A US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) appeals review panel decided that a means-plus-function (M+F) claim element supported by the disclosure of only a single species is not invalid for indefiniteness or lack of written...more
It’s No Secret That a Related Company’s Physical Presence in a Jurisdiction May Not Be Enough For Proper Venue - In Andra Group, LP v. Victoria’s Secret Stores, LLC, Appeal No. 20-2009, The Federal Circuit held that an...more
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board denied institution of a petition for inter partes review (IPR), in part because an allegedly anticipatory prior art patent lacked an element of what the board determined was a limiting...more
In Shoes by Firebug LLC v. Stride Rite Children’s Group, LLC, the Federal Circuit held that the same preamble limits the scope of the claims in one patent, but does not limit the scope of the claims in another patent. ...more
Finding that a patent’s preamble was not limiting and the patent owner’s secondary considerations of non-obviousness were weak, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a finding of obviousness by the Patent...more
SHOES BY FIREBUG LLC v. STRIDE RITE CHILDREN'S GROUP - Before Lourie, Moore, and O’Malley. Appeal from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Summary: In similar claims of two related patents, one preamble was limiting...more
The Appointments Clause: Ensuring That PTAB Decisions Are Subject to Constitutional Checks and Balances In Arthrex, Inc. v. Smith & Nephew, Inc., Appeal No. 18-2251, the Federal Circuit ruled that, under the then-existing...more
In an appeal stemming from the denial of a patent application under § 102(b), the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) by holding that the claims’ preambles were claim...more
IN RE: DAVID FOUGHT, MARTIN CLANTON - Before Newman, Moore, and Chen. Appeal from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Summary: A preamble description of the invention as a “travel trailer” was a structural limitation....more
On May 8, 2019, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board denied institution of inter partes review in William Wesley Carnes, Sr., Inc. v. Seaboard Int’l Inc., No. IPR2019-00133, holding that the mere fact that prior art references...more
Just Because Something May Result From a Prior Art Teaching Does Not Make it Inherent in that Teaching - In Personal Web Technologies, LLC v. Apple, Inc., Appeal No. 2018-1599, the Federal Circuit clarified that the mere...more
The general rule is that a patent claim’s preamble does not limit the claim unless the preamble gives life, meaning, and vitality to the claim. The Federal Circuit’s recent decision in Arctic Cat Inc. v. GEP Power Products,...more
Federal Circuit Summary - Before Prost, Reyna, Taranto. Appeal from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Summary: Where the preamble of a claim merely identifies an intended use and does not impose a structural...more
Federal Circuit Summary - Before Prost, Moore, and Reyna. Appeal from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Summary: Omitting a transition phrase between the preamble and the body of a claim does not cause terms in the...more