Mealey's Patents
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June 16, 2022
Patent Owner To Panel: Video Encryption System Is Not Obvious
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A patent owner in a June 6 appellee brief urges the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reject an appeal by Netflix Inc. of findings by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that various claims of a method for encryption key distribution are patentable.
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June 15, 2022
Patented Metafile- Generating Method Is Obvious, Petitioner Says
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A server that receives a request for a media file from a client computer and then provides a metafile in response is not patentable and should be canceled, a petitioner for inter partes review (IPR) told the Patent Trial and Appeal Board June 13.
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June 14, 2022
Biometric Authentication System Is Obvious, Petitioners Tell Board
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In two petitions for inter partes review (IPR) filed June 13, a Swedish door and access control company and its subsidiaries take aim at a patent directed to identity authentication, and request that the petitions be combined.
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June 13, 2022
Toyota: Iterative Data Selection Technology Is Obvious, Anticipated
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In a June 10 petition for inter partes review filed with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, Toyota Motor Corp. and a co-petitioner seek cancellation of 14 claims of a patent that recites two iterations for selecting data for transmission on user equipment (UE), such as a cell phone.
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June 13, 2022
Certiorari Bid Denied In Challenge To Alice Patent Eligibility Test
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court announced June 13 that it will not hear a case that questioned the continuing viability of the court’s 2014 ruling in Alice Corp. Pty. V. CLS Bank Int’l, which established a two-step test for determining patent eligibility.
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June 13, 2022
Owner Of Surgical Stapler Patents: Tech Wrongly Invalidated By Board
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a June 8 reply brief, an appellant tells the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board acted arbitrarily when it refused to consider the patent owner’s assertion that prior art must provide the ability to articulate, rotate and provide tactile feedback to render a surgical stapler and robotic surgical fastener system unpatentable.
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June 10, 2022
Instant Messaging Patents Recite Abstract Idea, California Federal Judge Rules
SAN FRANCISCO — Slack Technologies Inc., maker of business messaging software, on June 8 won dismissal of allegations of patent infringement leveled in connection with two patents relating to an instant messaging system.
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June 09, 2022
Application To Patent Edible Toy Correctly Rejected, Panel Says
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a June 8 holding, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld an examiner’s rejection of an application to patent a “comestible kit” as indefinite.
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June 08, 2022
Sonos Wins Leave To Amend, Can Assert Willful Infringement By Google
SAN FRANCISCO — After the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals recently denied petitions for interlocutory appeal of a March order that dismissed a claim for enhanced damages of three patents, the patent owner on June 7 was granted leave to amend.
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June 08, 2022
Oregon Federal Judge Turns Away Challenge To Patent Eligibility
PORTLAND, Ore. — Efforts by a defendant to obtain dismissal of allegations it infringed two patents covering a “Smart Cart” failed June 7 when a federal judge in Oregon said the technology is not directed to an abstract idea.
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June 06, 2022
Federal Circuit Upholds Rejection Of Application To Patent Bleach Product
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A patent applicant on June 2 failed to persuade the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that his patented method of removing stains from fabric is not anticipated by prior art.
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June 06, 2022
Enhanced Compensatory Damages Award Affirmed In Flash Memory Row
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in California did not err in awarding enhanced patent damages in a dispute over a rotary cover for a flash memory drive, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled June 3.
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June 03, 2022
Panel Affirms Board Decision Upholding Patent As Not Indefinite
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Patent Trial and Appeal Board did not err in declaring an audio-conferencing patent not indefinite, nor in denying a petitioner for inter partes review (IPR) of that patent its request for sanctions against the patent owner, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled June 1.
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June 02, 2022
Winch Maker Says Supreme Court Should Resolve Patent Suit Markman Uncertainty
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Responding to an amicus curiae brief in which the United States recommended that its petition for certiorari be denied, a winch manufacturer on May 24 filed a supplemental brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve confusion that has existed in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ decisions in recent years over the delegation of claim construction duties per Markman v. Westview Instruments, Inc. and the Seventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
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June 02, 2022
Government Recommends No Certiorari For Apple In Patent Standing Dispute
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals correctly found that Apple Inc. lacks standing under Article III of the U.S. Constitution to challenge the validity of two patents it allegedly infringed, the United States tells the U.S. Supreme Court in a requested May 24 amicus curiae brief, opining that Apple’s petition for certiorari should be denied because the appeals court’s ruling was “case-specific” and focused on a license agreement that resolved the underlying patent infringement suit.
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June 01, 2022
Patent Owner Disputes Ineligibility Holding By California Federal Judge
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a May 6 appellant brief filed with the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, a software company says its patented accounting system was erroneously declared ineligible following an improper application of the two-step test set forth in Alice Corp. Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank Int’l.
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May 31, 2022
Judge: Damages Expert Can Assume Infringement As Basis For Conclusions
MARSHALL, Texas — An expert on damages in a patent infringement dispute can assume that the infringement took place as a basis for forming a conclusion, a Texas federal magistrate judge ruled May 25, denying a motion to exclude.
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May 31, 2022
United States Backs Certiorari In Dispute Over Patent Eligibility
WASHINGTON, D.C. — One year after the U.S. Supreme Court asked the U.S. solicitor general (SG) to weigh in on questions of patentability under Section 101 of the Patent Act, the United States on May 24 filed an amicus curiae brief supporting the petitioner’s bid for certiorari and opining that the present infringement lawsuit “is a suitable vehicle for providing greater clarity” about the two-step framework “for determining whether a patent claim is ‘directed to’ a patent-ineligible concept.”
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May 26, 2022
Judge Allows More Discovery In UCL, Patent Dispute Between Meat Substitute Makers
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California federal judge on May 24 granted a meat substitute maker’s application for discovery from another meat substitute company into the intent of emails sent to an investor alleging trade secret misappropriation pertaining to one company’s patent, leading both parties to file complaints accusing each other of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL).
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May 26, 2022
In Blow To Cornell, Panel Affirms That Phytase Patents Are Invalid
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Final written decisions by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board in six inter partes reviews (IPRs) that a patented method of producing phytase is anticipated or obvious were upheld May 24 by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.