The September 2009 edition of Patent Happenings,® written by the author of the Annotated Patent Digest, presents concise summaries of important developments in U.S. patent law occurring during the month of August, 2009. Developments include:

1. E.D. Texas court rules that litigation defenses developed after infringement first began are irrelevant to Seagate’s objective prong unless they would have been apparent and considered by a reasonable person in the infringer’s position before the infringing activity began;

2. Federal Circuit to address en banc whether § 112 requires a “written description” requirement that is separate from enablement;

3. En banc panel of Federal Circuit holds that § 271(f) does not apply to method claims;

4. Excluding evidence of co-pending reexamination proceedings under FRE 403 – recent opinions from the Federal Circuit and two district courts;

5. Federal Circuit holds that willful failure to submit documentary information that could overcome a written-description rejection at the PTO precluded submitting that information as new evidence in a § 145 action;

6. District court holds claims to a computer implemented process valid under the transformation prong of Bilski where they required a visual display of the end product while claims that did not require a visual display were held invalid; and

7. PTO issues interim examination guidelines for subject matter eligibility.