Midyear Banking Review
If I won my case, why do I need to worry about an appeal?
In a precedential opinion issued last month, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“Federal Circuit”) held that when the single issue presented on appeal is whether a prior art reference teaches a particular claim...more
In a recent precedential decision, the Federal Circuit shot down arguments from appellants Phillip Morris Products S.A., Phillip Morris USA, Inc. and Altria Client Services LLC (Phillip Morris) that challenged the ban on its...more
A divided panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the Patent Trial & Appeal Board’s finding that certain challenged claims were nonobvious after applying the substantial evidence test to resolve a...more
In the second appeal to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the preamble term “three-dimensional spreadsheet” was found to be a limitation in the context of claims directed to organizing and presenting...more
Applying a “middle ground” standard of review, the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed a district court’s decision denying a company’s request for a declaratory judgment asking a former employee to assign...more
On February 10, 2021, the Federal Circuit in Infinity Computer Products, Inc. v. Oki Data Americas, Inc., No. 20-1189 (Fed. Cir. 2021) affirmed a decision by the U.S. District Court of Delaware that patent claims were invalid...more
As a non-precedential decision on claim construction, Horizon Pharma, Inc. v. Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Inc., may not be relevant to any other case, but it caught my attention as an example of the perils of claim drafting....more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s New Year’s eve opinion in Ball Metal v. Crown Packaging, though nonprecedential, raises important considerations for pharmaceutical and biologics patents – where patent...more
The Federal Circuit recently applied well-established principles of obviousness in affirming the Patent Trial and Appeals Board's invalidation of several patents related to antifungal formulations in Anacor Pharmaceuticals,...more
Last week, a divided panel of the Federal Circuit extinguished Molon Motor and Coil Corporation’s hopes of going forward with a patent infringement suit against its electric motor industry competitor Nidec Motor Corporation....more
PATENT CASE OF THE WEEK - Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. v. Roxane Laboratories, Inc., Appeal Nos. 2017-2078, -2134 (Fed. Cir. Sept. 10, 2018) The Federal Circuit affirmed the district court’s ruling following a bench trial,...more
Federal Circuit Summaries - In Medicines Co. v. Hospira, Inc., 2014-1469; 2014-1504 (Dyk, Wallach, Hughes), the Federal Circuit affirmed the district court’s finding of non-infringement but reversed the district court’s...more
In Genzyme Corp. v. Dr. Reddy’s Labs. Ltd., the Federal Circuit affirmed the district court decision upholding Genzyme’s Orange Book listed patent for the cancer drug Mozobil® against an obviousness challenge, because the...more
On May 8, 2017, in Intellectual Ventures II LLC v. Ericsson Inc., 15-1739, the Federal Circuit affirmed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) inter partes review (IPR) claim constructions in a non-precedential decision....more
Addressing claim construction issues, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a claim construction limiting “communications path” to wired communications. Ruckus Wireless, Inc. v. Innovative Wireless...more
Last week the Federal Circuit affirmed a District Court's finding of invalidity and non-infringement in ANDA litigation between Spectrum Pharmaceuticals and Sandoz. In so doing, the Court deferred to the factual...more
Addressing a panoply of damages issues, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a reasonable royalty, rejected the defendant’s laches defense and provided significant guidance on the application of the...more
In considering a district court’s denial of attorneys’ fees in view of the Supreme Court’s Octane Fitness standard for finding an “exceptional case” under 35 U.S.C. § 285 (IP Update Vol. 17, No. 5), the U.S. Court of Appeals...more
FEDERAL CIRCUIT CASES - Federal Circuit Quashes $287 Million Enhanced Damages Award Finding Objectively Reasonable Defenses Raised During Litigation - The Federal Circuit has reversed a district court’s award of...more
Addressing issues of claim construction, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently reversed the decisions of two district courts, shedding some light on the impact of the Teva decision on its claim...more
In yet another post-Teva claim construction case (see discussion of Teva v. Sandoz, Shire Development v. Watson Pharmaceuticals, Kaneka Corp. v. Xiamen Kingdomway Grp. and TomTom, Inc. v. Adolph cases (this edition) the U.S....more
The Federal Circuit’s recent decision in Kaneka Corp. v. Xiamen Kingdomway Group Co. (Fed. Cir. 2015) serves as a reminder that courts may implicitly read an order into a patent’s method claim steps, even if the applicant did...more
Case Name: Shire Development, LLC v. Watson Pharms., Inc., 787 F.3d 1359 (Fed. Cir. June 3, 2015) (Circuit Judges Prost, Chen, and Hughes presiding; Opinion by Hughes, J.) (Appeal from S.D. Fla., Middlebrooks, J.) - Drug...more
ALJ Shaw Finds No Violation In 921 Investigation – On July 2, 2015, Administrative Law Judge David Shaw issued a 320-page Final Initial Determination On Violation And Recommended Determination On Remedy in Certain Marine...more
In its January 2015 decision, Teva Pharms. USA, Inc. v. Sandoz, Inc., the Supreme Court held that the ultimate construction of a patent claim term is a question of law, subject to de novo appellate review, but that the...more