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Mealey's Patents

June 04, 2025
Valve’s Patent Validity Suit Stayed While Defendants’ Counsel Seek Payment

SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge issued a 45-day stay of video game company Valve Corp.’s complaint against a man the company accuses of being a “patent troll,” entities he controls and others while the defendants seek new counsel and the court mulls the defendants’ current counsel’s motion to withdraw from the case for lack of payment.
June 03, 2025
Tech Firm Seeks Mandamus From High Court In Memory Chip Patent Discovery Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A flash memory chip maker filed a petition for mandamus with the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking relief from a trial court’s discovery order requiring it to turn over sensitive documents to a Chinese rival tech firm, which the petitioner says would violate an existing protective order and implicate national security concerns.
June 03, 2025
Supreme Court Denies Certiorari To Tire Company In Trade Dress, Patent Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 2 denied a tire corporation’s petition for a writ of certiorari, turning down the company’s request that it consider what it called the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ expansion of Illinois’ absolute litigation privilege in its ruling on trade dress and patent claims brought by another tire company.
June 02, 2025
Supreme Court Rejects Certiorari For Vascular Graft Patent Royalty Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court will not consider if the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals misapplied standards for the payment of patent royalties in a dispute over an agreement related to an expired medical device patent; the high court rejected the petition for a writ of certiorari from Atrium Medical Corp. in a June 2 order list.
May 30, 2025
Federal Circuit OKs Acting PTO Director Review Of Prior Head’s IPR Sanctions

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel granted a motion by the acting director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) for a limited remand of a vaccine company’s appeal of the prior PTO director’s entry of sanctions in the form of the cancellation of all claims in multiple patents, allowing the acting director time to review the decision.
May 29, 2025
Partly Split Federal Circuit Says Judge Got Tile Patent Claim Construction Wrong

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A partially split Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on May 28 held that a federal judge in Florida erred in claim construction in a patent dispute involving a type of ceramic tile, leading the panel to vacate a stipulated judgment of noninfringement.
May 29, 2025
Federal Circuit Affirms Claim Construction That Caused Patent Claim Dismissal

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said a Texas federal judge committed no discernible error in claim constructions that led to a judgment of noninfringement in a defendant energy company’s favor on infringement claims related to a series of patents for a system of testing structural integrity of various vessels used for storing or moving oil and gas.
May 28, 2025
Supreme Court Denies Cert To Packaging Patent Holder’s Enablement Arguments

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on May 27 rejected a patent holder’s petition for a writ of certiorari, declining to consider whether the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was wrong to summarily affirm the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) invalidation of the company’s food packaging patents.
May 28, 2025
Federal Circuit: PTAB’s Combination Analysis Wrong In Lighting Patent Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) erred in its analysis of the motivation to combine prior art references in post-grant review proceedings for a patent describing a type of lighting structure, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held May 27, finding that PTAB improperly imposed a quantification requirement that was “overly rigid and inconsistent with well-established precedent.”
May 27, 2025
Federal Circuit: PTAB Erred On Some Claims In Mostly Affirmed Insurance Sensor IPR

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel issued a mixed opinion in a patent dispute involving devices for monitoring vehicle movement for insurance purposes, largely affirming findings from the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board; the panel held, though, that a portion of the PTAB’s findings were based on an erroneous conclusion during claim construction.
May 27, 2025
Federal Circuit: PTAB’s Claim Construction Too Narrow In X-Ray Patent Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on May 23 held that the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) erroneously narrowed a disputed patent claim related to X-ray imaging, reversing the PTAB’s finding that claims of the appellee’s patent were not invalid as anticipated.
May 27, 2025
Federal Circuit Reverses Summary Judgment For Apple In Payment Patent Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel reversed a Texas federal judge’s grant of summary judgment in favor of defendant-appellee Apple Inc. in a dispute with Fintiv Inc. over a payment application, holding that Fintiv adequately raised a question of material fact as to Apple’s alleged infringement.
May 23, 2025
Federal Circuit: PTAB Obviousness Finding For Gene Treatment Not In Error

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held May 22 that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) did not err when it ruled that a biopharmaceutical company’s patents on a hemophilia gene therapy treatment were unpatentable as obvious, affirming the board’s finding in an inter partes review (IPR) proceeding brought by Pfizer Inc.
May 23, 2025
Full Federal Circuit Orders New Trial On Damages For Google In Patent Fight

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The full Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that a Texas federal judge should have granted Google LLC a new trial on damages after a jury found that the company infringed on a patent related to smart thermostat technology, finding that the judge allowed jurors to hear unreliable testimony regarding a royalty rate.
May 20, 2025
Federal Circuit Splits On PTAB Review Of Stylus Patent; Majority Orders Reversal

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A split Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on May 19 held that the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) should have gone further in its findings that challenged claims in patents related to a device to be used with a stylus were unpatentable as obvious, reversing the PTAB’s findings related to one patent claim and affirming regarding multiple others.
May 15, 2025
Judge Finds No Video Patent Infringement After $26M Verdict Against Google

WACO, Texas — A federal judge in Texas granted Google LLC and YouTube LLC’s motion for judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) of noninfringement, reversing a jury’s nearly $26 million patent infringement verdict in favor of another online video company; the judge ruled that the plaintiff company’s infringement theory is not supported by the claim text of its patent.
May 14, 2025
PTAB Got Conception Analysis Wrong For CRISPR Patent, Federal Circuit Says

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) wrongly required scientists from the University of California and other facilities to show that their claimed invention would work to show that they conceived of a gene editing technology first, reviving a dispute over the CRISPR-Cas9 system.
May 14, 2025
Company Can’t Use IPR Estoppel To Get New Trial, Federal Circuit Says

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said substantial evidence supported a jury’s finding that multiple claims in a tech company’s patents related to portable memory devices were shown to be obvious and anticipated as per prior art references, affirming that and other findings in the dispute, holding that inter partes review (IPR) estoppel “does not preclude a petitioner from asserting that a claimed invention was known or used by others, on sale, or in public use in district court.”
May 12, 2025
Tire Company: High Court Must Consider Question Of Illinois Litigation Privilege

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A tire corporation emphasized in a brief that the U.S. Supreme Court should grant its petition for a writ of certiorari, saying that an opinion from the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals “expanded Illinois’ traditionally narrow absolute litigation privilege beyond what any other court applying Illinois law has ever done” in its consideration of trade dress and patent claims brought against the company by another tire entity based in Japan.
May 09, 2025
Email Patent Applicant Failed To Rebut Obviousness, Federal Circuit Says

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) did not err when it affirmed an examiner’s rejection of a man’s application for a patent on an email annotation system, a panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said May 8, agreeing that the application’s claims were invalid as obvious.
May 09, 2025
Federal Circuit: Drug Maker Lacked Standing To Challenge PTAB Validity Ruling

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a pair of opinions, two Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panels ruled against Incyte Corp. and a related entity in patent disputes that involved Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Inc. and the compound ruxolitinib, the appellate court reversed a New Jersey federal judge’s grant of preliminary injunction in Incyte’s favor and said the company lacked standing to challenge a finding from U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that it failed to show the invalidity of Sun’s patent.
May 08, 2025
Federal Circuit: Appellants Could Face Sanctions In IP Fight For Faulty Briefing

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Attorneys for two companies that appealed nearly $4 million in judgments against them in a decade-long intellectual property dispute over hookless shower curtains could face sanctions, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said in a sua sponte order, if they cannot show how they have not repeatedly violated circuit rules by inappropriately separating arguments between the companies’ respective briefs.
May 08, 2025
Ad Patent Holders Expanded Scope In Reissuance Bid, Federal Circuit Rules

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The scope of a web advertising patent claim broadened when the patent holders submitted a reissuance application, a panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held, agreeing with the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) sustaining of an examiner’s rejection.
May 07, 2025
Federal Circuit: Alice Analysis Correct In Tax Patent Suit Dismissal

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 6 affirmed a Delaware federal judge’s decision to dismiss a tax company’s patent infringement suit, agreeing with the judge that the company’s patent describing a method to determine an aircraft’s taxability status is directed at an abstract concept without adding anything.
May 07, 2025
Medical Patent Injunction At Odds With Hatch-Waxman, Federal Circuit Finds

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Delaware federal judge abused discretion by ordering a defendant pharmaceutical company to perform no further experimentation on its medication for people with narcolepsy that a jury found infringed on a competitor’s product, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found May 6, holding that the finding is at odds with the “plain language and purposes of the Hatch-Waxman Act.”