Newsletter RSS

Mealey's Patents

  • April 17, 2024

    2 Claims Of 2 Fortinet Patents Declared Ineligible By California Federal Judge

    SAN FRANCISCO — A defendant won partial judgment on the pleadings on April 16 when a California federal judge agreed that two claims of two Fortinet cybersecurity patents recite the abstract ideas of disabling security for trusted communication and performing tasks in a sequential order, while both lack sufficient inventiveness to be considered patent eligible.

  • April 17, 2024

    Toyota: Automobile User Profiles Were Already Taught By Prior Art

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A petition for inter partes review (IPR) by Toyota Motor Corp. takes aim at a patent that purportedly was the first to teach setting and transferring a user profile, including preferred radio, seat and temperature settings, to a “compatible” vehicle.

  • April 15, 2024

    Corrected Judgment Entered After $525M Awarded In Patent Case

    CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois on April 12 entered a corrected judgment two days after jurors awarded a plaintiff $525 million in damages for infringement by Amazon Web Services Inc. of three information storage and retrieval patents.

  • April 15, 2024

    Patent Covering Toddler Dining Mat Could Be Unenforceable, Panel Rules

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 12 said a cross-appellant was wrongly cleared by a Louisiana federal judge of allegations that it committed inequitable conduct before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO).

  • April 12, 2024

    Federal Circuit Upholds Outcome Of Bench Trial In Antibiotic Patent Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A final judgment by a federal judge in Delaware directing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to delay approval of generic rifaximin until three patents covering the antibiotic Xifaxan expire was affirmed April 11 by a three-judge panel of the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • April 12, 2024

    Board Win For Netflix Preserved After Panel Agreed Patent Is Obvious

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A final written decision (FWD) by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that canceled various claims of a patented method for switching network connections during the receipt of digital media content will not be disturbed, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled April 12.

  • April 10, 2024

    Pharma Companies Seek High Court Review Of Ruling Reversing FCA Suit Dismissal

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Pharmaceutical companies accused of violating the False Claims Act (FCA) by artificially inflating drug prices filed a petition for writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking review of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ reversal of a district court’s dismissal of a qui tam suit against them, arguing, in part, that the panel “created a circuit split by holding that a relator can avoid the public disclosure bar by ‘stitching together’ public disclosures.”

  • April 10, 2024

    Siding With Google, Board Says Ad Insertion Method, System Patent Is Obvious

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In an April 9 final written decision (FWD), the Patent Trial and Appeal Board declared 13 claims of a patented method and system for inserting advertisements into broadcast content across platforms and devices obvious to a person of skill in the art (POSITA).

  • April 09, 2024

    Patent Owner: Retractable Arrowhead Blades Not Found In Prior Art

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A patent owner in a preliminary response filed April 8 with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board accuses a petitioner for inter partes review (IPR) of an arrowhead patent of failing “to understand the structural differences” between a blade member and a barb.

  • April 09, 2024

    In Patent Row Over Motorized Dumbbell, Fitness Equipment Company Weighs In

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Assertions of novelty by the owner of motorized dumbbell technology declared ineligible for patenting by a Utah federal judge are “contradicted by the claims and specification” of the patent itself, iFIT Inc. says in an April 8 appellee brief filed with the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • April 08, 2024

    Federal Circuit Summarily Affirms Patent Board In Win For Intel Corp.

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A per curiam panel of the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 8 upheld cancellation by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of various claims of a VLSI Technology LLC patent directed to power reduction.

  • April 08, 2024

    Walmart Beats Patent Challenge By BJ’s In Inter Partes Review

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has rejected allegations by BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings Inc. that a Walmart Apollo LLC patent is taught by the combined teachings of three prior art references.

  • April 08, 2024

    Cancellation Of Patented Dosing Regimen Vacated, Appeal Declared Moot

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 5 said an appeal of a final written decision (FWD) by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that declared obvious a patented lurasidone dosing regimen is mooted by the expiration of the patent and representations by counsel that an appellant no longer has an interest in exercising its right to exclude, including by seeking damages for pre-expiration infringement.

  • April 05, 2024

    Panel: System, Method For Viewing Large Medical Images Is Patent-Ineligible

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a blow to the creators of a platform that allows medical personnel to view magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans and other large-data medical images on computers and devices with low bandwidth, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 4 agreed with a federal judge in Delaware that the claimed technology is not eligible for patenting.

  • April 04, 2024

    Board Violated APA When Canceling Claims, Patent Owner Tells Federal Circuit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals should set aside a final written decision (FWD) by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that canceled all challenged claims of an electric power grid management patent because the board relied on a theory of invalidity not explicitly raised by Unified Patents LLC’s petition for inter partes review (IPR), a patent owner says.

  • April 04, 2024

    Patented Binaural Sound Tech Not Obvious, Owner Argues To Patent Board

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The prior art relied on by Meta Platforms Inc. in an inter partes review (IPR) instituted in December fails to establish obviousness, the owner of the challenged patent maintains in a response filed April 3 with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

  • April 03, 2024

    Win For Microsoft Preserved By Federal Circuit In Dispute Over 3D Patent

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A final written decision (FWD) by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that declared obvious various claims of a patented method for viewing three-dimensional (3D) images will stand, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled April 3.

  • April 03, 2024

    Supreme Court Turns Down Another Challenge To Abstractness Standard

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A machine company whose technology was deemed patent-ineligible has become the latest party to fail to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit its decade-old standard for assessing the abstractness of patent claims.

  • April 03, 2024

    Accused Of Infringement, Aldi Prevails When Judge Declares Patents Ineligible

    CHICAGO — Three patents touted for providing shoppers with the ability to locate branded products in the vicinity via their mobile device recite the abstract idea of collecting, analyzing and displaying information, a federal judge in Illinois has ruled.

  • April 02, 2024

    New Jersey Federal Judge Must Revisit Schizophrenia Drug Patent Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 1 remanded a dispute over the validity of a patent directed to an injectable treatment for adult schizophrenia, with the court finding that a New Jersey federal judge’s “misunderstanding of claim scope carried throughout” her obviousness analysis.

  • April 02, 2024

    Pandora Prevails, Panel Agrees: Asserted Patents Ineligible For Protection

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has upheld a judgment of patent ineligibility entered by a California federal judge, agreeing that all claims of three patents asserted against the music streaming service Pandora Media LLC are directed to “nonpatentable subject matter.”

  • March 29, 2024

    Panel Orders New Patent Validity Trial, Says Jurors Wrongly Instructed

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has reinstated a dispute over the validity of patented tamper-resistant containers, agreeing with a patent owner that a Massachusetts federal judge gave an erroneous jury instruction on the objective indicia of nonobviousness.

  • March 29, 2024

    In Dispute Over Patented Medical Device, Panel Upholds Denial Of Relief

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Findings by a federal judge in California that substantial questions surround the validity of a patented heart valve testing device at the center of an infringement action will not be disturbed, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled March 28.

  • March 29, 2024

    Blockchain Technology Correctly Declared Patent-Ineligible, Panel Says

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has upheld a New York federal judge’s determination that a patented “framework” for determining and recording the unique pattern of imperfections on a gemstone to a blockchain recites the abstract idea of gathering and storing data.

  • March 28, 2024

    Federal Circuit: WesternGeco Framework Controls In Cases With Foreign Damages

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Illinois did not abuse her discretion in denying a patent owner a new damages trial, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled March 27, rejecting an appellant’s claim that it was entitled to recover hundreds of millions of dollars, not the $6,610,985 it was awarded, but that its efforts to be awarded a higher amount were thwarted when a defendant refused to elaborate on how it was counting infringements.