Mealey's Patents : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Patents

March 07, 2024
Summary Judgment That Graco Baby Swing Doesn’t Infringe Patent Will Stand

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A bid by an inventor to overturn a California federal judge’s finding that Graco Inc. and its parent company do not infringe a patented infant soothing device failed March 6, with a summary affirmance by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
March 06, 2024
IBM Largely Loses Appeal In Clash With Chewy Over Online Advertising Patents

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An appeal by International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) of a New York federal judge’s summary judgment of patent noninfringement and ineligibility was partly successful March 5 when the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said Chewy Inc. must face allegations that it infringed a single claim of a patent directed to online advertising.
March 06, 2024
YouTube Video Of Waffle Sandwich Dooms Design Patent Plans, Panel Says

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Efforts by two inventors to patent an ornamental design for a waffle featuring one smooth side were properly rejected as anticipated by a widely disseminated video on YouTube, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said March 6; in a separate opinion issued the same day, the same panel upheld a rejection of a similar utility patent application, this time on obviousness grounds.
March 06, 2024
Board Must Reconsider Amendments To 2 Patent Claims Proposed By Pfizer

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a review of five inter partes reviews (IPRs) by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of patented pneumococcal vaccine technology, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled March 5 that although the board correctly deemed 45 claims obvious to a person of skill in the art (POSITA) and properly denied a bid by Pfizer Inc. to add five substitute claims, it must revisit its denial of two other newly proposed claims.
March 06, 2024
Parties Spar Over When Obviousness Type Double Patenting Doctrine Applies

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a recent reply brief filed with the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, a group of patentees urges rejection of a suggestion by various appellees that the obviousness double patenting (ODP) inquiry can be reduced to a comparison of patent expiration dates.
March 05, 2024
Appellants Drop Dispute With Board Over Application Of ‘Fintiv Factors’ To PGRs

WASHINGTON, D.C — An unopposed motion to dismiss an appeal of a Virginia federal judge’s determination that jurisdiction is lacking over a challenge to the “Fintiv instructions” — a set of nonexclusive factors considered by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board when deciding whether to institute post-grant review (PGR) of certain patents — was granted March 4 by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
March 05, 2024
Google Beats Bid By Patent Owner To Lift Stay Of Texas Litigation

AUSTIN, Texas — On the heels of winning cancellation or disclaimer of 38 of 40 claims it challenged in an inter partes review (IPR) of two patents, Google LLC’s stated intention to appeal the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s findings for at least one of the two claims that survived IPR means a stay of Texas infringement litigation will stay in place, a federal judge there ruled March 4.
March 04, 2024
Patent Owner Prevails In Appeal Of Adverse Inter Partes Review

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a March 4 ruling, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said final written decisions (FWDs) by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board canceling all claims of four patents relating to closure of an incontinence diaper relied on “unsupported assumptions,” necessitating vacatur and remand.
March 01, 2024
Panel Reinstates Contract Case Against MasterCard Over Patent Royalties

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a case the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said “illustrates the importance of carefully reviewing the language in a covenant not to sue when entering a license agreement,” the court has again reversed summary judgment in favor of MasterCard International Inc., which stands accused of breaching its contract with a patent owner.
March 01, 2024
Machine Company Tells High Court Petition Does Not Necessitate Rethinking Alice

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals correctly found that a competing machine company’s patent discloses an abstract process that is not patentable, a respondent tells the U.S. Supreme Court in a brief opposing a petition for certiorari that raises multiple questions about the abstract idea standard, contending that the case does not provide a vehicle for the court to reconsider the decade-old standard in Alice Corp. Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank Int’l.
February 28, 2024
Circuit Company Says USB Connection Patent Would Have Been Obvious

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In a Feb. 27 petition for inter partes review (IPR), a maker of microcontroller, mixed-signal, analog and flash integrated circuits seeks cancellation of dozens of claims of a patented method of connecting an upstream and downstream universal serial bus (USB).
February 27, 2024
Patent Owner: Prior Art Relied On By Instacart In Inter Partes Review Fails

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Two references cited by Maplebear Inc., doing business as Instacart, in a recently instituted inter partes review (IPR) do not qualify as prior art because they became publicly accessible after the priority date to which the patent is entitled, the patent owner tells the Patent Trial and Appeal Board in a Feb. 26 response.
February 27, 2024
Clear, Convincing Evidence Of Inequitable Conduct Lacking In Patent Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — While a jury verdict that Amazon.com did not infringe a voice processing patent was upheld Feb. 26 by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, the panel joined a Texas federal judge in finding that the patent in suit was not proven unenforceable.
February 26, 2024
Philips Defeats Patent Challenge Again When Panel Rejects Intel Appeal

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Findings by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that Intel Corp. failed to establish obviousness of a patented method of authenticating distance measurements have been affirmed by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which ruled, among other things, that the board adequately addressed the grounds presented for inter partes review (IPR).
February 23, 2024
Board, In Instituting IPR, Says Task Group Submission Was Publicly Accessible

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A patent directed to an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) network will face scrutiny from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, which instituted inter partes review (IPR) in response to a petition by Intel Corp.
February 21, 2024
Ohio Federal Judge Denies Dueling Motions To Exclude Experts In Patent Dispute

TOLEDO, Ohio — An Ohio federal judge denied two motions to exclude opposing expert witnesses testifying on how a person of ordinary skill in the art would view the patent infringement dispute involving the design of metal doors.
February 21, 2024
Method For Learning Sex, Health Of Chick Would Be Obvious, Petitioner Says

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A patent issued in 2020 that teaches an imaging technique for determining the sex and health of a recently hatched chick should be canceled, petitioners tell the Patent Trial and Appeal Board in a Feb. 20 request for inter partes review (IPR).
February 20, 2024
Inventor’s Challenge To Patent Board Reliance On Non-Expert Testimony Fails

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 20 revealed in its order list that it will not take up a petition for a writ of certiorari by the inventor of a patented method and apparatus for controlling a ventilator that was deemed invalid by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
February 20, 2024
In Post-Grant Review Halliburton Defends Fracking Technology As Patent-Eligible

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A petition for post-grant review (PGR) of a purportedly improved hydraulic fracturing process engages in oversimplification of the claims in making the case for a finding of patent ineligibility, Halliburton Energy Services Inc. contends in a Feb. 16 filing with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
February 20, 2024
Interlocutory Appeal Of Relief In Trade Dress, Patent Case Succeeds

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Texas abused his discretion in preliminarily enjoining a patent and trade dress infringement defendant from operating its trampoline park, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said Feb. 16.
February 16, 2024
In IP Row With Former Firm, Accused Engineer Defends Summary Judgment

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Utah correctly rejected on summary judgment a patent and copyright owner’s case in full against a former employee and his new, competing company, the employee and company tell the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in an appellee brief.
February 16, 2024
Federal Circuit Admonishes Patent Counsel Caught Skirting Word Limit Rules

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a Feb. 16 sua sponte per curiam order it said it “hoped not to have to write,” a panel of the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals clarified that exceeding word limits through an incorporation by reference is a sanctionable offense under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 28; although the court stopped short of sanctioning counsel for Comcast Cable Communications LLC for engaging in such conduct, in an opinion released in a companion case the same day, it reinstated infringement allegations against his client.
February 16, 2024
Patent Owner Says Outcome Of IPRs Not Preclusive In District Court Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Wisconsin wrongly concluded that final written decisions (FWDs) by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that declared certain independent patent claims obvious eliminated the need for a defendant in a subsequent infringement action to establish that its cited prior art satisfies the limitations of dependent claims of the same patents, the patent owner tells the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
February 16, 2024
Meta Handed A Setback When Panel Reinstates Infringement Litigation

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A finding on the eve of a planned November 2022 trial that Meta Platforms Inc. does not infringe four patents directed to query results was erroneous, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said Feb. 15, reversing and remanding a summary judgment order by a California federal judge.
February 15, 2024
Request For Contempt Finding In Trademark, Design Patent Case Denied

HOUSTON — A federal judge in Texas on Feb. 14 rejected as premature allegations that a defendant has violated a stipulated preliminary injunction in a trademark and design patent infringement case by manufacturing and selling a redesigned floating pool chaise.