The recent 2025 fee setting by the USPTO includes not only fee increases, but the introduction of new fees. One of these new fees is the so-called Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) size fees, which adds a range of fees for…
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/ Intellectual Property
On March 24, the Federal Circuit held in In re Riggs that for a published non-provisional patent application to be prior art under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. § 102(e)(1) based on an earlier provisional filing date, all citations to the…
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/ Administrative Law, Intellectual Property
On February 26, the U.S. Supreme Court in Dewberry Group, Inc. v. Dewberry Engineers Inc. unanimously held that an award of “defendant’s profits” under the Lanham Act in a trademark infringement suit is only ascribable to the…
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/ Business Organizations, Civil Procedure, Intellectual Property
On February 10, the Federal Circuit held in Kroy IP Holdings, LLC v. Groupon, Inc. that a final written decision of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) concluding that certain claims are unpatentable does not prevent the…
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/ Administrative Law, Civil Procedure, Intellectual Property
On January 24, in Steuben Foods, Inc v. Shibuya Hoppman Corporation, the Federal Circuit found that Steuben had made a compelling argument that the common law Reverse Doctrine of Equivalents (RDOE) did not survive the 1952…
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/ Civil Procedure, Intellectual Property, Science, Computers, & Technology
On January 27, in Apple Inc. v. Gesture Technology Partners, LLC, the Federal Circuit held that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) has jurisdiction to conduct inter partes reviews (IPRs) over patents that have expired…
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/ Administrative Law, Civil Procedure, Intellectual Property
On January 14, in Lynk Labs, Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the Federal Circuit held that a published patent application can be prior art in an inter partes review (IPR) based on the application’s filing date, not the…
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/ Intellectual Property, Science, Computers, & Technology
On January 13, in BearBox LLC v. Lancium LLC, the Federal Circuit addressed issues related to inventorship and state law conversion claims that stemmed from exchanges between two individuals, Mr. Storms and Mr. McNamara, at an…
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/ Civil Procedure, Business Torts, Intellectual Property
Copyright law protects creative works that are “fixed in any tangible medium of expression”—but it is hard to imagine that the drafters of this language envisioned that the human body would become such a popular medium of…
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/ Art, Entertainment, & Sports Law, Intellectual Property
Please join Fitch Even for a free webinar, “Navigating the Changes to the Test for Obviousness in Design Patents After LKQ Corp. v. GM Global,” on Tuesday, October 29, at 9:00 a.m. PDT / 10:00 a.m. MDT / 11:00 a.m. CDT / 12 Noon…
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/ Intellectual Property
On August 13, the Federal Circuit, in Allergan USA, Inc. v. MSN Laboratories Private Ltd., held that a “first-filed, first-issued, later-expiring claim cannot be invalidated by a later-filed, later-issued, earlier-expiring…
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/ Business Organizations, Intellectual Property, Science, Computers, & Technology
On October 3, in Crocs, Inc. v. Effervescent, Inc., the Federal Circuit held that a party who falsely alleges that its product is patented and innovative can be liable under the Lanham Act. Specifically, where “a party falsely…
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/ Business Organizations, Consumer Protection, Intellectual Property
July 17, 2024 Applicant-submitted terminal disclaimers tie similar co-owned patents to a common expiration date and typically serve to ensure that a later-filed continuation application lives no longer than its parent. The USPTO…
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/ Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, Intellectual Property, Science, Computers, & Technology
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently issued a final rule that bans noncompete clauses (“noncompetes”) nationwide. The FTC believes the new rule will protect the ability of workers to change jobs, increase innovation, and…
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/ Administrative Law, Commercial Law & Contracts, Labor & Employment Law
On March 18, the USPTO issued a guidance document on how to examine claims that recite functional limitations without necessarily using the term “means” under 35 U.S.C. § 112. The guidance document aims to improve clarity,…
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/ Administrative Law, Intellectual Property, Science, Computers, & Technology
