Lauryn Hill's Tax Evasion a 'Battle for Survival': Lawyer
A district court has denied a patent owner’s motion to strike wholesale a defendant’s affirmative defense of invalidity. The key issue in the motion to strike was the application of the estoppel provision of 35 U.S.C. §...more
The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit refused rehearing en banc of two significant decisions regarding patent-eligibility under § 101 (Aatrix and Berkheimer) on May 31, with a majority of active judges on...more
Two recent Federal Circuit decisions in the U.S., both penned by Judge Moore, significantly raise the bar for accused infringers seeking to invalidate patents on § 101 grounds before trial. Although one prior Federal Circuit...more
In EmeraChem v Volkswagen the Circuit reverses a determination of obviousness because the ?Board did not provide the patentee with an adequate opportunity to address a prior art reference ?that formed a principal basis for...more
Given the volume of district court decisions regarding Section 101, I typically don't find ones that stand out enough to warrant discussion. But last week's decision by Judge Stark in MAZ Encryption Technologies LLC v....more
After having its first three IPR petitions denied, yesterday the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) instituted the first IPR petition filed by hedge fund manager Kyle Bass and the Coalition for Affordable Drugs II LLC. On...more
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Alice addressing patent-eligible subject matter (IP Update, Vol. 17, No. 7), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed grant of judgment on the pleadings that a...more
Nunc Pro Tunc Assignments Insufficient To Confer Retroactive Standing - In ALPS SOUTH, LLC v. OHIO WILLOW WOOD CO., Appeal Nos. 2013-1452, 2013-1488, 2014-1147, and 2014-1426, the Federal Circuit reversed the denial of a...more
Although the subject matter eligibility of software patents has come under increased scrutiny since the Supreme Court issued its opinion last year in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank, one Massachusetts court recently declined to...more
It's been six weeks since my last AliceStorm update, and we've had plenty of action: twelve §101 decisions, and fourteen patents invalidated in just that period. That said, the success rate of motions on the pleadings is...more
Congress v SCtPatent litigation reform has been on the U.S. House Judiciary Committee agenda, with the recent reintroduction of legislation seeking to address patent litigation abuses and a hearing examining recent U.S....more