This Federal Circuit Opinion[1] analyzes statutory estoppel under 35 U.S.C. § 315(e)(1) and examines offensive and defensive arguments related to § 103 obviousness. …
Continue Reading Don’t Get Lazy, Timely Complete Your Arguments

AliveCor, Inc. v. Apple, Inc., No. 23-1512 (Fed. Cir. 2025) – On March 7, 2025, the Federal Circuit affirmed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s inter partes review (“IPR”) decisions invalidating all claims of three AliveCor patents. Previously, the International Trade Commission (“ITC”) had found certain Apple Watch products infringe two of the three patents. …
Continue Reading You Snooze, You Lose: Federal Circuit Emphasized Once Again the Importance of Preserving Issues for Appellate Review

In CQV Co. Ltd. v. Merck Patent GmbH, the Federal Circuit addressed (1) the interaction of indemnification agreements with Article III standing for appeals of post-grant review decisions of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board; and (2) whether all evidence must be addressed by the Board when qualifying prior art. …
Continue Reading Federal Circuit Touches on Appellate Standing and Prior Art Determinations in the Context of Post-Grant Review Proceedings

In Restem, LLC v. Jadi Cell, LLC, No. 2023-2054 (Fed. Cir. Mar. 13, 2025), the Federal Circuit upheld the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s decision holding that U.S. Patent No. 9,803,176 (“the ’176 patent”) was not inherently anticipated by a prior art process, because the prior art process did not inevitably result in the claimed cell marker expression profile.
Continue Reading Federal Circuit Clarifies Anticipation Analysis for Product-By-Process Claims

In a significant decision, the Federal Circuit reversed the U.S. International Trade Commission’s (ITC) finding that claims of U.S. Patent No. 10,508,502 (502 Patent) were invalid under 35 U.S.C. § 101. The opinion addresses critical issues in patent eligibility jurisprudence, particularly regarding composition-of-matter claims and provides additional clarity for patent owners facing § 101 challenges.
Continue Reading Federal Circuit Clarifies § 101 Patent Eligibility for Composition-of-Matter Claims

The U.S. Supreme Court has once again been urged to revisit 35 U.S.C. § 101, the statute governing patent eligibility. Audio Evolution Diagnostics, Inc. (AED) filed a petition for writ of certiorari, challenging the Federal Circuit’s summary affirmance under Rule 36 of a ruling that invalidated its patents under the Alice/Mayo framework. Should the SCOTUS take up the case, this presents an opportunity for the Court to clarify the boundaries of patent eligibility and address concerns over the Federal Circuit’s handling of such cases.
Continue Reading Patent Eligibility: The Call for Supreme Court Clarity and for an End to Summary Affirmances

Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation v. Torrent Pharma Inc., No. 23-2218 (Fed. Cir. 2025) — On January 10, 2025, the Federal Circuit reversed the district court’s opinion that claims of a Novartis patent are invalid for lack of adequate written description, but affirmed the district court’s finding that the claims were not proven invalid for lacking enablement or being obvious over the asserted prior art. The Federal Circuit emphasized that the proper analysis for enablement and written description challenges is focused on the claims and after-arising technology need not be enabled or described in the specification—even when the after-arising technology is found…
Continue Reading Federal Circuit Highlights the Importance of Separating Claim Construction and Infringement Analysis When Dealing with After-Arising Technology

The Federal Circuit affirmed a district court’s award of sanctions for bad faith against a plaintiff’s conduct based on the meritless nature of several lawsuits filed in incorrect venues.
Continue Reading The Federal Circuit Affirms Deterrence Sanctions

This case examines the application of trademark functionality doctrine in the medical device industry, specifically addressing whether the pink color of ceramic hip components can be protected as a trademark. The case provides important guidance on how courts evaluate functionality claims and the intersection between patent and trademark protection for product features.
Continue Reading Ceramtec GMBH v. Coorstek Biocermanics LLC

In Allergan USA, Inc. v. MSN Laboratories Private Ltd., No. 2024-1061 (Fed. Cir. August 13, 2024), the Federal Circuit reversed the District Court of Delaware’s invalidity determination of certain claims of U.S. Patent No. 7,741,356 (“the ’356 patent”) for obviousness-type double patenting. The Federal Circuit also reversed the district court’s invalidity determination of certain claims of U.S. Patent Nos. 11,007,179 (“the ’179 patent”), 11,090,291 (“the ’291 patent”), 11,160,792 (“the ’792 patent”), and 11,311,516 (“the ’516 patent”) for lack of written description.
Continue Reading Federal Circuit Emphasizes Role of Filing Dates, Reversing Obviousness-Type Double Patenting Invalidation

Miller Mendel Inc. filed a lawsuit against the City of Anna, Texas (“the City”), in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, alleging infringement of Claims 1, 5, and 15 of U.S. Patent No. 10,043,188 (the “’188 patent”). The ’188 patent primarily pertains to a software system designed to manage pre-employment background investigation processes. Specifically, Claim 1 exemplifies a computerized method that involves: (1) receiving data related to an applicant; (2) storing new applicant information; (3) transmitting an applicant hyperlink; (4) receiving an electronic response from the applicant; (5) determining a reference class; (6) selecting a reference…
Continue Reading Another Example of Ineligible Software Patent Claims

This case addresses the application of issue preclusion in relation to the validity of three patents. In particular, this case focuses on the implications of decisions made during the dismissal of pending litigations and examines whether these decisions render judgments final, justifying the application of issue preclusion to invalidate concurrently asserted patents.
Continue Reading Koss Corporation v. Bose Corporation

Inline Plastics Corp. (“Inline”) filed a lawsuit against Lacerta Group, LLC (“Lacerta”), alleging infringement of several patents related to tamper-resistant containers and methods of making such containers using thermoformed plastic. The district court granted Inline summary judgment of infringement on a subset of claims, but the jury found that the remaining asserted claims were not infringed and that all the asserted claims (including those already held infringed) were invalid. The parties then filed posttrial motions, including Inline’s motion for judgment as a matter of law and Lacerta’s motion for attorneys’ fees under 35 U.S.C. § 285, both of which were…
Continue Reading Inline for a New Trial