On Friday May 27, 2022, the Federal Circuit added another opinion to the Arthrex line of cases. As a short refresher, Arthrex was back at the Federal Circuit after being remanded to the Board for Director Review after Patent...more
6/6/2022
/ Appeals ,
Appointments Clause ,
Arthrex Inc v Smith & Nephew Inc ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Federal Vacancies Reform Act ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Petition For Rehearing ,
Remand ,
Separation of Powers ,
USPTO
In a recent opinion by the Federal Circuit, Auris Health, Inc. v Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc., Case 2021-1732, the panel split on the weight of general industry skepticism in an obviousness analysis and split on...more
6/2/2022
/ Appeals ,
Evidence ,
Expert Testimony ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
Inventions ,
Inventors ,
Motivation to Combine ,
Obviousness ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Prior Art ,
Remand ,
Substantial Evidence Standard ,
USPTO ,
Vacated
The PTAB Strategies and Insights newsletter provides timely updates and insights into how best to handle proceedings at the USPTO. It is designed to increase return on investment for all stakeholders looking at the entire...more
6/1/2022
/ Appeals ,
Appointments Clause ,
Arthrex Inc v Smith & Nephew Inc ,
Claim Construction ,
Clear and Convincing Evidence ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Damages ,
Director of the USPTO ,
Evidence ,
Experimental Use Exception ,
Expert Testimony ,
Federal Vacancies Reform Act ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
Inventions ,
Inventors ,
Motivation to Combine ,
Obviousness ,
On-Sale Bar ,
Patent Applications ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Petition For Rehearing ,
Post-Grant Review ,
Prior Art ,
Remand ,
Section 102 ,
Separation of Powers ,
Substantial Evidence Standard ,
USPTO ,
Vacated
The Federal Circuit issued two cases this week providing more clarity to when a functional claim feature should be considered a de facto means-plus-function claim that requires structural detail to meet the indefiniteness...more
The PTAB Strategies and Insights newsletter provides timely updates and insights into how best to handle proceedings at the USPTO. It is designed to increase return on investment for all stakeholders looking at the entire...more
3/31/2022
/ Entrepreneurs ,
Ex Partes Reexamination ,
Indefiniteness ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Inventors ,
Means-Plus-Function ,
Patent Applications ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent Prosecution ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Pro Bono ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO
In Seabed Geosolutions (US) Inc. v. Magseis FF LLC, the Federal Circuit vacated and remanded an inter partes review decision for the Patent Owner. The Court held that the Patent Trial and Review Board failed to perform the...more
9/3/2021
/ Claim Construction ,
Extrinsic Evidence ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
Intrinsic Evidence ,
Inventions ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent Prosecution History ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Remand ,
USPTO ,
Vacated ,
Written Descriptions
The PTAB Strategies and Insights newsletter provides timely updates and insights into how best to handle proceedings at the USPTO. It is designed to increase return on investment for all stakeholders looking at the entire...more
9/1/2021
/ America Invents Act ,
Claim Construction ,
Design Patent ,
Evidence ,
Extrinsic Evidence ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
Intrinsic Evidence ,
Inventions ,
Nexus ,
Nonobvious ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent Prosecution History ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Prior Art ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
Substantial Evidence ,
USPTO ,
Utility Patents ,
Vacated ,
Written Descriptions
[co-author: Jay Bober, Summer Associate]
The PTAB Strategies and Insights newsletter provides timely updates and insights into how best to handle proceedings at the USPTO. It is designed to increase return on investment for...more
8/2/2021
/ Administrative Patent Judges ,
Administrative Procedure Act ,
Appointments Clause ,
Burden of Proof ,
Claim Construction ,
Denial of Institution ,
Evidence ,
Executive Branch ,
Executive Powers ,
Intel ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
International Trade Commission (ITC) ,
Oral Hearings ,
Parallel Proceedings ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Invalidity ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patent Validity ,
Patents ,
Petition For Rehearing ,
Prejudice ,
Prior Art ,
Qualcomm ,
Remand ,
SCOTUS ,
Statutory Deadlines ,
Stipulations ,
Sua Sponte ,
United States v Arthrex Inc ,
USPTO ,
Vacated
The PTAB Strategies and Insights newsletter provides timely updates and insights into how best to handle proceedings at the USPTO. It is designed to increase return on investment for all stakeholders looking at the entire...more
6/3/2021
/ Claim Construction ,
Estoppel ,
Final Written Decisions ,
Forum Selection ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
International Trade Commission (ITC) ,
Inventions ,
Inventors ,
IP License ,
L'Oreal ,
Obviousness ,
Parallel Proceedings ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Invalidity ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Philip Morris ,
Post-Grant Review ,
Prior Art ,
Remand ,
RJ Reynolds ,
Section 337 ,
USPTO ,
Vacated ,
Written Descriptions
In its decision to remand, the Federal Circuit (1) held the Board’s non-analogous art test was wrong and articulated a new test for the Board to follow on remand, and (2) left it up to the Board to make the ultimate decision...more
The PTAB Strategies and Insights newsletter provides timely updates and insights into how best to handle proceedings at the USPTO. It is designed to increase return on investment for all stakeholders looking at the entire...more
11/18/2020
/ Comment Period ,
Federal Register ,
Final Written Decisions ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
International Trade Commission (ITC) ,
Inventions ,
Obviousness ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Prior Art ,
Remand
In Network-1 Technologies, Inc. v. Hewlett-Packard Company, the Federal Circuit vacated and remanded the district court’s holding that joinder petitioner Hewlett Packard (“HP”) (1) could have tried to raise new grounds in its...more
10/26/2020
/ §315(e) ,
Appeals ,
Estoppel ,
Final Written Decisions ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
Joinder ,
Judgment As A Matter Of Law ,
Patent Invalidity ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Remand ,
Vacated
In Alacritech, Inc. v. Intel Corp, Judge Stoll held that under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) “[the Federal Circuit’s] review of a patentability determination is confined to ‘the grounds upon which the Board actually...more
On June 15, 2020, the Supreme Court issued an Order in Emerson Elec Emerson Electric Co., Petitioner v. SIPCO, LLC, Case 19-966, stating “Petition GRANTED. Judgment VACATED and case REMANDED for further consideration in light...more
6/26/2020
/ America Invents Act ,
Covered Business Method Patents ,
Non-Appealable Decisions ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patent-Eligible Subject Matter ,
Patents ,
Petition For Rehearing ,
Petition for Writ of Certiorari ,
Remand ,
SCOTUS ,
Thryv Inc v Click-To-Call Technologies LP ,
Vacated
The PTAB Strategies and Insights newsletter provides timely updates and insights into how best to handle proceedings at the USPTO. It is designed to increase return on investment for all stakeholders looking at the entire...more
6/25/2020
/ § 315(b) ,
America Invents Act ,
Covered Business Method Patents ,
Delays ,
Intellectual Property Litigation ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Judicial Review ,
Jury Trial ,
Non-Appealable Decisions ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patent Validity ,
Patent-Eligible Subject Matter ,
Patents ,
Petition For Rehearing ,
Petition for Writ of Certiorari ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Thryv Inc v Click-To-Call Technologies LP ,
Time-Barred Claims ,
USPTO ,
Vacated
The only real answers we are hearing from the patent community is that no one knows what to do or what might happen next --- post Arthrex.
As a quick reminder – the Federal Circuit ruled (1) the current PTAB judges were...more
2/5/2020
/ Administrative Patent Judges ,
Administrative Procedure Act ,
Administrative Proceedings ,
America Invents Act ,
Appointments Clause ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Denial of Certiorari ,
Litigation Strategies ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Petition for Writ of Certiorari ,
Remand ,
Severability Doctrine ,
Split of Authority ,
USPTO
The Federal Circuit recently decided a reexamination case, VirnetX v. Apple and Cisco, that addressed two issues: (1) was requester estopped from maintaining its reexams under the pre-AIA version of 35 U.S.C. § 317(b) (2006)...more
In a 56 page decision, including a concurrence, the Federal Circuit vacated and remanded based on finding that the Board failed to apply the law correctly by failing to properly consider evidence alleged to show that an RPX...more
The Perspectives on the PTAB Newsletter is designed to be a valuable resource for all stakeholders in the global patent arena throughout the patent life cycle. To that end, articles will provide perspectives from both sides...more