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Mealey's Patents

  • January 17, 2020

    Patent Owner Argues Against Construction Proposed By Microsoft

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A patent owner on Jan. 7 maintained before the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that a Delaware federal magistrate judge arrived at an incorrect construction of a disputed claim term in a patent infringement lawsuit over the “Bing” search engine (Improved Search LLC v. Microsoft Corp., No. 19-1961, Fed. Cir.).

  • January 17, 2020

    Patented Data Security For Removable Devices Not Obvious, Owner Says

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In a Jan. 15 patent owner response, a computer hardware and security company asserts that prior art relied upon by a petitioner for inter partes review (IPR) and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, in instituting IPR, does not render its invention obvious to a person of skill in the art (POSITA) (Trend Micro Inc. v. CUPP Computing AS, No. IPR2019-00803, PTAB).

  • January 16, 2020

    Relief Affirmed, In Part, In LEGO Patent, Trademark Copyright Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a Jan. 15 ruling, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals found that a federal judge in Connecticut did not abuse his discretion in granting LEGO A/S a preliminary injunction barring a competitor from selling action figures that infringe LEGO’s “minifigure” copyrights (LEGO A/S v. ZURU Inc., No. 19-2122, Fed. Cir., 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 1282).

  • January 16, 2020

    VirnetX’s Response Requested To Apple’s Certiorari Bid In $439 Million Patent Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Less than two weeks after VirnetX Inc. waived its right to respond to Apple Inc.’s petition for certiorari in a suit where Apple was hit with a $439 million damages judgment, the U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 14 asked the respondent to file its answers to questions raised about patent apportionment and invalidation (Apple Inc. v. VirnetX Inc., et al., No. 19-832, U.S. Sup.).

  • January 16, 2020

    Apple Prevails In Review Of Qualcomm Interactive Display System Patent

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The Patent Trial and Appeal Board in a Jan. 15 final written decision agreed with Apple Inc. that all four claims of a Qualcomm patent would have been obvious to a person of skill in the art (Apple Inc. v. Qualcomm Corp., No. IPR2018-01245, PTAB).

  • January 15, 2020

    Rehearing Denied In Dispute Over Patent Board Remand Action

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — An August finding by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that it lacks jurisdiction over allegations that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board violated SAS Institute, Inc. v. Iancu when, on remand, it issued a discretionary denial of three petitions for inter partes review (IPR) will stand, the Federal Circuit announced Jan. 13 (BioDelivery Sciences International Inc. v. Aquestive Therapeutics Inc., Nos. 2019-1643, -1644, -1645, Fed. Cir., 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 1030).

  • January 15, 2020

    Patent Owner Critiques Google Petition For Inter Partes Review

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In a Jan. 13 patent owner response, IPA Technologies Inc. defended its digital assistant and speech-based navigation technology as groundbreaking (Google LLC v. IPA Technologies Inc., No. IPR2019-00734, PTAB).

  • January 14, 2020

    High Court Won’t Hear Dispute Over Patented Schizophrenia Drug

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In its Jan. 13 order list, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a petition for certiorari that poses the question of whether method-of-treatment patent claims automatically satisfy Section 101 of the Patent Act, even if they consist only of application of natural law using routine steps (Hikma Pharmaceuticals USA Inc., et al. v. Vanda Pharmaceuticals USA Inc., No. 18-817, U.S. Sup.).

  • January 14, 2020

    Appellant: Board Erred In Analysis Of Prior Art In Patent Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a Dec. 23 reply brief, an unsuccessful inter partes review (IPR) petitioner tells the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board erred when it upheld as patentable various claims of a technique for testing electronic circuits with a laser (Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. v. SEMICAPS Pte. Ltd., No. 19-1890, Fed. Cir.).

  • January 13, 2020

    High Court Turns Away Petition In Fight Over Section 101 Standard

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court in its Jan. 13 orders list denied a request for certiorari in which HP Inc. maintains that the two-step test for patent eligibility under Section 101 of the Patent Act is a question of law, only for courts to decide (HP Inc. v. Steven E. Berkheimer, No. 18-415, U.S. Sup.).

  • January 13, 2020

    Federal Circuit: Final Judgment In Patent Dispute Not Appealable

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 10 rejected efforts by a patent owner to seek review of a final judgment in favor of patent infringement defendant CBS Corp. (Personal Audio LLC v. CBS Corporation, No. 18-2256, Fed. Cir., 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 729).

  • January 09, 2020

    Federal Circuit Affirms: Hospira Dexmedetomidine Patents Are Invalid

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A panel of the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 9 found no clear error in an Illinois federal judge’s holding that a single claim of a Hospira Inc. patent relating to dexmedetomidine would be obvious to a person of skill in the art (POSA) (Hospira Inc. v. Fresenius Kabi USA LLC, Nos. 2019-1329, -1367, Fed. Cir., 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 545).

  • January 09, 2020

    Sonos Says Google Willfully Infringes Wireless Speaker Patents

    LOS ANGELES — In a Jan. 7 complaint filed in California federal court, Google LLC is accused of generating “billions of dollars in revenue” by integrating, without permission, a plaintiff’s patented wireless audio technology in more than a dozen infringing products, including the Google Home Mini (Sonos Inc. v. Google LLC, No. 20-169, C.D. Calif.).

  • January 09, 2020

    In California, Mortgage Loan Origination Patent Deemed Ineligible

    LOS ANGELES — In a Jan. 6 in-chambers order, a federal judge in California declared a patent relating to online loan origination ineligible for patenting under Section 101 of the Patent Act, 35 U.S.C. § 101 (Mortgage Application Technologies LLC v. MeridianLink Inc., No. 19-704, C.D. Calif.).

  • January 09, 2020

    Petitioner Reiterates To Board: Ballot-Marking Device Patent Obvious

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In a Jan. 7 petitioner reply to a patent owner response, a voting system company maintains that inter partes review (IPR) of a patented ballot-marking device is warranted because the claimed technology would be obvious to a person of skill in the art (Smartmatic USA Corp. v. Election Systems & Software LLC, No. IPR2019-00531, PTAB).

  • January 08, 2020

    Uber, Lyft Denied Dismissal Of Patent Allegations In Delaware

    WILMINGTON, Del. — In a Jan. 6 memorandum, a federal judge in Delaware detailed the reasoning behind her Dec. 20 bench ruling denying a motion to dismiss a patent infringement action against Uber Technology Inc. and Lyft Inc. (Blackbird Technologies v. Uber Technologies Inc., No. 19-561, -566, D. Del., 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1310).

  • January 08, 2020

    In Sensipar Patent Row, Federal Circuit Vacates Noninfringement Holding

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Delaware federal judge’s incorrect claim construction led to an erroneous finding of noninfringement, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held Jan. 7 in a win for patent owner Amgen Inc., maker of the drug “Sensipar” (Amgen Inc. v. Amneal Pharmaceuticals LLC, et al., Nos. 2018-2414, 2019-1086, Fed. Cir., 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 245).

  • January 07, 2020

    Google Prevails Before Federal Circuit In Keypad Patent Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Findings by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that a reissue patent relating to device keypads is not obvious were reversed Jan. 6 by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals (Google LLC v. Koninklijke Philips N.V., No. 19-1234, Fed. Cir., 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 138).

  • January 02, 2020

    Patent Owner Defends Board’s Rejection Of Obviousness Theory

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The owner of three patents relating to an implantable medical device on Dec. 3 told the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board correctly upheld as patentable various claims directed to open-ended implants (Merck, Sharp & Dohme Corp. v. Microspherix LLC, Nos. 19-2197, -2200, -2208, Fed. Cir.).

  • January 02, 2020

    Panel Agrees: No Motivation To Combine Prior Art References

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A final written decision by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that a patent relating to a side-by-side vehicle with a continuously variable transmission and an air inlet located on the side panel was not proven obvious by a petitioner for inter partes review (IPR) was affirmed Dec. 23 by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals (Arctic Cat Inc. v. Polaris Industries Inc., No. 19-1440, Fed. Cir., 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 38157).