Mealey's Patents

  • March 18, 2024

    Federal Circuit Won’t Stand In The Way Of Intel License Counterclaim

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A bid by VLSI Technology LLC for reversal of a California federal judge’s decision to allow Intel Corp. to amend its pleadings in a protracted patent battle between the parties has failed, with the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 18 denying VLSI’s petition for a writ of mandamus.

  • March 15, 2024

    Inventorship Correction Ordered By Virginia Federal Judge Will Stand

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 15 upheld an order by a federal judge in Virginia that mandated a correction of inventorship for a patented container for transporting gaseous fluids.

  • March 15, 2024

    Federal Circuit Upholds Win For IRobot In Patent Row With SharkNinja

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A final written decision (FWD) by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that confirmed as patentable an autonomous floor-cleaning robot vacuum will not be disturbed, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said March 15.

  • March 15, 2024

    Presuit, Not Post-Suit, Willful Patent Infringement Claims Tossed In Texas

    MARSHALL, Texas — Comcast Corp. failed to win dismissal, outright, of allegations that it willfully infringed three video playback patents, with a federal judge in Texas concluding March 14 that claims of post-suit willfulness against the streaming service and cable provider are adequately pleaded.

  • March 13, 2024

    Petitioner To Board: Patent Owner Should Be Sanctioned For Discovery Abuses

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In a March 12 motion to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, petitioners for inter partes review (IPR) seek an order barring a patent owner from arguing that the commercial success of its WeatherTech vehicle floor liner products — and related praise that the floor mats have received in the automobile industry — supports a finding of nonobviousness.

  • March 13, 2024

    Board Grants Post-Grant Review Of Honeywell Aircraft Tracking Patent

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A petition for post-grant review (PGR) will likely prevail on at least one of its three challenges to a Honeywell International Inc. patent directed to “systems for detecting, tracking, and docking aircraft in a taxiway, apron, or ramp area of an airport,” including that the process claimed by the patentee can be performed by the human mind, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board has ruled.

  • March 12, 2024

    Crocs Must Face Defamation Claims In Colorado Over Patent Press Release

    DENVER — Allegations by a Canadian shoe seller and former patent infringement defendant that it was defamed in a press release by Crocs Inc. that touted a settlement of their longstanding litigation as a “judgment of infringement” were deemed plausible on March 11 by a federal judge in Colorado.

  • March 11, 2024

    Board Issues New Ground Of Rejection For Proposed ‘Medical Avatar’ Patent

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The Patent Trial and Appeal Board on March 11 disagreed with an examiner that all 21 claims of an application to patent a “method of using a simulation of a patient’s anatomy for engaging the patient” are anticipated by an application to patent a “medical avatar” but said that three of those claims are nonetheless rendered obvious by the same reference.

  • March 11, 2024

    Patent Owner Wins Interest, But No Enhancement Of $42M Jury Award

    MINNEAPOLIS — A federal judge in Minnesota on March 8 denied a bid by the owner of a lighted artificial tree patent for enhanced damages after its win at trial in January.

  • March 08, 2024

    Trade Secret Disclosed In Patent Is Public Knowledge, Interlocutory Appellant Says

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In corrected opening and response briefs in an interlocutory appeal of a Massachusetts federal judge’s preliminary injunction, two makers of competing insulin patch pumps square off on several issues including whether purported trade secrets were made public in filings with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO).

  • March 08, 2024

    Panel Rejects Finding That Patent Limitations Are Contradictory, Indefinite

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The owner of a patented rechargeable lithium-ion battery has won reinstatement of infringement litigation against a competitor by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which ruled that a federal judge in Texas wrongly declared claim language indefinite.

  • March 07, 2024

    Petitioner Seeks Burden Shift For Rule 105 Requests During Patent Prosecution

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Crossing the “PH1VNA” and “PH1D84” corn varieties to arrive at a newly claimed “1PFHC43” corn variety was “well within the level of skill for a person of ordinary skill” in 2021, the effective date of a patent issued in 2023 to Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc., a competitor tells the Patent Trial and Appeal Board in a March 6 petition for covered business method (CBM) review.

  • March 07, 2024

    Apple, Corephotonics Jointly Move To Terminate Multiple Inter Partes Reviews

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — On remand from the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Apple Inc. and Corephotonics Inc. have reached a confidential settlement and jointly moved March 6 to terminate five inter partes reviews (IPRs) pending before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

  • March 07, 2024

    Summary Judgment That Graco Baby Swing Doesn’t Infringe Patent Will Stand

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A bid by an inventor to overturn a California federal judge’s finding that Graco Inc. and its parent company do not infringe a patented infant soothing device failed March 6, with a summary affirmance by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • March 06, 2024

    IBM Largely Loses Appeal In Clash With Chewy Over Online Advertising Patents

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — An appeal by International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) of a New York federal judge’s summary judgment of patent noninfringement and ineligibility was partly successful March 5 when the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said Chewy Inc. must face allegations that it infringed a single claim of a patent directed to online advertising.

  • March 06, 2024

    YouTube Video Of Waffle Sandwich Dooms Design Patent Plans, Panel Says

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Efforts by two inventors to patent an ornamental design for a waffle featuring one smooth side were properly rejected as anticipated by a widely disseminated video on YouTube, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said March 6; in a separate opinion issued the same day, the same panel upheld a rejection of a similar utility patent application, this time on obviousness grounds.

  • March 06, 2024

    Board Must Reconsider Amendments To 2 Patent Claims Proposed By Pfizer

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a review of five inter partes reviews (IPRs) by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of patented pneumococcal vaccine technology, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled March 5 that although the board correctly deemed 45 claims obvious to a person of skill in the art (POSITA) and properly denied a bid by Pfizer Inc. to add five substitute claims, it must revisit its denial of two other newly proposed claims.

  • March 06, 2024

    Parties Spar Over When Obviousness Type Double Patenting Doctrine Applies

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a recent reply brief filed with the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, a group of patentees urges rejection of a suggestion by various appellees that the obviousness double patenting (ODP) inquiry can be reduced to a comparison of patent expiration dates.

  • March 05, 2024

    Appellants Drop Dispute With Board Over Application Of ‘Fintiv Factors’ To PGRs

    WASHINGTON, D.C — An unopposed motion to dismiss an appeal of a Virginia federal judge’s determination that jurisdiction is lacking over a challenge to the “Fintiv instructions” — a set of nonexclusive factors considered by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board when deciding whether to institute post-grant review (PGR) of certain patents — was granted March 4 by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • March 05, 2024

    Google Beats Bid By Patent Owner To Lift Stay Of Texas Litigation

    AUSTIN, Texas — On the heels of winning cancellation or disclaimer of 38 of 40 claims it challenged in an inter partes review (IPR) of two patents, Google LLC’s stated intention to appeal the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s findings for at least one of the two claims that survived IPR means a stay of Texas infringement litigation will stay in place, a federal judge there ruled March 4.

  • March 04, 2024

    Patent Owner Prevails In Appeal Of Adverse Inter Partes Review

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a March 4 ruling, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said final written decisions (FWDs) by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board canceling all claims of four patents relating to closure of an incontinence diaper relied on “unsupported assumptions,” necessitating vacatur and remand.

  • March 01, 2024

    Panel Reinstates Contract Case Against MasterCard Over Patent Royalties

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a case the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said “illustrates the importance of carefully reviewing the language in a covenant not to sue when entering a license agreement,” the court has again reversed summary judgment in favor of MasterCard International Inc., which stands accused of breaching its contract with a patent owner.

  • March 01, 2024

    Machine Company Tells High Court Petition Does Not Necessitate Rethinking Alice

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals correctly found that a competing machine company’s patent discloses an abstract process that is not patentable, a respondent tells the U.S. Supreme Court in a brief opposing a petition for certiorari that raises multiple questions about the abstract idea standard, contending that the case does not provide a vehicle for the court to reconsider the decade-old standard in Alice Corp. Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank Int’l.

  • February 28, 2024

    Circuit Company Says USB Connection Patent Would Have Been Obvious

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In a Feb. 27 petition for inter partes review (IPR), a maker of microcontroller, mixed-signal, analog and flash integrated circuits seeks cancellation of dozens of claims of a patented method of connecting an upstream and downstream universal serial bus (USB).

  • February 27, 2024

    Patent Owner: Prior Art Relied On By Instacart In Inter Partes Review Fails

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Two references cited by Maplebear Inc., doing business as Instacart, in a recently instituted inter partes review (IPR) do not qualify as prior art because they became publicly accessible after the priority date to which the patent is entitled, the patent owner tells the Patent Trial and Appeal Board in a Feb. 26 response.