We’re still waiting for the Supreme Court to issue its decision in Amgen v. Sanofi. But in the meantime, the Federal Circuit continues to provide insights into 35 U.S.C. § 112’s requirement to “enable” persons of skill in the...more
If the scope of the IPR estoppel statute has been keeping you up at night, our latest case of the (recent) week might help you sleep a little better because it provides clarity on two aspects of the statute’s reach. ...more
If you’re like me, hanging holiday lights generally sucks any kind of holiday spirit right out of you. This week’s case of the week involves technology that might help. And it resolves (at least at the preliminary injunction...more
If you think claim construction is more fun than watching paint peel, then you’re probably a patent lawyer. And what’s more fun than claim construction? Claim construction with an indefiniteness challenge, as happened in this...more
Some of you may remember the Federal Circuit’s decision from a few (actually 5!) years ago holding that patent owner statements made in an IPR proceeding may “support a finding of prosecution disclaimer during claim...more
Now that we’re nearing the end of 2022 (crazy, right?), we thought we’d update our data on when Federal Circuit judges sit. We looked at this in early 2021 (When Do Federal Circuit Judges Sit?), and we’ve twice looked at data...more
Unlike obviousness, the test for anticipation in patent law is generally pretty simple—does the prior art disclose the same thing as the challenged patent claims. But as our latest case of the week shows, that simple test can...more
Usually in American courts, parties get one chance to litigate a single legal claim. Courts enforce that principle in a variety of ways – at the back end, through rules like claim and issue preclusion; and at the front end,...more
If you don’t appeal an issue from an adverse judgment, are you going to be bound by the decision on that issue in future cases? This can often be an important question to consider when deciding whether and what issues to...more
Sometimes just because the rules permit something doesn’t mean doing it is a good idea. As our latest case-of-the-week shows, the result could be an award of attorney fees.
Case of the week: Realtime Adaptive Streaming...more
Precedential opinions: 1
Non-precedential opinions: 8
Rule 36: 4
Longest pending case from argument: Tris Pharma, Inc. v. Actavis Lab’ys FL, Inc., No. 21-1495 (121 days)...more
As we’ve written about multiple times, a petition for certiorari from the Federal Circuit’s starkly divided decision in American Axle has been pending at the Supreme Court for some time. Many thought this would be the case...more
With another busy week of arguments last week, the Federal Circuit took a break from issuing precedential decisions. But it still pushed out several non-precedential decisions along with some quick affirmances without...more
The Federal Circuit kicked off a new week of oral arguments today. And this week it finishes its goodbyes to Judge O’Malley, who officially retires on Friday (March 11). Even so, the work must go on. Below we provide our...more
After a couple of weeks with lots of precedential decisions, the Federal Circuit caught its breath last week and issued only non-precedential ones (with the possible exception of a sealed opinion that may or may not be...more
We’re still waiting (and probably will be for a little while) for the first opinion from newly confirmed Judge Tiffany Cunningham. But in the meantime, we provide below our usual weekly statistics and our case of the week—our...more
The Federal Circuit wrapped up another (perhaps final) week of telephone arguments last week. As of now, the Court is still set to restart in-person arguments next month. But we’ll have to see if those plans change. Below we...more
Now that it’s been roughly a month since the Federal Circuit issued mass sua sponte Arthrex orders (which we discussed in Early Hints About What Happens Next After Arthrex), we thought it was worth checking in on what’s...more
Now that we have the Supreme Court’s big decision in Arthrex, which we wrote about here, many of us are wondering what the next steps will look like. We may know sooner rather than later. Today, the Federal Circuit issued a...more
There's a new Chief Judge at the Federal Circuit (as of Saturday), but life continues as usual here at Federal Circuitry. Below we provide our usual weekly statistics and our case of the week—our highly subjective selection...more
“The Federal Circuit – that’s the patent court, right?” That seems to be a common sentiment from non-Federal Circuit practitioners. And there’s certainly some truth to the sentiment. According to the Court’s own statistics,...more
Spring seems to have arrived in DC, and cherry blossom trees are starting to bloom all over the region. But the beautiful weather this weekend didn’t stop us from our weekly review of all things Federal Circuit. Below we...more
Wow—it was a busy week at the Court last week. Lots of opinions, and lots of precedential ones. There were lots of good choices out there, so we sort of threw a dart at a board to see which one to write about. In the end,...more
Last week was argument week, and the Federal Circuit previewed its new YouTube channel for streaming live arguments (sadly, audio only for now). Still, that didn’t slow the Federal Circuit down in issuing opinions, including...more
Although argument week isn’t until next week, the Federal Circuit heard oral argument today in two cases. One was rescheduled from earlier this month for medical reasons. But the other, GlaxoSmithKline LLC v. Teva...more