As Jones Day's PTAB Litigation Blog marks its 500th posting, Dave Cochran and Matt Johnson discuss current patent litigation developments, near-term trends, and how the PTAB is handling cases during the COVID-19 lock down....more
As was previously noted here, the PTAB recently designated one decision as precedential and four as informative concerning the necessary showing for proving up a reference as printed publication prior art. Here is an in depth...more
As we noted here, the PTAB recently designated two 35 U.S.C. § 325(d) cases precedential and one informative. Here is an in depth review of the informative decision.
On March 24, 2020,the PTAB designated two sections of...more
On March 30, 2020, the Federal Circuit relied on Arthrex, Inc. v. Smith & Nephew, Inc., 941 F.3d 1320 (Fed. Cir. 2019) to vacate and remand several related PTAB decisions, including in proceedings where the patent owner did...more
On March 23, 2020, the Federal Circuit issued a per curiam order denying rehearing and rehearing en banc in Arthrex. See Arthrex, Inc. v. Smith & Nephew, Inc., No. 18-2140, Order Denying Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc, Dkt....more
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) has denied the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) unopposed motion to stay its mandate issued in Arthrex. The USPTO filed its motion seeking a 90 day stay...more
Patent litigation can be quite costly to defend against, that’s no secret. But when can a prevailing defendant recover its attorneys’ fees from the plaintiff, patent holder, and under what circumstances? Under the “American...more
As we noted, the PTAB recently designated two 35 U.S.C. § 325(d) cases precedential and one informative. Here is an in depth review of a first of the precedential designated decisions.
On March 24, 2020, the PTAB...more
By Matt Johnson – Last week, the PTAB designated two 35 U.S.C. § 325(d) cases precedential and one informative. These cases discuss the Board’s process for deciding when to use their discretion to deny institution because a...more
The full Federal Circuit denied rehearing in Polaris. Polaris Innovations Ltd. v. Kingston Technology Company, No. 2018-1831. As previously discussed, both the U.S. government and Polaris requested rehearing after the court...more
In two related decisions, the Federal Circuit held that the Patent Owner, Acoustic Technology, Inc. (“Acoustic”) waived its time-bar challenges under 35 U.S.C. § 315(b) (“Section 315(b)”) by failing to assert them in the IPR...more
The institution rate for post-grant challenges in current FY 2020 (Oct. 1, 2019 through January 31, 2020) stands at 56% compared to 63% in the previous fiscal year. While a relatively small sample size (204 instituted, 161...more
The Federal Circuit’s recent decision in Samsung Electronics America, Inc. v. Prisua Engineering Corp., — F.3d —, 2020 WL 543427, at *4 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 4. 2020), could not be more clear: “[W]e hold that the Board may not...more
2/19/2020
/ Final Written Decisions ,
Indefiniteness ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
Means-Plus-Function ,
Obviousness ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Post-Grant Review ,
Prior Art ,
Samsung ,
Section 112
In a recent decision, the PTAB admitted that it erred in its prior determination of unpatentability, and authorized supplemental briefing on the patentability of substitute claims. See Rimfrost AS v. Aker Biomarine Antarctic...more
On January 31, 2020, the Federal Circuit vacated and remanded a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) final written decision in view of Arthrex, but did so reluctantly because it disagreed with the merits and questioned the...more
2/15/2020
/ Administrative Patent Judges ,
Appointments Clause ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Final Written Decisions ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Remand ,
USPTO ,
Vacated
The institution rate for post-grant challenges in current FY 2020 (Oct. 1, 2019 through December 31, 2019) stands at 55% compared to 63% in the previous fiscal year. While a small sample size (138 instituted, 113 denied),...more
On September 12, 2018, the PTAB in NHK Spring Co. v. Intri-Plex Techs., Inc. exercised its discretion under 35 U.S.C. § 314(a) to deny institution of an IPR, despite the petition’s timely filing, due to a parallel district...more
Determining the Real Party-in-Interest (“RPI”) in an IPR can have critical implications for estoppel. A patent owner can prevent institution of an IPR by showing that an RPI has previously “filed a civil action challenging...more
In a series of IPR proceedings between Petitioner Adobe Inc. and Patent Owner RAH Color Technologies LLC, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board declined to extend attorney work product protection to deposition questions seeking...more
1/28/2020
/ Attorney Communications ,
Discovery ,
FRCP 26 ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
Motion to Compel ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Prior Art ,
Testimony ,
Work-Product Doctrine
In November 2019, the United States Patent and Trademark Office published a second edition of the America Invents Act (AIA) Trial Practice Guide (Practice Guide) to incorporate the Practice Guide updates released in August...more
The institution rate for post-grant challenges in current FY 2020 (Oct. 1, 2019 through November 31, 2019) stands at 50% compared to 63% in the previous fiscal year. While a small sample size (88 instituted, 88 denied), this...more
In Arthrex, Inc. v. Smith & Nephew, Inc., the Federal Circuit has held that appointments of Administrative Patent Judges of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board ("PTAB") were in violation of the Appointments Clause of the U.S....more
On December 4, 2019, the PTAB hosted the last installment for 2019 in its “Boardside Chat” webinar series. The program, presented by Deputy Chief Judge Jacqueline Bonilla and Lead Administrative Patent Judge Jessica Kaiser,...more
On February 28, 2019, GREE, Inc. (“GREE”) filed a Complaint against Supercell Oy (“Supercell”) for patent infringement of U.S. Patent No. 9,597,594 (the “’594 Patent”), directed to a method for controlling a computer to...more
11/13/2019
/ Affirmative Defenses ,
Estoppel ,
Final Written Decisions ,
FRCP 12(f) ,
Motion To Strike ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patent-Eligible Subject Matter ,
Patents ,
Post-Grant Review ,
Prior Art ,
Question of Fact ,
SAS Institute Inc. v Iancu ,
Section 101
Last year, this blog discussed various strategic considerations for litigants seeking declarations of invalidity in district court actions to avoid being precluded from also seeking inter partes or other post-grant review...more
10/14/2019
/ Counterclaims ,
Declaratory Judgments ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
Mylan Pharmaceuticals ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Pharmaceutical Patents ,
Post-Grant Review ,
Real Party in Interest ,
Time-Barred Claims