For the first time in nearly 15 years, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued “Updated Guidance for Making a Proper Determination of Obviousness” under the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in KSR Int’l Co. v....more
4/23/2024
/ America Invents Act ,
Decision-Making Process ,
Ex Partes Reexamination ,
Graham Factors ,
Guidance Update ,
Inventions ,
New Guidance ,
Obviousness ,
Patent Applications ,
Patent Examinations ,
Prior Art ,
USPTO
When Dynamic Drinkware was decided in 2015, commentators debated whether differences in the language of the American Invents Act (AIA) version of 35 USC § 102 would shield AIA patents from its restrictions. Now, U.S. Patent...more
The USPTO has commenced the fee-setting process for fee adjustments it expects to implement in January 2025. While many fee changes are modest (~5%), the USPTO proposes significant increases to design patent fees and PTAB...more
The USPTO first established a pro bono program to help “financially under-resourced inventors and small businesses” pursue patent protection for their inventions under the America Invents Act (AIA). The USPTO recently...more
The USPTO has taken another major step in the fee-setting process for fee adjustments it expects to implement in January 2021, and published the proposed fees in the Federal Register. The major changes are the same as those...more
On June 10, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the U.S. government cannot challenge the validity of a U.S. patent in any AIA review proceeding (inter partes review, post-grant review, or covered business method review)....more
In Helsinn Healthcare S.A. v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc., the Supreme Court interpreted the “on sale bar” of the America Invents Act (AIA) version of 35 U.S.C. § 102 as unchanged from the pre-AIA version. In so doing, the...more
1/30/2019
/ America Invents Act ,
Appeals ,
Assignment of Inventions ,
Confidentiality Agreements ,
Helsinn Healthcare SA v Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc ,
Inventions ,
On-Sale Bar ,
Patent Applications ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patents ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Pharmaceutical Patents ,
Public Use ,
Reaffirmation ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Section 102 ,
Third-Party Relationships
One of the many concerns raised by the recent outage of the USPTO’s electronic filing system was the requirement to pay the surcharge due when a new U.S. application is not filed electronically. The surcharge is statutory...more
A few weeks ago I joined Kathleen Fonda, Ph.D., J.D., Senior Legal Advisor in the USPTO’s Office of Patent Legal Administration, and Gary Ganzi, J.D., Senior Counsel and Head of Intellectual Property for Evoqua Water...more
In Helsinn Healthcare S.A. v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc., the Federal Circuit found that a publicly-announced “Supply and Purchase” agreement triggered the on-sale bar under pre-AIA 35 USC § 102(b) and under AIA 35 USC §...more
In Perfect Surgical Techniques, Inc. v. Olympus America, Inc., the Federal Circuit vacated and remanded a USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board decision in an Inter Partes Review proceeding, finding that the PTAB imposed too...more
11/23/2016
/ America Invents Act ,
Appeals ,
Due Diligence ,
Evidence ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Remand ,
Rule-of-Reason Analysis ,
Section 102 ,
USPTO ,
Vacated
Some patent term adjustment (PTA) cases have broad impact–like Wyeth v. Kappos and Novartis v. Lee–but Acetelion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Lee addresses a more esoteric issue: when does the 14-month clock start to run in a...more
The USPTO has published a proposed fee schedule for patent fees likely to take effect October 1, 2017–the start of the USPTO’s next fiscal year. The proposed fee schedule makes “slight” changes to many fees, and more...more
In Merck & CIE v. Watson Laboratories, Inc., the Federal Circuit found communications between Merck and a potential joint venture partner amounted to a commercial offer to sell that invalidated the Orange Book-listed folate...more
5/31/2016
/ Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) ,
America Invents Act ,
Confidentiality Agreements ,
Generic Drugs ,
Joint Venture ,
Merck ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
On-Sale Bar ,
Patent Invalidity ,
Patent Litigation ,
Pharmaceutical Patents ,
Reversal ,
Watson Pharmaceuticals
In Inguran, LLC v. Premium Genetics (UK) Ltd., the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) instituted Post Grant Review (PGR) proceedings in a patent granted from an AIA transition application based on its finding that at...more
In Dynamic Drinkware, LLC v. National Graphics, Inc., the Federal Circuit held that in order for a patent to qualify as prior art as of its provisional application filing date, the provisional application must support the...more
Many pharmaceutical companies have complained about the IPR petitions filed by Kyle Bass and the Coalition for Affordable Drugs against Orange Book-listed patents covering approved pharmaceutical products, but Celgene Corp....more
9/28/2015
/ Abuse of Process ,
America Invents Act ,
Hedge Funds ,
Innovation Act ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
Orange Book ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Pharmaceutical Patents ,
Sanctions
Since the implementation of the America Invents Act on September 16, 2012, and the Technical Corrections Act on January 14, 2013, Applicants have been able to delay submission of an executed inventors’ oath/declaration in a...more
In Versata Development Group, Inc. v. SAP America, Inc., the Federal Circuit outlined the permitted extent of judicial review of Covered Business Method (CBM) patent review proceedings conducted by the USPTO Patent Trial and...more
7/23/2015
/ America Invents Act ,
Broadest Reasonable Interpretation Standard ,
Claim Construction ,
Covered Business Method Patents ,
Covered Business Method Proceedings ,
Judicial Review ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Invalidity ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patent-Eligible Subject Matter ,
Patents ,
USPTO
A divided Federal Circuit denied the petition for rehearing en banc that would have required the court to revisit its decision in In re Cuozzo Speed Technologies, LLC (Fed Cir 2015), that upheld the USPTO’s use of the...more
7/23/2015
/ America Invents Act ,
Broadest Reasonable Interpretation Standard ,
Claim Construction ,
En Banc Review ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Invalidity ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Pending Legislation ,
Petition For Rehearing ,
Popular ,
Post-Grant Review ,
USPTO
In The Medicines Company v. Hospira, Inc., the Federal Circuit held that a transaction with a contract manufacturer gave rise to an on sale bar that invalidated The Medicines Company’s Angiomax® patents. Are the facts of this...more
7/14/2015
/ Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) ,
America Invents Act ,
Disclosure ,
Generic Drugs ,
Manufacturers ,
On-Sale Bar ,
Patent Invalidity ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Pharmaceutical Patents ,
Prior Art ,
Transfer of Title
In Sukumar v. Nautilus, Inc., the Federal Circuit took its first look at the standing requirements to bring a false marking case under the American Invents Act (AIA). The court rejected Nautilus’ arguments that only “market...more
Representatives Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and Conyers (D-MI) have introduced the “Grace Period Restoration Act of 2015? (H.R. 1791) to “correct the drafting problem in the Leahy-Smith American Invents Act relating to the grace...more
Senator Coons (D-Del) has introduced patent reform legislation that is similar to but different from the Goodlatte Innovation Act pending in the House. One section of S. 632 that does not have a parallel in H.R. 9 relates to...more
As a leader in science, technology and innovation, the United States long has played a central role in global intellectual property matters. As the world’s largest economy, the United States has played a central role in trade...more