News & Analysis as of

Patent Trial and Appeal Board Patent Examinations

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

PTAB: Dynamic Drinkware Written Description Requirement Inapplicable to Post-AIA Patents

The Federal Circuit held in Dynamic Drinkware, LLC v. Nat’l Graphics, Inc., 800 F.3d 1375, 1378 (Fed. Cir. 2015) that for a pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. § 102(e) prior-art reference to be entitled to a provisional application’s priority...more

Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch LLP

USPTO Provides Guidance in Light of Amgen v. Sanofi

The U.S. Supreme Court’s May 2023 decision in Amgen, Inc. v. Sanofi (Amgen) sent shock waves through the patent world, particularly in the chemical and biotech segments, due to its invalidation of Amgen patents based on a...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

Senators Tillis and Coons Once More Attempt to Fix Patent Eligibility

Patent eligibility is broken. The only semi-cogent arguments that I have ever heard in support of the status quo is that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issues too many broad, vague patents, and that 35 U.S.C. § 101...more

MoFo Life Sciences

USPTO RELEASES 2022‒2026 STRATEGIC PLAN

MoFo Life Sciences on

Last week, the USPTO released its 2022‒2026 Strategic Plan. The Strategic Plan outlines the USPTO’s overarching goals for the coming years. How are these initiatives likely to affect patent applicants and owners?...more

WilmerHale

PTAB/USPTO Update - April 2023

WilmerHale on

On March 6, the USPTO announced a new Green Energy Category of its Patents for Humanity Program. Patents for Humanity is an awards competition that recognizes innovators who use technology to meet global humanitarian...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

PTAB Remains Hostile to Section 101 Appeals

There is ample evidence that patent examiner allowance rates vary dramatically from examiner to examiner and art unit to art unit.[1]  This has resulted in the general understanding that there are "easy" examiners and "tough"...more

WilmerHale

PTAB/USPTO Update - November 2022

WilmerHale on

USPTO News - ..On October 19, 2022 the USPTO issued a report titled “Where are U.S. women patentees? Assessing three decades of growth” examining trends in women’s patenting in the U.S. from 1990-2019. ..Director...more

Goodwin

USPTO Doubles Down Calling Out Pharmaceutical Industry

Goodwin on

​​​​​​​The new Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Katherine Vidal, published a stern reminder regarding the duties of disclosure and reasonable inquiry during examination of a patent application,...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

Think Twice About Appealing a § 101 Rejection to the PTAB

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) established its Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) in September 2012.  As mandated by the America Invents Act, the PTAB conducts administrative trials, such as inter partes...more

Goodwin

Issue 37: PTAB Trial Tracker

Goodwin on

Expert Testimony Alone Insufficient to Show Examiner's Material Error in Considering Prior Art - In Nespresso USA, Inc. v. K-fee System GmbH, IPR2021-01222, Paper 9, at 25 (PTAB Jan. 18, 2022), the Board denied...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

A Few Things that USPTO Could Do to Simplify Patent Prosecution

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office handles hundreds of thousands of patent applications per year, as well as various types of administrative patent proceedings.  While the USPTO has made incremental improvements in its...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

Top Stories of 2021: #7 to #9

After reflecting upon the events of the past twelve months, Patent Docs presents its 15th annual list of top patent stories. For 2021, we identified nine stories that were covered on Patent Docs last year that we believe had...more

WilmerHale

PTAB/USPTO Update - January 2022

WilmerHale on

USPTO Leadership - ..Drew Hirshfeld is still performing the functions and duties of Director.  Kathi Vidal, the Biden Administration’s nominee to be the next Director, testified at the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing...more

Kilpatrick

Five Impactful USPTO Procedural Developments for Patent Practitioners

Kilpatrick on

As the world pivoted to navigate obstacles brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the USPTO not only adapted to address the challenges, but appeared to make the most of this period by improving existing procedures. Partner...more

Kilpatrick

After Hyatt v. Hirshfeld, it Might Be Time to Pay Attention to Prosecution Laches

Kilpatrick on

Gilbert Hyatt was one of many applicants who filed many patent applications shortly before the June 8, 1995 transition point, where patent terms transitioned from being defined based on 17 years from issuance to 20 years from...more

Knobbe Martens

Stanford’s Computer Models – Inventive for Parents, but Not for Patents

Knobbe Martens on

IN RE: BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY - Before Prost, Lourie, and Reyna. Appeal from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Summary: The specific combination of purely mathematical steps in a...more

Haug Partners LLP

In SynQor, Inc. v. Vicor Corp., Federal Circuit Applies Collateral Estoppel to Related Inter Partes Reexamination Proceedings

Haug Partners LLP on

On February 22, 2021, the Federal Circuit addressed for the first time whether collateral estoppel (i.e., issue preclusion) was applicable in inter partes reexamination proceedings. The case is SynQor, Inc. v. Vicor Corp.,...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

In re Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University (Fed. Cir. 2021)

The Federal Circuit affirmed a decision by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) rejecting claims for failure to satisfy the subject matter eligibility standard under 35 U.S.C. § 101, in ex...more

Morrison & Foerster LLP - Federal Circuitry

Last Week in the Federal Circuit (February 8-12): Patent Term Adjustments When Examiners Back Down

Did you remember to send your favorite examiner a Valentine’s Day card?  Okay, so maybe that’s not the typical applicant/examiner relationship.  But this week we do look at some potential consequences from the back and forth...more

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C.

Federal Circuit Appeals from the PTAB and ITC: Summaries of Key 2020 Decisions: In re Google Tech. Holdings LLC, 980 F.3d 858...

Google applied for a patent on video-on-demand systems. The Patent Trial and Appeal Board affirmed the examiner’s rejection of the claims as obvious, stating that Google’s responses to the examiner’s rejections were...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

The CRISPR Chronicles: Enter Toolgen

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Patent Trial and Appeal Board has declared interferences individually between Toolgen as Senior Party and as Junior Party the parties in the pending interference, Broad Institute, Harvard...more

Mintz - Intellectual Property Viewpoints

Expediting Patent Prosecution After An Advisory Action

It can be difficult to advance prosecution of a U.S. patent application efficiently and effectively after prosecution has been closed and an Advisory Action has been mailed. Various U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)...more

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

Failure to Present Arguments Doomed Appeal

In In re: Google Technology Holdings LLC, the Federal Circuit held that Google forfeited its claim construction arguments made on appeal to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (Board). The court explained that whether these...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

Gree, Inc. v. Supercell Oy (Fed. Cir. 2020)

One would think that inventions relating to computer game software would easily meet the requirements for patent eligibility, as these inventions fundamentally involve technological processes and require computer...more

Mintz - Intellectual Property Viewpoints

Rise of the Improper Markush Grouping Rejection and Biomolecules

With the “improper Markush grouping” rejection, U.S. patent examiners may reject claims reciting various alternative polynucleotide or polypeptide sequences. However, there is no per se rule that groupings of alternative...more

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