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United States Patent and Trademark Office Means-Plus-Function

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce that serves a fundamental role in the U.S. intellectual property system by issuing patents and registering trademarks.... more +
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce that serves a fundamental role in the U.S. intellectual property system by issuing patents and registering trademarks.    less -
Holland & Knight LLP

Section 101 Patent Eligibility Roundup: It's Been Too Long

Holland & Knight LLP on

It's been a while since I last posted, and I apologize for that. (If interested, here's an alert about what's kept me away: a CFAA trial we wrapped up in late July.) But I am back, so let's look at the latest on the Section...more

Lathrop GPM

Broad Biotech Patent Claims-the Saga Continues

Lathrop GPM on

There now is increased interest about the written description and enablement requirements for patent applications claiming antibodies. This may stem from the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Amgen v. Sanofi, finding lack...more

WilmerHale

Disclosure of Antibody’s Equivalents Not Necessary to Satisfy Written Description and Indefiniteness Requirements for a...

WilmerHale on

The United States Patent and Trademark Office’s (“USPTO”) Appeals Review Panel (“the Panel”) recently clarified that means-plus-function claims do not require that the specification disclose equivalents. See Ex parte...more

Goodwin

The Appeals Review Panel’s In Re Xencor Decision: The USPTO Provides Its Position on Written Description and Means-Plus-Function...

Goodwin on

On May 17, 2024, an Appeals Review Panel (ARP) of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) released its decision in Ex parte Chamberlain (referred to in Federal Circuit proceedings as In re Xencor;...more

MoFo Life Sciences

USPTO Issues Reminder To Examiners On Proper “Means-Plus-Function” Analysis

MoFo Life Sciences on

On March 18, 2024, the USPTO issued a memorandum to its Examiners reminding them of the resources and proper analysis for interpreting limitations under 35 U.S.C. § 112(f), which are commonly referred to as...more

McDermott Will & Emery

PTO to Patent Examiners: Make Interpretation of Means-Plus-Function Claims Clear in the Record

McDermott Will & Emery on

On March 18, 2024, the US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) issued a memorandum to patent examiners addressing means-plus-function and step-plus-function claim limitations and how to clearly articulate, in the prosecution...more

Womble Bond Dickinson

USPTO Addresses Ambiguities in Means-Plus-Function, Step-Plus-Function Claims

Womble Bond Dickinson on

United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) officials recently reiterated to all patent examiners that they must provide clear, consistent analysis regarding means-plus-function and step-plus-function limitations. ...more

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C.

PTAB Strategies and Insights Newsletter - March 2022

The PTAB Strategies and Insights newsletter provides timely updates and insights into how best to handle proceedings at the USPTO. It is designed to increase return on investment for all stakeholders looking at the entire...more

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt PC

Latest Federal Court Cases - March 2022 #4

Hunting Titan, Inc. v. DynaEnergetics Europe GMBH, Appeal Nos. 2020-2163, -2191 (Fed. Cir. March 24, 2022) - In a notable review of the USPTO’s new Precedential Opinions Panel, the Federal Circuit discussed the...more

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt PC

Latest Federal Court Cases - May 2020 #3

PATENT CASE OF THE WEEK - Schwendimann v. Arkwright Advanced Coating, Inc., Appeal Nos. 2018-2416, et al. (Fed. Cir. May 5, 2020) (unsealed May 13, 2020) - In this recently unsealed precedential opinion, the Federal...more

Sunstein LLP

January 2019 IP Update - New Guidelines Proposed for Functional Claiming in Computer-Related Inventions

Sunstein LLP on

In a second notice of proposed rulemaking (besides the one for patent eligibility) announced January 4, 2019 and published in the Federal Register on January 7, 2019, the Patent and Trademark Office has proposed guidelines...more

WilmerHale

USPTO Issues Revised Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance and Guidance for Examining Computer-Implemented Functional Claims...

WilmerHale on

The USPTO has issued updated guidance for examiners and administrative patent judges (APJs) relating to subject matter eligibility under 35 U.S.C. 101 and examining computer-implemented functional claim limitations under 35...more

Jones Day

After SAS, Indefinite Claims Can Be A Definite Problem For IPR Petitioners

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The definiteness requirement for patent claims is set forth in Section 112(b), mandating that a patent specification conclude with one or more claims “particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming subject matter which the...more

WilmerHale

Federal Circuit Patent Updates - June 2018

WilmerHale on

Impax Laboratories Inc. v. Lannett Holdings Inc. (No. 2017-2020, 6/28/18) (Lourie, Dyk, Taranto) - Lourie, J. Affirming judgment of no invalidity for claims related to nasal spray for treatment of migraine....more

Foley & Lardner LLP

Federal Circuit Chastises PTAB Over Moving Target On Ex Parte Appeal

Foley & Lardner LLP on

The Federal Circuit decision in In re Durance is a rare precedential decision in an ex parte appeal from a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) decision rejecting a pending patent application. The Court took the USPTO to task...more

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt PC

2017 and Early 2018 Supreme Court and Precedential Patent Cases From the Federal Circuit

Arbitration - Waymo v. Uber Technologies, 870 F.3d 1342 (Fed. Cir. 2017) - Waymo sued Uber and others for trade secret misappropriation and patent infringement. Uber contends that Waymo should be compelled to...more

Knobbe Martens

Federal Circuit Review - August 2017

Knobbe Martens on

District Court Abused Discretion in Ignoring Federal Circuit Mandate to Reconsider Attorneys’ Fees Under Octane Fitness - In Adjustacam, LLC v. Newegg, Inc., Appeal No. 2016-1882, the Federal Circuit held that a district...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Disclosed Structure Restricts Breadth of Means-Plus-Function Limitations

McDermott Will & Emery on

In an opinion addressing claim construction and Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) jurisdiction, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit concluded that while the PTAB had the authority to consider the patentability...more

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt PC

Summaries of All Supreme Court and Precedential Federal Circuit Patent Cases Decided Since Jun. 1, 2016

This paper is based on reports on precedential patent cases decided by the Federal Circuit distributed by Peter Heuser on a weekly basis. ...more

Miles & Stockbridge P.C.

Means-Plus-Function Claim Interpretation in Patent Claims – Remember the Alamo!

The Battle of the Alamo occurred between February 23 and March 6, 1836. Here, 180 years later, during the anniversary of the Alamo, I found myself in the Eastern District of Texas at a Markman hearing – and it reminded me of...more

McDermott Will & Emery

No En Banc Review of Panel Decision Vacating a Civil Contempt Remedye - Plus, Inc. v. Lawson Software, Inc.

Addressing the issue of contempt for violation of a non-final injunction, a divided U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit declined to rehear en banc a panel decision that vacated a civil contempt holding for violation...more

Knobbe Martens

Federal Circuit Review | July 2015

Knobbe Martens on

Nunc Pro Tunc Assignments Insufficient To Confer Retroactive Standing - In ALPS SOUTH, LLC v. OHIO WILLOW WOOD CO., Appeal Nos. 2013-1452, 2013-1488, 2014-1147, and 2014-1426, the Federal Circuit reversed the denial of a...more

Proskauer - New England IP Blog

Federal Circuit Revisits and Recasts Means-Plus-Function Claim Interpretation

An en banc decision from the Federal Circuit last week overruled a line of cases governing the interpretation of functional claim language, calling into question how courts, the PTO, and industry will treat such language in...more

Farella Braun + Martel LLP

Williamson Decision Will Encourage Patent Defendants to Challenge Software Claims

In Williamson v. Citrix Online, announced on June 16, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled in a partially en banc opinion that claims expressed in terms of functionality can be subject to statutory requirements...more

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