§ 101 Rejections in the Post-Alice Era
The § 101 rejection rate for patent applications in the e-commerce work groups approaches 100%, then drops precipitously for the remaining seven of the top ten work groups with the greatest percentage...
View ArticleRecent court rumblings about a narrow scope of IPR estoppel
An Inter Partes Review (IPR) is an important tool for companies that face frequent patent infringement challenges. An IPR is essentially a mini-litigation focusing solely on patent validity conducted...
View Article§ 112 Rejections: Where They Are Found and How Applicants Handle Them
In this article, we will explore both § 112(a) and § 112(b) rejections by taking a look at where they are most common, how applicants respond to them, and how successful those responses tend to be....
View ArticleAffinity Labs of Texas Loses Reexamination Appeal; Reexamination Estoppel...
The Federal Circuit affirmed a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“Board”) decision to uphold the unpatentability of several claims of a patent owned by Affinity Labs of Texas, LLC (“Affinity”). An...
View ArticleA Joint Stipulation of Dismissal Does Not Trigger Reexamination Estoppel...
Appellant Affinity Labs of Texas, LLC (“Affinity”) appealed from the inter partes reexamination of its patent filed by Apple Inc. (“Apple”). Apple requested reexamination after Affinity asserted the...
View ArticleCisco Successfully Invalidates Patent for Lack of Written Description
Cisco challenged Cirrex’s patent via inter partes reexamination, asserting a lack of written description. The Board affirmed the Examiner’s findings, that the patent, as amended, contained both...
View ArticleA section-by-section look at the STRONGER Patents Act introduced in the Senate
In late June, the Support Technology and Research for Our Nation’s Growth and Economic Resilience (STRONGER) Patents Act of 2017 was introduced into the U.S. Senate by co-sponsors Sen. Chris Coons...
View ArticlePTAB’s Claim Construction Regarding Means-Plus-Function Limitation Was Erroneous
The Federal Circuit vacated and remanded the Board’s finding of obviousness of certain challenged claims based on a means-plus-function limitation, affirmed the Board’s finding of obviousness as to...
View ArticleBoard’s analysis internally inconsistent, Federal Circuit vacates inter...
At the Federal Circuit, Honeywell argued that the Board erred in (1) finding a motivation to combine the references with a reasonable expectation of success, (2) rejecting Honeywell’s objective...
View ArticleIgnorance of the Law is No Excuse for Cost of the USPTO’s High ex parte...
As the old saying goes: Ignorance of the law is no excuse. So there seems to be no good reason that the Examining corps’ inability to apply the law to the facts in ex parte appeals should be costing...
View ArticleCAFC Vacates and Remands Inconsistent Rulings by the Board on Validity of two...
The Board failed to address all grounds for proposed rejections under the APA by ignoring certain arguments made by Vicor during the reexamination. Additionally, the Board failed to address all four...
View ArticleFederal Circuit reverses Board on erroneous application of the broadest...
The Federal Circuit concluded that the Board's construction of the term 'body' was unreasonably broad even given proper usage of the broadest reasonable interpretation claim standard... This ruling...
View ArticlePatentee Fails to Prove Equivalents did not Ensnare the Prior Art
Crafting a proper hypothetical claim is a prerequisite to whether a theory of infringement under the doctrine of equivalents would also ensnare the prior art. The burden to present a proper...
View ArticlePTAB erred finding claims nonobvious in IPR, Federal Circuit reverses without...
In Owens Corning v. Fast Felt Corp, Fast Felt sued Owens Corning for infringement, and Owens Corning filed a petition with the PTO seeking inter partes review of claims 1, 2, 4, 6, and 7. All of the...
View ArticlePTAB Invalidation Affected by Random Errors, Legal Uncertainties and Judicial...
The PTAB invalidation procedure violates due process because it drags patent owners into endless assaults by patent infringers and patent thieves. Due process requires compliance with standard notions...
View ArticleAmendments in IPRs? Welcome back to the future
The industry reaction to Aqua Products v. Matal has been swift. In IPWatchdog’s Industry Roundup blog post, there was broad acclaim. However, for those involved with post-grant proceedings before the...
View ArticleCAFC Denies Enhanced Damages and Lost Profits, Competitor Proves Intervening...
In determining indefiniteness of a claim based on a testing method referenced in the patent, courts will evaluate whether the method is well known in the art and could reasonably be adapted for the...
View ArticleCAFC says PTO Reexamination Should Not Preclude Validity Challenges at...
Along with the willfulness finding, the Federal Circuit also overturned findings of no invalidity on a patent that had already survived multiple reexaminations at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office...
View ArticleDisputed Claim Construction Not Suitable for Resolution on a Motion to Dismiss
Nalco asserted that the only difference between its patented method and the Chem-Mod Process was the location of the injection. The district court dismissed Nalco's complaints for failure to state a...
View ArticleFederal Circuit Affirms PTAB’s Rejection of Claims Despite Earlier CAFC...
Although the majority opinion was silent with respect to a prior claim construction by the Federal Circuit relating to the patent, Judge Newman wrote in dissent that the majority’s failure to address...
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