We use cookies on this site to enable your digital experience. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our cookie policy. close
Newsletter RSS

Mealey's Patents

  • May 17, 2019

    Summary Judgment Ruling In Trade Secret Suit Against PepsiCo Affirmed On Appeal

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on May 16 ruled that a federal district court did not err in granting summary judgment in favor of PepsiCo Inc. and several of its affiliates on claims that they misappropriated another company’s aroma release technology trade secrets in developing their own in-house technology for failure to plead the necessary causation and damages required to sustain their breach of contract and trade secret misappropriation claims (ScentSational Technologies LLC v. PepsiCo Inc., et al., No. 2018-2091, Fed. Cir. 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 14477).

  • May 17, 2019

    Government: Patent Risk Firm Lacked Standing To Appeal After Inter Partes Review

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a requested amicus curiae brief filed May 9, the U.S. solicitor general tells the U.S. Supreme Court that a “patent risk management” company that initiated an unsuccessful inter partes review (IPR) of another company’s patent did not have standing to appeal the results of the review to the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals because it had no interest in the patent and had suffered no injury from the IPR (RPX Corp. v. ChanBond LLC, No. 17-1686, U.S. Sup.).

  • May 17, 2019

    Board Institutes Review Of Medical Data Recording Patent

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A petition for inter partes review (IPR) of 19 claims of a patented system for recording medical data was instituted May 15 by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, which found that a petitioner demonstrated a “reasonable likelihood” that it will prevail on its allegation of obviousness (Altamont Software Inc. v. Sorna Corporation, No. IPR2019-00218, PTAB).

  • May 17, 2019

    Appellee Defends Board’s Obviousness Findings In Federal Circuit Brief

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Intel Corp. recently told the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that contrary to allegations made in a February appellant brief, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board correctly declared all challenged claims of a voltage regulator patent obvious (R2 Semiconductor Inc. v. Intel Corporation, No. 19-1031, Fed. Cir.).

  • May 16, 2019

    Federal Circuit Reverses, Says ‘Vimovo’ Patents Insufficiently Descriptive

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A New Jersey federal judge’s finding that two patents covering the pain-reliever drug “Vimovo” are adequately described under Section 112 of the Patent Act, 35 U.S.C. § 112, was reversed May 15 by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals (Nuvo Pharmaceuticals v. Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Inc., et al., No. 17-2473, Fed. Cir., 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 14345).

  • May 15, 2019

    PayPal, Others Seek Inter Partes Review Of File Identification Patent

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A patent directed to determining a name for a file based on a function of the file contents and determining whether the file is present on a computer would have been obvious to a person of skill in the art, PayPal Inc. asserts in a May 14 request for inter partes review (IPR) by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PayPal Inc., et al. v. PersonalWeb Technologies LLC, No. IPR2019-01093, PTAB).

  • May 15, 2019

    Panel Agrees With Lower Court: Cancer Fighting Patent Is Valid

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A patented method of using the compound everolimus to treat advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) was confirmed as valid May 13 by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a win for Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. and Novartis AG (Novartis, collectively) (Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp., et al. v. West-Ward Pharmaceuticals International Ltd., No. 18-1434, Fed. Cir., 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 14122).

  • May 14, 2019

    Patent Owner To Panel: Board Relied On Overly Broad Construction

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a May 9 brief filed with the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, an appellant maintains that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board erred in deeming 18 claims of a patented apparatus for improving solid-state imaging devices obvious (Collabo Innovations Inc. v. Sony Corporation, No. 19-1152, Fed. Cir.).

  • May 13, 2019

    Low-Bandwidth Image Retrieval Patents Are Obvious, Panel Affirms

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a May 13 ruling, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld two final written decisions by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that declared technology relating to a process for retrieving largescale images in low-bandwidth conditions unpatentable as obvious (Bradium Technologies Inc. v. Andrei Iancu, as Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Nos. 2017-2579, -2580, Fed. Cir.).

  • May 13, 2019

    Patent Defendant Wins Judgment On The Pleadings In Delaware

    WILMINGTON, Del. — In a May 9 decision a Delaware federal judge agreed with a patent defendant that a plaintiff’s claims of infringement under the doctrine of equivalents are barred by the disclosure-dedication doctrine (Eagle Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. Slayback Pharma LLC, No. 18-1953, D. Del., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 78146).

  • May 13, 2019

    Request To Stay Patent Case Denied By California Federal Judge

    SAN FRANCISCO — Allegations that Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. infringe a patent relating to data indexing will proceed, a California federal judge ruled May 9, lifting a stay entered in 2013 (Software Rights Archive LLC v. Facebook Inc., No. 12-3970; Software Rights Archive LLC v. Twitter Inc., No. 12-3972, N.D. Calif., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 79674).

  • May 10, 2019

    California Federal Judge Dismisses Patent Case As Moot

    LOS ANGELES — In a May 9 order, a California federal judge ruled that cancellation of four claims of a ridesharing patent by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board renders pre-existing infringement litigation over the same patent moot (Transport Technologies LLC v. L.A. Metro Transportation Authority, No. 15-6423, C.D. Calif., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 78793).

  • May 9, 2019

    Noninfringement Finding In Biologics Dispute Affirmed By Panel

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A California federal judge’s determination that a Sandoz Inc. filgrastim biosimilar and proposed pegfilgrastim biosimilar product do not infringe an Amgen patent relating to Neupogen and Neulasta was not erroneous, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled May 8 (Amgen Inc., et al., v. Sandoz Inc., No. 18-1551, Fed. Cir., 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 13738).

  • May 8, 2019

    Amazon Tells Board To Cancel 13 Claims Of University’s Patent

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A patent belonging to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) that claims a searchable database using natural language input recites subject matter that would have been obvious to a person of skill in the art, Amazon.com Inc. asserts in a May 7 petition for inter partes review (IPR) by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (Amazon.com Inc. v. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, No. IPR2019-01069, PTAB).

  • May 7, 2019

    Broadcom Digital Decoding Patent Is Obvious, Petitioner Tells Board

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In a May 6 petition for inter partes review (IPR), Renesas Electronics Corp. maintains before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that seven claims of a Broadcom Inc. patent should be canceled (Renesas Electronics Corporation v. Broadcom Inc., No. IPR2019-01040, PTAB).

  • May 7, 2019

    Federal Judge: Insurer Has Duty To Defend Creamery Against Infringement Suit

    HARRISBURG, Pa. — A Pennsylvania federal judge on May 6 held that a commercial general liability insurer has a duty to defend Hershey Creamery Co. against an underlying lawsuit alleging that the ice cream manufacturer unlawfully copied a competitor’s self-serve milkshake machine and its related marketing designs, display and verbiage (Hershey Creamery Company v. Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Co., et al., No. 18-694, M.D. Pa., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 75760).

  • May 7, 2019

    Divided Federal Circuit Affirms: Painkiller Patent Is Not Invalid

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a May 3 divided ruling, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a Delaware federal judge’s findings that assertions of patent invalidity raised by two generic drug makers in connection with the painkiller Opana fail (Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc., et al. v. Actavis LLC, et al., No. 18-1054, Fed. Cir., 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 13348).

  • May 6, 2019

    Jury Awards Company $6.5M In Damages In Trade Secrets Dispute

    PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A federal jury in Rhode Island on May 3 awarded an Italian company $6.5 million in damages after finding that its former employee and competitor misappropriated certain of its trade secret information for its erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) analyzer technology (Alifax Holding SpA v. Alcor Scientific Inc., et al., No. 14-440, D. R.I.).

  • May 6, 2019

    Panel Affirms Rejected Patent Application On Obviousness Grounds

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on May 1 upheld a decision by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that adopted an examiner’s rejection of three claims of a patent application relating to electroplating metals or alloys (In re:  Uri Cohen, No. 18-1609, Fed. Cir., 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 13133).

  • May 6, 2019

    Panel: Post-Patent Complaint Copyright Claims Not Precluded

    SAN FRANCISCO — Although agreeing with a California federal magistrate judge that copyright claims levied against Microsoft Corp. that involve conduct taking place before the filing of a 2013 patent infringement action are subject to claim preclusion, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 2 found that a plaintiff may proceed with allegations that the software giant continued to infringe its copyrights through sales taking place after the patent case was filed (Media Rights Technologies Inc. v. Microsoft Corp., No. 17-16509, 9th Cir., 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 13239).