Today, the Supreme Court granted petitions for a writ of certiorari to review the Federal Circuit’s decision in Arthrex, Inc. v. Smith & Nephew, Inc. Last Halloween, a Federal Circuit panel held in Arthrex that the way the...more
Last fall, the Federal Circuit held in Arthrex, Inc. v. Smith & Nephew, Inc. that the way the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) had appointed administrative patent judges (“APJs”) to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board...more
3/24/2020
/ Administrative Patent Judges ,
America Invents Act ,
Appeals ,
Appointments Clause ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Denial of Rehearing ,
Final Written Decisions ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
Judicial Appointments ,
Officers of the United States ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Presidential Appointments ,
Removal For-Cause ,
Severability Doctrine ,
USPTO
2019 Patent Trial and Appeal Board Key Practice Updates: A Year in Review -
2019 has been an active year for procedural changes in the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”). These changes include not only the PTAB’s...more
2019 has been an active year for procedural changes in the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”). These changes include not only the PTAB’s issuance of a Trial Practice Guide July 2019 Update, but also a number of...more
In a 9-0 decision today, the Supreme Court affirmed the Federal Circuit decision in Helsinn Healthcare S. A. v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc., 855 F. 3d 1356 (Fed. Cir. 2017). The Supreme Court held that the AIA’s revision...more
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Global Innovation Policy Center released its 5th annual study that ranks intellectual property systems worldwide. In the Chamber of Commerce's latest study, the U.S. patent system has dropped...more
In In re: Cray, Inc, No. 2017-129, the CAFC issued a writ of mandamus vacating Judge Gilstrap’s decision involving venue under 28 U.S.C. §1400(b) in Raytheon Co. v. Cray Inc., Case No. 15-cv-1554 (E.D. Texas). That earlier...more
The DTSA After One Year: Has the Federal Trade Secrets Law Met Expectations? -
On May 11, 2017, the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) – the law that created a Federal cause of action for trade secret misappropriation –...more
9/18/2017
/ Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) ,
Forum Selection ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Marijuana ,
Misappropriation ,
Patents ,
Principal Place of Business ,
TC Heartland LLC v Kraft Foods ,
Trade Secrets ,
Venue ,
Water Splash v Menon
On May 22, 2017, in TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC, the Supreme Court reversed decades of expansive patent venue interpretation by the Federal Circuit. A succinct 10-page opinion by Justice Thomas...more
On June 12, 2017, in Oil States Energy Services v. Greene’s Energy Grp., LLC, Case No. 16-712, the Supreme Court accepted certiorari on the question of whether the IPR regime set out by Congress in the AIA is constitutional....more
6/21/2017
/ America Invents Act ,
Article III ,
Certiorari ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
Oil States Energy Services v Greene's Energy Group ,
Patents ,
Private Property ,
Right to a Jury ,
SCOTUS ,
Seventh Amendment
On May 22, 2017, in TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Food Brands Grp. LLC, 581 U.S. ___ (2017), the Supreme Court reversed a long-standing practice permitting venue over domestic corporations to be had wherever the court had...more
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has now filed its response brief in In re: Janssen Biotech, Inc., New York University, No. 2017-1257 (Fed. Cir.), the Federal Circuit appeal involving U.S. Patent No....more
As was widely expected from the Justices’ positions at oral arguments, a nearly unanimous Supreme Court today struck down the patent laches doctrine in SCA Hygiene Prods. Aktiebolag, v. First Quality Baby Prods., LLC, 580...more
As of Tuesday, June 16th, we have been living with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's "2014 Interim Guidance on Patent Subject Matter Eligibility" ("Guidance") for six months. Although the USPTO subsequently issued some...more
Yesterday, we reported on the inter partes review (IPR)-specific provisions of the Managers Amendment to the PATENT ACT bil, which was passed last week by the Senate Judiciary Committee (see also "Senate Judiciary Committee...more
As reported here last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed the PATENT Act bill, with a Managers Amendment that includes several IPR-specific provisions.
With this Amendment, the PATENT Act now has two major...more
In This Issue:
- After B&B Hardware, What is the Full Scope of Estoppel Arising From a PTAB Decision in District Court Litigation?
- When You Don’t Know What You Know: The Role of Unappreciated Inherency in the...more
6/3/2015
/ America Invents Act ,
B&B Hardware v Hargis Industries ,
CLS Bank v Alice Corp ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Covered Business Method Patents ,
Estoppel ,
Intellectual Property Litigation ,
Obviousness ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Software ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO
The America Invents Act (AIA) created several adjudicative proceedings within the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, including inter partes review, post-grant review, and covered...more
6/1/2015
/ America Invents Act ,
B&B Hardware v Hargis Industries ,
Collateral Estoppel ,
Covered Business Method Patents ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
Issue Preclusion ,
Patent Act ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Post-Grant Review ,
SCOTUS ,
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board
A recent publication by PricewaterhouseCoopers announced that patent suit filings in 2014 had reduced by 13% from the prior year, and concluded that this "dramatic shift" was "[d]riven by Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank, which raised...more
The Supreme Court issued its decision today in Commil USA, LLC v. Cisco Systems, Inc. In a nutshell, the Supreme Court held that a good faith belief in invalidity (or presumably unenforceability) is no longer a defense...more
On Friday, March 27, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Michelle Lee issued a statement on the PTO Blog indicating several "quick-fix" and proposed rule changes. The "quick-fix" rules package will apply to all newly...more
On Friday, March 27, Director Lee issued a statement on the PTO Blog, indicating several current and proposed “quick-fix” rule changes. Immediate changes include nearly doubling the number of pages for a motion to amend to up...more
In the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision today in Limelight Networks, Inc. v. Akamai Technologies, Inc., the Supreme Court reversed the Federal Circuit's en banc holding that a defendant need not perform all of the steps of a...more
In yesterday's decision, the U.S. Supreme Court in Nautilus, Inc. v. Biosig Instruments, Inc. clarified the scope of definiteness required to fulfill the requirement that the patent claims particularly point out and...more
Perhaps one of the most intriguing issues coming out of the Supreme Court's Myriad decision is whether it leaves any room for the "inventive concept" test raised by earlier Supreme Court decisions, including Mayo v....more