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Mealey's Patents

  • July 29, 2021

    Google Persuades Federal Judge Tracking Technology Is Ineligible For Patenting

    NEW YORK — In a July 28 order, a federal judge in New York granted Google LLC’s motion to dismiss allegations that the Google Maps platform infringes four patents relating to location history and tracking.

  • July 29, 2021

    Target Hits Back At Patent Owner In Brief Before Federal Circuit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a July 21 appellee brief, Target Corp. defended a Texas federal judge’s determination that patented location-based trigger technology is invalid as indefinite.

  • July 28, 2021

    Panel Agrees: Patent Board Violated Qualcomm Procedural Rights

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a July 27 ruling, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said the Patent Trial and Appeal Board failed to provide Qualcomm Inc. notice or an adequate opportunity to respond to the board’s construction of a limitation in a patent relating to power tracking supply voltage.

  • July 28, 2021

    Teeth-Scanning Patent Should Be Canceled, Petitioner Tells Board

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A dental 3D scanner company accused of infringing a patented method and system for scanning teeth prior to a dental procedure responded to the accusation by petitioning the Patent Trial and Appeal Board for inter partes review on July 26.

  • July 23, 2021

    Federal Circuit Remands, Reverses In Dispute Over Proppant Container Patent

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In declaring various claims of a patent directed to a container for proppant used during hydraulic fracturing obvious, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board relied on a new theory not previously raised by a petitioner for inter partes review (IPR), requiring reversal, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled July 23.

  • July 22, 2021

    Facebook Takes Aim At Content Management Patent In New Petition

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A patent asserted against Facebook Inc. in California federal court should be canceled as obvious, the social media giant tells the Patent Trial and Appeal Board in a July 20 petition.

  • July 22, 2021

    Petitioner Tells Patent Board Automated Solar Panel Tech Is Obvious

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A claimed “watchdog system” that shuts down or modifies a solar panel system during breakdowns in communication between a central and local controller is unpatentable, a petitioner for inter partes review.

  • July 22, 2021

    Processor Sleep State Patent Singled Out For Inter Partes Review

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A patent reciting a reduction in static power consumption by a processor during a clock stoppage that nonetheless allows the processor to maintain its powered-on state would have been obvious to a person of skill in the art (POSITA), a petitioner for inter partes review (IPR) told the Patent Trial and Appeal Board on July 20.

  • July 22, 2021

    Competing Mattress Companies Square Off In Federal Circuit Patent Appeal

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The maker of the “Sleep Number” mattress told the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 20 that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board did not err when reviewing expert opinion relating to the secondary indicia of nonobviousness offered in California federal litigation during an inter partes review (IPR) of two patents directed to systems and methods for adjusting air pressure.

  • July 22, 2021

    Patent Owner Says Board Violated APA, Wrongly Construed Claims

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an appellant brief filed July 19 with the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, a patent owner maintains that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board relied on “paper thin,” “untimely” and “out-of-context arguments” when it declared five claims of a patented display system anticipated by prior art.

  • July 21, 2021

    Federal Circuit Vacates, Remands Patent Board Obviousness Determination

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rejection by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of 13 proposed patent claims relating to a plug capable of withstanding high pressures was vacated and remanded July 20 by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • July 20, 2021

    Panel Says Jurisdiction Lacking Over Appeal Of Patent Injunction

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Failure by a patent infringement defendant to appeal a preliminary injunction entered by an Illinois federal judge precludes the defendant from now appealing a subsequent finding that the defendant’s redesigned product also infringes, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled July 20.

  • July 20, 2021

    In Rhode Island Patent, Trade Secret Case, Scope Of Retrial Established

    PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A federal judge in Rhode Island on July 16 clarified that a planned retrial on allegations of trade secret misappropriation will be limited to an algorithm for converting photometric measurements; in the same ruling, the judge rejected a bid by a defendant to recoup the attorney fees it incurred in successfully defending allegations of patent infringement.

  • July 20, 2021

    Delaware Federal Judge Limits Willful Damages To Post-Suit Infringement

    WILMINGTON, Del. — The owner of patented robotic surgery devices can seek willful damages only with regard to post-suit infringement by a competitor, a federal judge in Delaware ruled July 19, rejecting the plaintiff’s allegations of presuit knowledge by the defendant.

  • July 19, 2021

    Panel Affirms Summary Judgment That Flash Memory Patents Are Invalid

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a July 14 holding, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals found no error in a determination by a Texas federal judge that two patents allegedly infringed by Intel Corp. are invalid for lack of written description.

  • July 19, 2021

    Panel Turns Away Challenge To Collateral Estoppel Holding

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a July 19 summary disposition, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals left intact an Illinois federal judge’s ruling that a dispute over two patents disclosing a device designed to secure portable electronic devices is barred by collateral estoppel in view of the invalidation by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of two related patents owned by a plaintiff.

  • July 19, 2021

    Panel Says Wireless Surveillance Tech Is Ineligible For Patenting

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Five patents directed to systems and methods for wireless surveillance claim ineligible subject matter under Section 101 of the Patent Act, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed July 14.

  • July 15, 2021

    Copyright, Patent Disclosures Don’t Doom Trade Secret Claims

    SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California on July 14 rejected as premature allegations by various trade secret misappropriation defendants that the claimed information is unentitled to trade secret protection because it was disclosed in patent applications and a copyright deposit.

  • July 14, 2021

    Panel Agrees:  Mobile Application Creator Ineligible For Patenting

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a July 13 holding, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a California federal judge’s determination that an invention that purportedly allows “technically unsophisticated users” to create mobile applications recites patent-ineligible subject matter.

  • July 13, 2021

    Claim Constructions By Texas Federal Judge Disputed By Patent Owner

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a June 29 appellant brief filed with the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, the owner of two patents relating to signal processing techniques asserts that a federal judge in Texas erroneously construed a variety of claim terms, leading to a jury verdict in favor of Google LLC.