Summary Trade dress is a powerful intellectual property (IP) tool that can be used to protect the distinctive non-functional “look and feel" of a product’s design, shape and/or 3D configuration.[1] Product manufacturers and...more
2024 was another busy year for district court decisions! There were multiple jury trials, case-dispositive design patent decisions, and claim construction decisions across a range of venues and at a range of case postures. We...more
Addressing a multitude of issues, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the district court’s ruling dismissing infringement of one patent and finding a trade dress invalid but reversed the invalidation of...more
Genus claims have long been an important component of patent strategy, extending coverage around a lead compound to stop would-be competitors. Recent decisions from the Federal Circuit, however, highlight a tightening...more
This decision is bad. Not an American Axle level of bad, but still quite far from good. Simio sued FlexSim in the District of Utah for alleged infringement of its U.S. Patent No. 8,156,468. FlexSim moved for dismissal on...more
For emerging companies, a patent application should combine legal skill with technical and business knowledge to produce a document that will serve as a foundation to the company’s valuation and future profitability....more
This article is Part II of a study on the patent eligibility of graphical user interfaces. Part I was published yesterday. We continue from where we left off, with overviews of a handful of Federal Circuit § 101 decisions...more
The plaintiff in Wanker v. United States accuses the government of infringing four patents, all of which relate generally to a method for comparing products and services through the use of various weighting factors to assign...more
KONINKLIJKE KPN N.V. v. GEMALTO M2M GMBH - Before Dyk, Chen, and Stoll. Appeal from the District of Delaware. Summary: Claims directed to improving the functionality of one tool that is part of a system do not...more
In a decision authored by Chief Judge Sharon Prost, the Federal Circuit held that while design patents covering product configurations – that is, “a product feature or a combination or arrangement of features” – can protect...more
Patent claim drafting is a challenging exercise that requires balancing potential infringement of the claim against the prior art. A patent practitioner may easily draft a claim of very narrow scope, but if such claim has a...more