[co-author: Jamie Dohopolski] Last year, the continued global COVID-19 pandemic forced American courts to largely continue the procedures set in place in 2020. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit was no...more
In Minerva Surgical, Inc. v. Hologic, Inc., the Supreme Court held, in a 5–4 opinion, that the doctrine of assignor estoppel continues to apply, but only for an assignor’s invalidity assertion that contradicts explicit or...more
An inventor develops an invention, files a patent application and assigns the application for value to the company they founded. Later, the inventor founds another company and develops an improved version of their original...more
In This Issue - Assignor Estoppel: When Are Inventors Allowed to Attack Their Own Inventions? In Minerva v. Hologic, the Supreme Court recently upheld the patent-law doctrine of assignor estoppel—which bars the...more
Bulk-Filed Patent Applications Claiming Distant Priority Trigger Prosecution Laches - In Hyatt v. Hirshfeld, Appeal No. 18-2390, the Federal Circuit held that the PTO met its burden to prove prosecution laches for bulk-filed...more