Mealey's Patents
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October 23, 2023
Patent Owner: Google ‘Tries To Confuse’ Panel With Appellant Brief
WASHINGTON, D.C. — An August appellant brief by Google LLC wrongly attempts to “blur the lines” between a “database management system” (DBMS) and a “lexical database,” the owner of two disputed patents tells the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
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October 23, 2023
Owner Of Automated Fracking Patent Says Tech Is Novel, Valid
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a new appeal to the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, U.S. Well Services Inc. (USWS) says its patented method for automating hydraulic fracturing “addresses many of the problems stemming from” human “powering and coordinating” of hydraulic fracturing operations and was wrongly declared anticipated and obvious by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
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October 19, 2023
Petitioner: Board Should Have Instituted Review Of Apple Design Patent
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A recent decision by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that denied institution of inter partes review (IPR) of sensor technology used in the Apple Watch conflicts with Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals precedent that a design patentee’s own product can establish functionality, the petitioner maintains in an Oct. 18 request for rehearing by the director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
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October 17, 2023
Patent Owner’s $4.6M Lost Profits Award Tossed By Federal Circuit
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A decision by a federal judge in California to grant, mid-trial, judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) that patented inductor technology is nonobvious was reversed Oct. 16 by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which said the issue should have gone to the jury.
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October 17, 2023
Board Properly Considered Apple’s Analogous Art Clarification, Panel Says
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Although finding “no procedural error” in the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s “handling” of whether two references would be considered as analogous prior art, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Oct. 16 said the board must take a new look at whether one of the references “is (or is not) analogous art and how” such a finding would affect “its overall conclusion” that four dual-aperture camera system patents are obvious.
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October 16, 2023
Supreme Court Grants Certiorari In 2nd Challenge To Chevron Deference
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 13 granted a petition for a writ of certiorari in a second case challenging the doctrine of Chevron deference and ordered that it be briefed on a schedule allowing argument “in tandem” with a pending case pertaining to the same issue, both of which involve challenges to regulations that require fishing vessels to pay federal monitors.
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October 16, 2023
Federal Circuit Vacates, Remands Patent Board Ruling In Win For Sony
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A patented image display system and method that rely on a remote visual server were wrongly confirmed as nonobvious by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals concluded Oct. 13.
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October 16, 2023
Board’s Anticipation, Obviousness Holdings Upheld On Appeal
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A subsidiary of a patent portfolio company on Oct. 13 failed to persuade the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to undo a determination of obviousness and anticipation with regard to a programmable digital device that uses a programmable digital circuit block.
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October 16, 2023
Panel Sends Patent Invalidity Determination Back To California Court
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Because a federal judge in California based her findings of patent invalidity on a since-vacated invalidity determination involving the same patents, a unanimous panel of the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Oct. 13 that the question of validity must be revisited.
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October 13, 2023
Judge: ChatGPT’s Definition Of Foam Not A Home Run In Softball Bat Patent Case
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Because artificial intelligence ChatGPT did not exist in 2019 when a man registered a patent “the court would be taking its eye off the ball if it applied the ChatGPT definition” of foam as used in a patent case involving softball bat designs, a federal judge in South Carolina said while denying a motion for a preliminary injunction enjoining infringement.
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October 13, 2023
Florida Federal Judge: Lexmark Patents Valid, But Not Infringed
TAMPA, Fla. — In assessing competing motions for summary judgment, a federal judge in Florida on Oct. 12 found that Lexmark International Inc. is entitled to a finding that certain of its microchip patents are valid while a defendant is entitled to a finding that certain accused products do not infringe, literally or under the doctrine of equivalents.
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October 12, 2023
In Iron-On Transfer Sheet Patent Case, Panel Summarily Affirms
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s construction of various disputed claim terms in three patents directed to iron-on transfer sheets — and their related finding of patent anticipation — will stand, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Oct. 11.
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October 11, 2023
Patent Owner Seeks Rehearing, Says Review Wrongly Instituted
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s recent decision to institute inter partes review of authentication technology should be revisited, the patent owner asserts in an Oct. 10 filing, because the petition by Microsoft Corp. and another entity failed to construe a “critical” limitation.
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October 10, 2023
Bid For Guidance On Patent Prosecution Laches Rejected By High Court
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In its Oct. 10 order list, the U.S. Supreme Court declined an invitation to weigh in on the doctrine of prosecution laches, a defense to allegations of infringement that becomes available when a patentee unduly delayed prosecuting its patent, resulting in prejudice to the public or an infringer.
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October 10, 2023
Panel Upholds Dismissal Of Antitrust, Patent Claims By Pro Se Plaintiff
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in California did not err in dismissing allegations that Qualcomm Inc. violated antitrust law by tying an infringing central processing unit (CPU) to wireless modems, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said Oct. 10.
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October 06, 2023
Appellant: Patent Board ‘Misunderstood’ Meaning Of ‘Angioplasty’
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The owner of purportedly “groundbreaking” technology related to the treatment of cardiovascular disease maintains on appeal to the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that its patent was wrongly declared obvious by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
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October 06, 2023
New Defendants Added To Texas Patent Litigation 6 Months After Deadline
HOUSTON — A federal magistrate judge in Texas granted a patent owner leave to amend its complaint to add three foreign defendants six months after the deadline for amended pleadings.
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October 05, 2023
Patent Owner Tells PTO Director Board Violated Administrative Procedure Act
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In a request for review by the director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, a patent owner on Oct. 4 asserted that a final written decision (FWD) by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board endorsed a construction of the disputed claim term “accessibility attribute,” which differs “materially” from that advanced in an Apple Inc. petition for inter partes review (IPR) as well as the board itself when instituting IPR.
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October 05, 2023
Appellant: ‘Silence’ Of Prior Art Does Not Provide Motivation To Combine
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an Oct. 4 reply brief filed with the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, a patent owner says the Patent Trial and Appeal Board got it wrong when siding with Apple Inc. in a twice-remanded inter partes review of its noise cancellation technology.
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October 04, 2023
Ohio Case Won’t Be Stayed For Review Of Bird Feeder Patents
CLEVELAND — A plaintiff’s bid to stay its allegations of patent infringement leveled in connection with the manufacture and sale of nine hummingbird feeders failed Oct. 3 when a federal judge in Ohio ruled that the litigation will proceed despite a potential ex parte reexamination by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
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October 04, 2023
Presuit Induced, Willful Infringement Claims Tossed In Patent Row
WILMINGTON, Del. — A federal judge in Delaware said allegations of direct infringement of myriad patents directed to sleep disorder testing and therapy are sufficient to withstand a motion to dismiss but agreed with a defendant that a patent owner’s assertion of induced and willful patent infringement fails.
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October 03, 2023
Board: Mylan Failed To Prove Novo Nordisk Patents Are Obvious
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The Patent Trial and Appeal Board denied institution of inter partes review (IPR) of several claims in two challenged Novo Nordisk A/S patents directed to a modified peptide hormone on Oct. 2.
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October 02, 2023
High Court Turns Away Request For Review Of Patent Eligibility Standard
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court in an Oct. 2 order list denied a petition for a writ of certiorari that posed the question of “whether a new and useful method for measuring a natural phenomenon, that improves upon prior methods for measuring that very same phenomenon, is eligible for patent protection.”
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October 02, 2023
Federal Circuit’s Inter Partes Review Estoppel Holding Will Stand
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court announced Oct. 2 that it will not review an August 2022 ruling by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that inter partes review (IPR) estoppel bars a patent infringement defendant from asserting invalidity in Texas federal litigation.
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October 02, 2023
Panel: Patent Infringement Defendant Can Challenge Venue After Final Judgment
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A determination by a federal judge in Texas that a defendant’s lease of office space after it was accused of patent infringement constitutes a “regular and established place of business” will not be disturbed, for now, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Sept. 29.