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Mealey's Patents

  • October 14, 2021

    Patent Owner: Awarding Fees After Voluntary Dismissal Is Unreasonable

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an Oct. 4 reply brief, the owner of a patent relating to mobile image capture, transmission and storage urged the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reverse a Delaware federal judge’s determination that an infringement action was “exceptional” under Section 285 of the Patent Act.

  • October 14, 2021

    Petition For Rehearing Prompts Panel To Remove Statement From Patent Ruling

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In response to a petition for rehearing filed by an inventor, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Oct. 12 reissued an August ruling concluding that the Patent Act is insufficiently explicit to overcome the presumption against fee-shifting with regard to expert witness fees incurred by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in actions brought under Section 145 of the statute.

  • October 14, 2021

    Petitioner Tells Patent Board Nitrite Curing Solution Is Obvious

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In an Oct. 12 petition for inter partes review filed with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, a maker of fruit and vegetable juice concentrates argues that a patent is directed to “an ancient, federally-regulated meat preservation process using a plant-based nitrite curing solution” already deemed “as old as the hills” by the board, and should thus be canceled.

  • October 14, 2021

    Eligibility Of Virtual Network ‘Crowd Control’ Patents Debated In Briefs

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a dispute over various patents that have since expired, an infringement defendant maintains in an Oct. 13 appellee brief filed with the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the method of maintaining “crowd control” in a virtual network recited in the claims was correctly deemed ineligible for patenting under Section 101 of the Patent Act by a Massachusetts federal judge.

  • October 12, 2021

    Stipulation Of No Patent Infringement By Samsung Will Stand

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In its Oct. 12 order list, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to weigh in on an appeal by a patent owner of a March ruling by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the disputed technology is indefinite.

  • October 11, 2021

    Google Takes Aim At Sound Enhancement Method In New Petition

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A method and system for “enhancing a target sound signal” from “multiple sound signals” would have been obvious to a person of skill in the art (POSITA), Google LLC maintains in an Oct. 7 petition for inter partes review filed with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

  • October 11, 2021

    Divided Panel Upholds Denial Of Preliminary Injunction In Patent Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A New York federal judge did not abuse his discretion when refusing to issue an order compelling Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Samsung Electronics America Inc. (collectively, Samsung) to withdraw petitions for inter partes review of two patents, a panel majority of the Federal Circuit U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Oct. 7.

  • October 08, 2021

    Ex Parte Reexamination Must Be Terminated, Federal Circuit Says

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Although concluding that a request for ex parte reexamination of patented method of controlling remote equipment raised substantial new questions of patentability, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Sept. 29 nonetheless disagreed with a determination by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) that it lacks the authority to reconsider institution of reexamination.

  • October 07, 2021

    Federal Circuit Affirms: Appellant Not Owner Of Patents, Trademarks

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an Oct. 6 holding, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed with a federal judge in Minnesota that allegations of patent and trademark infringement leveled against Target Brands Inc. cannot proceed because the plaintiff in the case does not own the intellectual property he asserted.

  • October 06, 2021

    In Blow To St. Jude, Panel Reverses Board Unpatentability Findings

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Patent Trial and Appeal Board erred in its construction of “sized and shaped for insertion” as the term appears in a patent covering an artificial heart valve implantation instrument and method, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Oct. 5.

  • October 06, 2021

    Roku:  Capturing User ‘Intent’ During Searches Would Be Obvious

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In a petition for inter partes review filed Oct. 4 with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, Roku Inc. maintains that a purported improvement for searching and retrieving information that relies on capturing user “intent” is “trivial and already disclosed by several prior art references.”

  • October 05, 2021

    High Court Invites SG Views In Patent Dispute Over Kessler Doctrine

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In its Oct. 4 order list, the U.S. Supreme Court requested the acting solicitor general to weigh in on a case that questions the continued viability of a century-old preclusion doctrine created by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • October 05, 2021

    High Court Denies Cert In Dispute Over Federal Circuit Summary Dispositions

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A challenge by a patent and trade dress owner to the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ practice of affirming court rulings with one-word judgments failed Oct. 4 to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the case.

  • October 04, 2021

    Federal Circuit: Patent Board Claim Construction Was Not Erroneous

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A patent owner on Sept. 29 failed to persuade the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board erred in declaring various claims of a patented method of upgrading a mobile application obvious to a person of skill in the art.

  • October 04, 2021

    Panel Grants Mandamus, Undoes Retransfer Of Texas Patent Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A September order by a federal judge in Texas transferring a planned trial from the Austin Division of the Western District of Texas to the Waco Division of the Western District of Texas in light of the COVID-19 pandemic was vacated Oct. 1 by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • September 21, 2021

    COMMENTARY: Arthrex’s Aftermath

    By Jasper L. Tran and Chloe Jasper

  • September 30, 2021

    Broadcom Patent Correctly Deemed Obvious, Appellee Tells Federal Circuit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a Sept. 13 appellee brief filed with the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, a semiconductor manufacturer said the Patent Trial and Appeal Board correctly confirmed as obvious various claims of a pixel fetch request interface patent and accused the patent owner of distorting the board’s “actual findings and reasoning.”

  • September 30, 2021

    N.Y. Federal Judge Tosses Patent Claims, Won’t Allow Lanham Act, Copyright Claims

    NEW YORK — An action seeking a declaration of patent noninfringement, invalidity and unenforceability was dismissed Sept. 28 by a federal judge in New York, who also rejected the plaintiff’s bid to amend its complaint to add declaratory judgment claims of no copyright infringement and no false advertising under the Lanham Act.

  • September 29, 2021

    Patent Covering Endograft Device Is Obvious, Petitioner Tells Patent Board

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In a Sept. 28 petition for inter partes review filed with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, a medical technology company asserts that a patented endograft device is rendered obvious by the petitioner’s own patent.

  • September 29, 2021

    After Loss To Google, Patent Owner Petitions Board For Rehearing

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In a Sept. 27 petition for rehearing, the owner of a patent directed to methods, systems and computer program products for sharing information for detecting an idle transmission control protocol (TCP) connection says the Patent Trial and Appeal Board “misapprehended” a proposed construction for an “idle time period” (ITP) limitation, leading to a legally erroneous final written decision declaring the technology obvious.