Patent Alerts

Subscribe to Patent Alerts via RSS

On Thu., Aug. 30, 2012, in LaserDynamics v. Quanta, No. 2011-1440, the Federal Circuit (Dyk, Clevenger and Reyna) clarified and limited applying the entire market value damages rule where the patent is directed to a component of a multi-component system – e.g., a patented method for determining the type of disc in an optical drive that is a component of a laptop computer.  This is a significant case to review in determining evidence required to establish damages under the entire market value rule as well as other damages theory, including issues such as using prior licenses, litigation settlements and the proper date for the Georgia-Pacific hypothetical negotiation.
Continue Reading Patent Alert: Federal Circuit limits reliance on entire market value damages (LaserDynamics v. Quanta)

Today, Thu., Aug. 16, 2012, in Ass’n for Molecular Pathology v.  USPTO (“The Myriad Case”), , No. 2010-1406, the Federal Circuit (Lourie, Bryson (concur/dissent) and Moore (concur)) issued its anticipated decision in the Myriad case on whether certain composition and method claims to isolated DNA molecules were patentable subject matter.  This Myriad decision will have a substantial impact in the biomedical, chemical and related arts.  The decision provides only incremental insight to computer-based or similar inventions, and also provides incremental insight into declaratory judgment jurisdiction.
Continue Reading Patent Alert: Federal Circuit clarifies patent eligibility for biomedical arts (Myriad)

Today, Thu., July 26, 2012, in Bancorp v. Sun Life, No. 2011-1467, the Federal Circuit (Lourie, Prost and Wallach) revived the § 101 patent eligibility defense against computer-based inventions, holding that claims to a method for administering and tracking the value of life insurance policies were not patentable because the computer limitations were not “integral to the claimed invention” or limited to “a very specific application of the inventive concept”, but merely involved computers doing calculations more efficiently than could be done by mental processes.  This is a significant decision to review with respect to patent eligibility of computer inventions, and limits the recent CLS decision of July 9, 2012 that appeared much more permissive on what computer inventions are patentable.
Continue Reading Patent Alert: Federal Circuit revives patent eligibility defense against computer-based patents (Bancorp v. Sun Life)

UPDATE:  The Federal Circuit has vacated its decision and will take this case up en banc in early 2013.  Please see our October 9, 2012 post for more details.

SECOND UPDATE: The Federal Circuit issued an en banc decision holding the claims invalid.  Please see our May 13, 2013 post for more details.

Today, Mon., July 9, 2012 in CLS Bank v. Alice Corp., No. 2011-1301, the Federal Circuit (Linn, Prost (dissent) and O’Malley) found a computer-implemented trading platform for reducing settlement risks when exchanging stocks or currency was not invalid based on a permissive test of patentable subject matter.  This decision will further guide litigation away from the abstract § 101 patentability defense and toward the better-defined invalidity §§ 102, 103 and 112 defenses based on prior art or inadequate patent disclosure.Continue Reading Patent Alert: Federal Circuit creates permissive patent eligibility standard for computer-implemented inventions (CLS v. Alice)

Yesterday, Thu., June 14, 2012, in Bard v. W.L. Gore, No. 2010-1510, the Federal Circuit (Newman (dissent-in-part), Gajarsa and Linn) clarified that the threshold objective recklessness prong of willfulness ultimately is a question of law for the court to decide based on mixed questions of law and fact that the Federal Circuit will review de novo.  This case provides a good summary of the current willful infringement standard.
Continue Reading Patent Alert: Federal Circuit clarifies threshold objective recklessness willfulness prong question of law reviewed de novo (Bard v. W.L. Gore)

Today, Thu., June 7, 2012, in In re Bill of Lading, No. 2010-1493, the Federal Circuit (Newman (dissent), Prost and O’Malley) ruled that complaints were properly dismissed for not pleading contributory infringement, but they sufficiently pled induced infringement.  This case provides important guidance in pleading patent infringement, which is often a concern in multiple defendant cases.Continue Reading Patent Alert: Federal Circuit clarifies how to plead direct and indirect infringement (In re Bill of Lading)

Today, Thu., May 31, 2012, in Merial v. Cipla, No. 2011-1471, the Federal Circuit (Lourie, Schall (dissent) and Reyna) affirmed entry of contempt for violating an injunction that had been entered as part of a default judgment against a foreign defendant that had not contested the original action because that defendant believed personal jurisdiction was not properly pled or met.  This complex case provides insight into important procedural nuances of personal jurisdiction, default judgments, injunctions, intervention, contempt proceedings and risks thereof.  A quick summary of the case is provided below, which will be followed later by a more thorough analysis with explanatory diagrams.
Continue Reading Patent Alert: Federal Circuit sustains contempt for violating injunction previously entered as part of default judgment (Merial v. Cipla)

Today, Wed., May 30, 2012, in Mintz v. Dietz & Watson, No. 2010-1341, the Federal Circuit (Rader, Newman, and Dyk) vacated a summary judgment of invalidity because the district court improperly applied many of the Graham obviousness factors.
Continue Reading Patent Alert: Federal Circuit clarifies obviousness standard for predictable arts (Mintz v. Dietz)

Today, Thu., May 17, 2012, in In re Baxter, No. 2011-1073, the Federal Circuit (Newman (dissent), Lourie and Moore) affirmed the Patent Office’s finding patent claims invalid in a reexamination that was provoked by a party who failed to invalidate those claims in a parallel litigation.  This case shows a benefit to a patent challenger seeking reexamination of patents asserted against them in parallel litigation.
Continue Reading Patent Alert: Federal Circuit affirms reexam invalidating patent found not invalid in litigation (In re Baxter)

Today, Fri., May 4, 2012, in In re Misc EMC, Misc. No. 100, the Federal Circuit (Rader, Dyk and Moore) granted mandamus and ordered the  E.D. Tex. district court to reconsider its ruling that allowed joinder of 18 defendants based on a new “sameness test” for joinder (rejecting the district court’s “not dramatically different” test).  The new sameness test appears to limit joinder of multiple defendants in a single case, but the Court noted that cases still may be coordinated in a single court if venue is proper and that multidistrict litigation may be proper for pretrial issues of claim construction and patent invalidity.
Continue Reading Patent Alert: Federal Circuit creates “sameness test” for joinder of multiple defendants (In re EMC)