In This Issue:

• Smartphone War Update: Some of Apple’s Patents Survive Invalidity Challenge

• Sale by Foreign Supplier Invalidated Patent

• District Court Abused Discretion in Refusing to Keep Confidential Documents Secret

- Excerpt from Smartphone War Update: Some of Apple’s Patents Survive Invalidity Challenge:

In Apple, Inc. v. U.S. International Trade Commission, Appeal No. 12-1338, the Federal Circuit affirmed in part, reversed in part, and vacated in part ITC judgments of invalidity based on anticipation and obviousness, and vacated the ITC judgment of non-infringement.

Apple initiated proceedings at the ITC, alleging that Motorola’s smartphones and tablets infringed claims of two patents concerning mobile phone screens. The claims were divided into three groups: “touch panel” claims, a “pixelated image” claim, and “ellipse” claims. The ITC determined that the touch panel and pixelated image claims were anticipated by and would have been obvious over multiple references, including the Perski and SmartSkin references. The ITC also determined that Motorola did not infringe the ellipse claims.