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Mealey's Patents

  • January 30, 2025

    Judge Finds Campbell, Supermarkets Infringed Soup Can Display Patents

    CHICAGO — A retail display manufacturer provided “substantial evidence” that Campbell Soup Co. (now known as The Campbell’s Co.) and two supermarket chains directly infringed three soup can display racks, an Illinois federal judge ruled, granting summary judgment of direct infringement in the long-running case.

  • January 29, 2025

    In 4 Opinions, Federal Circuit Affirms Obviousness Of Tech Company’s Patents

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In four opinions, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held that all challenged claims in a tech company’s patents related to making gestures in front of a camera are unpatentable as obvious, affirming most findings from the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) issued during inter partes review (IPR) and reversing one and affirming two decisions from PTAB issued during related ex parte examinations.

  • January 29, 2025

    Rejection Of Tire Sealant Patent As Indefinite Affirmed By Federal Circuit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A pro se inventor whose patent application for a tire sealant apparatus was rejected by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) as being indefinite was unsuccessful in his appeal to the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, where a panel found that the appellant failed to rebut an examiner’s finding that the proposed patent’s terms were indefinite.

  • January 29, 2025

    Federal Circuit Upholds IPR Decision In Samsung’s Favor On LED Patent

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found no error by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) in its conclusion, after conducting inter partes review (IPR), that a patent related to light-emitting diodes (LEDs) was invalid as obvious in light of prior art.

  • January 28, 2025

    No Error In PTAB Construction Of ‘Hardware Buffer,’ Federal Circuit Says

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a case appearing before the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals for the second time, a panel said the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) on remand did not err in its construction of the phrase “hardware buffer” in a computer processor patent dispute between Qualcomm Inc. and Intel Corp.; the panel affirmed the PTAB’s holding that all claims in Qualcomm’s patent are unpatentable as obvious.

  • January 28, 2025

    Federal Circuit: No Error In PTAB’s ‘Cache Memory’ Construction

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) did not employ an unreasonable construction of the term “cache memory,” a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Jan. 27, affirming the board’s finding that a company’s patent was invalid as obvious in inter partes review (IPR) proceedings brought against it by streaming giant Netflix Inc.

  • January 27, 2025

    6th Circuit Agrees: No Royalties To Inventor After Patent’s Expiration

    CINCINATTI — A federal judge in Michigan was right to find that a health care company owed no further royalties to the inventor of eye-test machines after the expiration of his patent, the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held Jan. 24, saying that the parties agreed to a royalty rate based on use of the patent itself.

  • January 27, 2025

    Federal Circuit Reverses Most Noninfringement JMOLs In Packaging Patent Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Delaware provided no rationale to support a decision to conditionally grant a new trial on damages in a patent dispute between two makers of food packaging materials, a panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held Jan. 24, vacating the new trial order.

  • January 27, 2025

    DISH To High Court: Federal Circuit Got Patent Act Fees Scope Wrong

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a petition for a writ of certiorari before the U.S. Supreme Court, DISH Network L.L.C. maintains its argument that a Delaware federal judge was wrong to find that it cannot recoup the attorney fees it incurred during a proceeding before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that was “voluntary” and “parallel” to the district court proceedings.

  • January 24, 2025

    Federal Circuit: PTAB Right To Find Lithium Battery Claims Obvious

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Jan. 23 said that the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) did not err in holding that multiple claims in a company’s patents relating to lithium-ion batteries were unpatentable as obvious.

  • January 23, 2025

    Federal Circuit Again Affirms PTAB Finding That DNA Testing Patent Not Obvious

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — For the second time in recent weeks, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 22 affirmed a finding by the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Boar (PTAB) that a biopharmaceutical company’s in utero DNA testing product was not shown to be unpatentable in an inter partes review (IPR) proceeding.

  • January 23, 2025

    Parties Resolve AI Dynamic Batching Patent Fight

    WILMINGTON, Del. — Two artificial intelligence companies have reached a confidential settlement resolving a dispute in a Delaware federal court over a patent protecting dynamic batching used to decrease latency in AI transformers.

  • January 22, 2025

    Solar-Cell Module Patent Claims Invalid, Federal Circuit Agrees

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) was right to find that the claims of a solar energy company’s patent on a type of solar-cell module were unpatentable as obvious, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Jan. 21.

  • January 22, 2025

    Supreme Court Won’t Consider PTAB Use Of APJs In Patent Proceedings

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 21 rejected a processor patent holder’s request for certiorari based on the argument that the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) is barred by the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) from both instituting and deciding on inter partes review (IPR) proceedings, leaving in place a judgment by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirming PTAB’s finding of unpatentability.

  • January 16, 2025

    Split Federal Circuit Reverses Noninfringement Finding In Tub Patent Fight

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A largely split panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed multiple findings from a Rhode Island federal judge in a patent infringement dispute between two manufacturers of bathtubs for infants, including a finding of noninfringement, with the panel majority holding that there are genuine disputes of material fact as to infringement.

  • January 15, 2025

    Bitcoin Miner Doesn’t Show He Invented Crypto Patent, Federal Circuit Says

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Delaware federal judge was right to reject hearsay evidence regarding a conversation over cocktails at a cryptocurrency conference when holding that a cryptocurrency mining company and its founder failed to show that the founder should be added as the named inventor to another crypto company’s patent, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held.

  • January 15, 2025

    No Error In PTAB’s Obviousness Finding For Hitch System Patent

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a finding from the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that claims in a company’s patent related to a hitch mounting system were unpatentable as obvious; the panel held that there was no error in the PTAB’s motivation-to-combine analysis when addressing prior art references.

  • January 15, 2025

    Federal Circuit Rejects Novartis’ Bid To Issue Mandate In Drug Patent Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 14 denied Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp.’s motion to expedite the issuance of its mandate after finding only a few days earlier that a district judge was right to reject arguments that a Novartis heart failure drug patent was invalid as obvious but wrong to hold that the claims were invalid for lack of written description.

  • January 15, 2025

    Magistrate Finds Patent Invalidity Argument Barred, Infringement Not Shown

    AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas federal magistrate judge recommended that summary judgment motions by both parties in a long-running patent infringement suit be denied, finding that the defendant’s invalidity argument is precluded by a previous inter partes review (IPR) ruling, while concluding that the plaintiff has not met its burden to make a prima facie showing of infringement of the sole remaining patent claim at issue more than a dozen years after the suit was initially filed.

  • January 14, 2025

    Novartis Seeks Immediate Mandate After Drug Patent Invalidity Reversal

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A maker of generic drugs on Jan. 13 told the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that it should deny Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp.’s motion to expedite the issuance of its mandate, saying the motion comes too soon after the appeals court’s Jan. 10 finding that a district judge was right to reject arguments that a Novartis heart failure drug patent was invalid as obvious but wrong to hold that the claims were invalid for lack of written description.

  • January 14, 2025

    Supreme Court Won’t Hear Roku’s Arguments On Importing Infringing Products

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 13 decided that it will not consider whether the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) was right to hold that electronics company Roku Inc. failed to show that another company’s telecommunications patent was invalid as obvious, leaving in place an opinion from the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirming the ITC’s findings.

  • January 13, 2025

    Supreme Court Rejects Cert Bid In Patent Safe Harbor Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 13 decided that it will not hear arguments from a medical device company that the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals inappropriately expanded a safe harbor found in the Patent Act in a dispute involving heart valve importation.

  • January 13, 2025

    Broadcom Network Connection Patent Deemed Abstract, Not Infringed By Netflix

    SAN FRANCISCO — In a patent infringement legal dispute between Broadcom Corp. and Netflix Inc. that has been significantly pared down in its almost five-year history, a California federal judge ruled in favor of Netflix by finding two of the remaining patent claims at issue to be directed to an abstract idea, per Alice Corp. Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank Int’l, and thus ineligible for patent protection.

  • January 10, 2025

    Invalidity Of Task Scheduler Patents Affirmed By Federal Circuit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) was right to hold that patents related to the scheduling of tasks for a computer’s processor were unpatentable as obvious, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said, finding in favor of Microsoft Corp., which sought inter partes review (IPR) of the patents.

  • January 10, 2025

    Judge: Defendants Don’t Show Invalidity Of Baby Bag Trade Dress, Copyright

    MIAMI — A federal judge in Florida dismissed counterclaims brought by two companies accused of trade dress and copyright infringement by the maker of baby carrier products, holding that the defendant companies failed to show that the plaintiff company’s trade dress or copyright were invalid.

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