Mealey's Patents : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Patents

September 20, 2023
Texas Federal Magistrate Judge: Meta Owes Patent Owner $138,004 In Costs

AUSTIN, Texas — A patent owner is entitled to recoup $138,004 in deposition and copying costs from Meta Platforms Inc., a federal magistrate judge in Texas has found nearly one year after a jury awarded $174,530,785 in connection with infringement by the “Facebook Live” feature.
September 19, 2023
New York Federal Judge: RPI Has Standing In Patent Row With Amazon

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A bid by Amazon.com Inc. for dismissal of allegations that it infringes a patent owned by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) has failed, with a federal judge in New York concluding that the school and a licensee of the technology have standing to pursue their claims.
September 18, 2023
Government Urges High Court To Uphold ‘Bedrock Principle’ Of Chevron Deference

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. secretary of Commerce, two National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) officials and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) (collectively, the government) urge the U.S. Supreme Court in a Sept. 15 brief to not overrule the doctrine of Chevron deference in a challenge to fishery regulations that were upheld by the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, writing that doing so could “cause disruption” to complex federal regulatory schemes.
September 18, 2023
Panel Articulates Standard For Comparison Prior Art In Design Patent Disputes

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Four years after vacating a summary judgment of infringement in a dispute over a patented heat reflecting material, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Sept. 15 vacated a jury’s verdict, on remand, of noninfringement in the same dispute.
September 18, 2023
Wal-Mart Prevails In Challenge Of Ceiling Light Retrofit Patent

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The Patent Trial and Appeal Board on Sept. 15 agreed with Wal-Mart Inc. that various claims of a patented kit that allows for the installation of a light emitting diode (LED) ceiling light in place of a previously installed fluorescent light fixture should be canceled.
September 15, 2023
Panel Confirms Patentability Of E-Cigarette Technology In Blow To Philip Morris

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Sept. 15 that substantial evidence supports a final written decision by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that rejected Philip Morris Products S.A.’s assertions that a patented e-cigarette would have been obvious to a person of skill in the art (POSITA).
September 15, 2023
Claim Added In Coverage Dispute Over Loss Of Patent Litigation Counsel

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Mostly granting two motions, a Tennessee federal magistrate judge on Sept. 14 implemented the parties’ proposed schedule in a coverage dispute over loss of patent litigation counsel, also allowing the plaintiffs to add allegations and a promissory estoppel claim.
September 13, 2023
After Review Denied, Patent Challenger Seeks PTO Director Intervention

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Citing the “rare” nature of a “split decision” by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, which denied institution of inter partes review (IPR) of a patented system for “cashing out” of a wager before an event has ended, the petitioner requested review by the director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
September 12, 2023
Panel Delivers Apple A Win, Reinstates Review Of Camera Lens Patent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Patent Trial and Appeal Board must revisit its determinations in two final written decisions that Apple Inc. failed to establish that various challenged claims of a camera lens patent are obvious, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Sept. 11.
September 11, 2023
Board Correctly Declared Solar Cell Assembly Patent Obvious, Petitioner Says

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A successful inter partes review petitioner maintains in a new appellee brief filed with the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that an appellant brief by the patent owner “wrongly attempts to transform” a final written decision (FWD) by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board “into something it is not.”
September 11, 2023
Appellants Say Substitute Claims Wrongly Allowed By Patent Board

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has been asked by a group of appellants in the telecommunications industry to reverse and remand the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s determination that various substitute claims in a patented system and apparatus relating to “handshaking” in a cellular network are not anticipated or rendered obvious by the same prior art that invalidated the original claims.
September 11, 2023
Patent Dispute Over ‘Tamper Resistant’ Tablets To Proceed In Delaware

WILMINGTON, Del. — A bid by Accord Healthcare Inc. for judgment on the pleadings on allegations that its abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) infringes two patents directed to technology for producing “tamper resistant” tablets failed Sept. 8 when a judge from the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, sitting by designation in the District of Delaware, denied the request.
September 08, 2023
Anti-‘Pestware’ Patent Should Be Canceled, Trend Micro Tells Board

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In a Sept. 7 petition for inter partes review (IPR), Trend Micro Inc. says that a patented system and method for detecting pestware would have been obvious to a person of skill in the art, requiring cancellation of 15 patent claims.
September 07, 2023
Patent Owner Bid To Undo Cancellation Of Claims Fails On Appeal

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Substantial evidence supports an August 2019 final written decision by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that 10 claims of a patented antenna system are anticipated or would be rendered obvious by prior art, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Sept. 6.
September 07, 2023
Palo Alto Networks Again Takes Aim At Rival’s Patent In New Petition

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A method of filtering data transfers that prevents “exfiltration” would have been obvious to a person of skill in the art, Palo Alto Networks Inc. maintains in its latest petition for inter partes review (IPR) of a patent it previously challenged unsuccessfully.
September 06, 2023
Panel Says Immediate Review Of Venue Ruling In Patent Row Unwarranted

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Sept. 5 refused to weigh in on a Texas federal judge’s denial of a motion to dismiss a patent infringement action for improper venue.
September 05, 2023
Board Construction Of Disputed Patent Claim Upheld On Appeal

WASHINGTON, D.C. — “Connection rejection message” as the term is used in two mobile communications patents was properly construed by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to mean “a message that rejects a connection,” the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Sept. 1, affirming that the technology is anticipated or rendered obvious by prior art.
September 01, 2023
Panel Affirms: Single Claim Of Content Fetching Patent Is Invalid As Indefinite

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Texas did not err in treating an arbitration agreement entered into after a purported settlement of patent infringement litigation valid and enforceable, nor in deeming a single claim of the disputed web content fetching patent indefinite, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled.
September 01, 2023
In Win For Meta, Panel Upholds Summary Judgment Of Patent Ineligibility

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Texas did not err in declaring that all asserted claims of a method of predicting web visitor “intent” when recommending webpages are ineligible for patenting, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in affirming.
September 01, 2023
Stanford, Licensee Urge High Court To Review Section 101 Patentability Standard

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a reply brief supporting their petition for certiorari, the board of trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University (Stanford) and the licensee of its patents for an organ rejection detection test tell the U.S. Supreme Court that it needs to take a new look at the bar against patents for natural phenomena in Section 101 of the Patent Act and confirm that medical diagnostics methods can be patented.
August 31, 2023
Patent Board Stands By Refusal To Institute Inter Partes Review

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A request by Netflix Inc. for rehearing of a May decision by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that denied the streaming service’s petition for inter partes review (IPR) of an automated browsing patent was denied by a divided board on Aug. 30.
August 29, 2023
Petitioner Defends Challenge To Synthetic Nicotine Patent, Seeks PTO Director Review

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In an Aug. 28 request for rehearing by the director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office of a denial one month earlier by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of inter partes review (IPR) of a synthetic nicotine patent, a petitioner says the board should have applied an “obvious to try” standard in its assessment of a motivation to combine various prior art.
August 29, 2023
In New Appeal, Google Says Some Patent Limitations Wrongly Held Nonobvious

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Although the Patent Trial and Appeal Board “got things mostly right” in an inter partes review (IPR) of two database patents, it erred in “two important respects,” Google LLC maintains in an appellant brief filed with the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
August 28, 2023
D.C. Circuit: Grant Of Exclusive Patent License Not Anticompetitive

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A panel of the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Aug. 25 that allegations by Federal Trade Commission drugmakers violated antitrust law by the terms of a 2017 settlement in a breach of contract action fail to state a claim.
August 28, 2023
Patent Owner To Board: Netflix ‘Misapprehends’ Federal Circuit Decision

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Contrary to the assertions made by Netflix Inc., an April 2023 remand by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals did not resolve factual questions about limitations in a patented method of decoding encrypted content in its favor, the patent owner maintains in an Aug. 25 response brief to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.