Is Biotech Patentable Subject Matter?
Patent Docs has always ascribed to the notion that respectful debate is good for most issues, and with the adage that if you are dumb, it's best to surround yourself with smart people and if you are smart surround yourself...more
As discussed in a previous blog post, since Mayo v. Prometheus, critics of medical treatment patents have advocated that such patents should be banned from patenting. While such arguments seemed futile based on the consistent...more
Federal Circuit Summaries - Before Newman, Lourie, and Reyna. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida. Summary: Collateral estoppel does not apply to a prior decision of no...more
In Zircore, LLC v. Straumann Manufacturing, Inc. (E.D. Tex. 2017), as in many patent litigations since Mayo, Myriad, and Alice, the defendant moved to dismiss the infringement allegations contending that the patents in suit...more
The Federal Circuit’s recent decision in Apple, Inc. v. Ameranth, Inc. highlights the potential impact of characterization of recited features as conventional, routine, generic, or known in the field without further...more
2016 has been a year of IP changes and these changes have had an effect upon biotechnology as well as trade secrets. Patents: Will the U.S. Supreme Court Grant Cert. In Ariosa v. Sequenom? Ariosa v. Sequenom was...more
SUPREME COURT CASES - The Supreme Court Denies Cert Challenging the Use of Third-Party Registrations and Website Printouts as Evidence of Actual Use - The U.S. Supreme Court denied New Millennium Sports, S.L.U.’s...more
The Federal Circuit Will Review Appeals from Inter Partes Review Proceedings Under the “Substantial Evidence” Standard - In Merck & Cie v. Gnosis S.p.A., Appeal No. 2014-1779, the Federal Circuit affirmed a PTAB IPR...more
In Ariosa Diagnostics Inc. v. Sequenom Inc., 788 F.3d 1371 (Fed. Cir. 2015), a Federal Circuit panel held that Sequenom Inc.’s prenatal diagnosis patent claims patent ineligible subject matter under the two-step test of Mayo...more
Disaster survivors, and even people who just hear about a disaster, are often first overwhelmed by it; they can only rationally process its significance after some time. During that time they overcome the initial visceral...more
At a time when patent application filings and litigation proceedings for computer-implemented inventions have reached all-time highs, this summer the U.S. Supreme Court issued a highly anticipated opinion addressing the...more
The third time is the charm in Ultramercial v. Hulu: After twice finding that an advertising method patent was directed to patent eligible subject matter, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s third Ultramercial...more
On November 3, 2014, Judge Mariana Pfaelzer issued an order in California Inst. of Tech. v. Hughes Commc’ns Inc., No. 2:13-CV-07245-MRP, 2014 WL 5661290 (C.D. Cal. Nov. 3, 2014) denying the defendants’ motion for summary...more
On March 4, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a guidance memorandum, entitled "Guidance For Determining Subject Matter Eligibility Of Claims Reciting Or Involving Laws of Nature, Natural Phenomena, & Natural...more