Patent Law Weblog
recent posts
- USPTO and DOJ Statement of Interest in Collision Communications: Another Thumb on the Scale in Favor of NPE Patent Plaintiffs
- Oasis Tooling, Inc. v. Siemens Industry Software Inc. (Fed. Cir. 2026)
- Why AI Will Not Take Over the World
- BioNTech Sues Moderna over mRNA Vaccine Technology
- CNIPA Issues Letter on Identity of Foreign Inventors
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Category: Federal Circuit
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By Kevin E. Noonan — The Federal Circuit waded into the question of patent ownership in a dispute between a patent attorney and Applera-Applied Biosystems over patents involving nucleic acid sequencing technology in Applera Corp. v. Illumina, Inc. The case is unusual in at least three respects: the inventor is a lawyer, not a…
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By Kevin E. Noonan — It's settled, then — unless the Supreme Court decides to weigh in, there is a separate written description requirement in 35 U.S.C. § 112, first paragraph. The precedent developed since Regents of the University of California v. Eli Lilly & Co. is good law. This is the judgment of…
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Federal Circuit Transfers "Hot Potato" Diagnostic Method Case By Kevin E. Noonan — The Federal Circuit's majority decision in Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings ("LabCorp") v. Metabolite Laboratories, Inc., and Judge Dyk's dissent, illustrate how often factual considerations, and different views of the same facts, can influence if not determine a legal outcome. Here,…
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By Suresh Pillai — Last week, the Federal Circuit affirmed a determination by the International Trade Commission ("ITC") that: (1) the asserted claims of U.S. Patent Nos. 5,827,698 and 6,040,160 were invalid for failure to comply with the best mode requirement, and (2) the '698 patent was unenforceable due to inequitable conduct. Both the…
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Trading Technologies Int'l. Inc. v. eSpeed Inc. (Fed. Cir. 2010) By Kevin E. Noonan — In an otherwise unremarkable affirmance of jury verdicts and district court decisions on claim construction, the nascent Chief Judge of the Federal Circuit, Randall Rader, and District Court Judge Ron Clark (E.D Tex.) sitting by designation, provided remarkably similar…
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The Standard of Reviewing Obviousness Determinations from the USPTO By Kevin E. Noonan — The Federal Circuit vacated and remanded a Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences determination that the claims in U.S. Application No. 09/719,045 were obvious on Thursday, in deciding In re Chapman. The CAFC's decision addressed not only the proper obviousness…
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The Metes and Bounds of Obviousness-type Double Patenting By Kevin E. Noonan — Obvious-type double patenting has become an important issue in patent litigation (Amgen Inc. v. F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd., Pfizer, Inc. v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc., Proctor & Gamble Co. v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.) and in the Patent Office (In re…
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By Donald Zuhn — The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has announced that the Office and Department of Justice will not be seeking further review of the Federal Circuit's decision in Wyeth v. Kappos. In announcing this decision, the Office also stated that it is in the midst of "preparing guidance for expediting requests…
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By Donald Zuhn — Last Thursday, the Federal Circuit determined in Wyeth v. Kappos that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office had erred in making PTA calculations for two patents owned by Wyeth and Elan Pharma International Ltd. (see Patent Docs report). Since the appellate court rendered its decision, many patent practitioners and applicants…
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What Does It Tell Us About the Relationship between the Court and the Agency? By Kevin E. Noonan — The Federal Circuit last week affirmed the D.C. District Court's decision contradicting the Patent Office interpretation of 35 U.S.C. § 1.54(b) regarding patent term adjustment (see Patent Docs report). This decision is worthy of some…
Patent Docs 