious to a person skilled in the art (POSA), a petitioner for inter partes review (IPR) maintains in an April 17 filing with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
April 17, 2024
2 Claims Of 2 Fortinet Patents Declared Ineligible By California Federal Judge

SAN FRANCISCO — A defendant won partial judgment on the pleadings on April 16 when a California federal judge agreed that two claims of two Fortinet cybersecurity patents recite the abstract ideas of disabling security for trusted communication and performing tasks in a sequential order, while both lack sufficient inventiveness to be considered patent eligible.
April 17, 2024
Toyota: Automobile User Profiles Were Already Taught By Prior Art

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A petition for inter partes review (IPR) by Toyota Motor Corp. takes aim at a patent that purportedly was the first to teach setting and transferring a user profile, including preferred radio, seat and temperature settings, to a “compatible” vehicle.
April 15, 2024
Corrected Judgment Entered After $525M Awarded In Patent Case

CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois on April 12 entered a corrected judgment two days after jurors awarded a plaintiff $525 million in damages for infringement by Amazon Web Services Inc. of three information storage and retrieval patents.
April 15, 2024
Patent Covering Toddler Dining Mat Could Be Unenforceable, Panel Rules

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 12 said a cross-appellant was wrongly cleared by a Louisiana federal judge of allegations that it committed inequitable conduct before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO).
April 12, 2024
Federal Circuit Upholds Outcome Of Bench Trial In Antibiotic Patent Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A final judgment by a federal judge in Delaware directing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to delay approval of generic rifaximin until three patents covering the antibiotic Xifaxan expire was affirmed April 11 by a three-judge panel of the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
April 12, 2024
Board Win For Netflix Preserved After Panel Agreed Patent Is Obvious

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A final written decision (FWD) by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that canceled various claims of a patented method for switching network connections during the receipt of digital media content will not be disturbed, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled April 12.
April 10, 2024
Pharma Companies Seek High Court Review Of Ruling Reversing FCA Suit Dismissal

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Pharmaceutical companies accused of violating the False Claims Act (FCA) by artificially inflating drug prices filed a petition for writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking review of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ reversal of a district court’s dismissal of a qui tam suit against them, arguing, in part, that the panel “created a circuit split by holding that a relator can avoid the public disclosure bar by ‘stitching together’ public disclosures.”
April 10, 2024
Siding With Google, Board Says Ad Insertion Method, System Patent Is Obvious

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In an April 9 final written decision (FWD), the Patent Trial and Appeal Board declared 13 claims of a patented method and system for inserting advertisements into broadcast content across platforms and devices obvious to a person of skill in the art (POSITA).
April 09, 2024
Patent Owner: Retractable Arrowhead Blades Not Found In Prior Art

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A patent owner in a preliminary response filed April 8 with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board accuses a petitioner for inter partes review (IPR) of an arrowhead patent of failing “to understand the structural differences” between a blade member and a barb.
April 09, 2024
In Patent Row Over Motorized Dumbbell, Fitness Equipment Company Weighs In

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Assertions of novelty by the owner of motorized dumbbell technology declared ineligible for patenting by a Utah federal judge are “contradicted by the claims and specification” of the patent itself, iFIT Inc. says in an April 8 appellee brief filed with the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
April 08, 2024
Federal Circuit Summarily Affirms Patent Board In Win For Intel Corp.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A per curiam panel of the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 8 upheld cancellation by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of various claims of a VLSI Technology LLC patent directed to power reduction.
April 08, 2024
Walmart Beats Patent Challenge By BJ’s In Inter Partes Review

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has rejected allegations by BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings Inc. that a Walmart Apollo LLC patent is taught by the combined teachings of three prior art references.
April 08, 2024
Cancellation Of Patented Dosing Regimen Vacated, Appeal Declared Moot

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 5 said an appeal of a final written decision (FWD) by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that declared obvious a patented lurasidone dosing regimen is mooted by the expiration of the patent and representations by counsel that an appellant no longer has an interest in exercising its right to exclude, including by seeking damages for pre-expiration infringement.
April 05, 2024
Panel: System, Method For Viewing Large Medical Images Is Patent-Ineligible

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a blow to the creators of a platform that allows medical personnel to view magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans and other large-data medical images on computers and devices with low bandwidth, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 4 agreed with a federal judge in Delaware that the claimed technology is not eligible for patenting.
April 04, 2024
Board Violated APA When Canceling Claims, Patent Owner Tells Federal Circuit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals should set aside a final written decision (FWD) by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that canceled all challenged claims of an electric power grid management patent because the board relied on a theory of invalidity not explicitly raised by Unified Patents LLC’s petition for inter partes review (IPR), a patent owner says.
April 04, 2024
Patented Binaural Sound Tech Not Obvious, Owner Argues To Patent Board

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The prior art relied on by Meta Platforms Inc. in an inter partes review (IPR) instituted in December fails to establish obviousness, the owner of the challenged patent maintains in a response filed April 3 with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
April 03, 2024
Win For Microsoft Preserved By Federal Circuit In Dispute Over 3D Patent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A final written decision (FWD) by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that declared obvious various claims of a patented method for viewing three-dimensional (3D) images will stand, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled April 3.
April 03, 2024
Supreme Court Turns Down Another Challenge To Abstractness Standard

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A machine company whose technology was deemed patent-ineligible has become the latest party to fail to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit its decade-old standard for assessing the abstractness of patent claims.