Federal Circuit

The Federal Circuit affirmed that a settlement agreement’s forum selection clause requiring patent disputes to be filed in Delaware federal court did not bar Abbott from filing inter partes review petitions after the agreement’s covenant-not-to-challenge period expired—because the agreem

The Federal Circuit affirmed the PTAB’s claim construction of ‘storage element’ based on inventor lexicography in an incorporated-by-reference patent, holding that the PTAB is not bound by a conflicting district court construction and that Intel’s reply arguments were proper

The Federal Circuit affirmed that generic drug manufacturers who carve out patented indications from their drug labels—the so-called ‘skinny label’ strategy—do not infringe method-of-use patents covering those omitted indications under the Hatch-Waxman Act, and that brand-name companies

The Federal Circuit affirmed that the PTAB retains authority to issue a final written decision in an IPR or PGR even after the statutory one-year (plus extension) deadline has passed, provided no clear contrary congressional intent bars the late decision.

The Federal Circuit affirmed the PTAB’s ruling that Medtronic failed to prove Teleflex’s guide extension catheter patents unpatentable, finding that the claimed invention was conceived and reduced to practice before the critical date of the asserted prior art.

The Federal Circuit dismissed Allgenesis’s appeal from an adverse IPR decision for lack of Article III standing, holding that vague future product plans and non-appealable priority rulings do not constitute a concrete injury sufficient to invoke federal court jurisdiction.

The Federal Circuit vacated an infringement judgment in an ANDA case involving pulmonary hypertension drug patents, holding that the district court erred by construing ‘a pH of 13’ based solely on intrinsic evidence when the parties submitted competing extrinsic evidence—including textbo

The Federal Circuit upheld attorneys’ fee awards against PersonalWeb, affirming that the Kessler doctrine barred it from suing Amazon’s customers after PersonalWeb had stipulated to dismissal with prejudice of its earlier case against Amazon itself.

In a split decision, the Federal Circuit affirmed PTAB’s patentability finding for DivX’s media streaming patents, holding that Netflix forfeited its arguments by failing to present them with sufficient clarity in the IPR petition.

The Federal Circuit vacated a multi-million dollar patent damages award against Chilisin Electronics, holding that the district court abused its discretion by admitting a damages expert opinion that failed to differentiate between infringing and non-infringing products in the royalty base calculatio

The Federal Circuit partially affirmed and partially vacated PTAB’s obviousness rulings on Corephotonics dual-aperture camera patents, holding that one prior art reference was analogous on substantial evidence but remanding for the Board to explain whether a second reference meets the analogou

The Federal Circuit vacated an invalidity judgment against Finjan’s cybersecurity patents that had been based on collateral estoppel from a since-vacated case, while affirming non-infringement on claim construction grounds and excluding Finjan’s damages expert for inadequate apportionmen

The Federal Circuit held that the PTAB erred in categorically excluding expert testimony on the structure of computer-implemented means-plus-function claim limitations when the specification identifies named software protocols, clarifying a two-track framework for evaluating such claims.

The Federal Circuit affirmed PTAB’s obviousness finding for radiosurgery patents, clarifying that a reasonable expectation of success does not require an explicit separate finding and may be implicit in a well-supported motivation-to-combine analysis.

The Federal Circuit held that the PTAB applied an unduly strict standard when it rejected Netflix’s analogous art argument in an IPR, ruling that petitioners need not perfectly articulate the ‘field of endeavor’ in magic words—what matters is whether the prior art reference and the

The Federal Circuit affirmed PTAB’s denial of a motion to amend patent claims in IPR, holding that proposed substitute claims were broader than original claims in at least some respects, and that claims broader in any respect cannot be substituted regardless of narrowing in others.

In a precedent-setting decision, the Federal Circuit held that patent term adjustments granted due to USPTO prosecution delays do not protect a later-expiring patent from obviousness-type double patenting challenges based on an earlier-expiring family member.

The Federal Circuit vacated the PTAB’s finding that Volvo Penta’s stern drive patent was obvious, holding that the Board improperly dismissed evidence of secondary considerations—including copying, commercial success, and industry praise—when competitors’ own recognition that the p

The Federal Circuit affirmed that IPR petitioner reply arguments expanding on cost and time savings as a motivation to combine were not impermissibly new—they properly responded to the patent owner’s opposition and were a fair extension of the efficiency rationale raised in the original petiti

The Federal Circuit vacated two PTAB decisions, holding that when a patent owner introduces a new claim construction for the first time in its post-institution response, the petitioner must be given a fair opportunity to introduce new arguments and evidence under that construction in its reply.

The Federal Circuit affirmed that United Therapeutics’ patents covering inhaled treprostinil for pulmonary hypertension satisfy enablement and written description requirements, holding that method-of-treatment claims need not separately address every disease variant in the specification.

The Federal Circuit held that patents governed exclusively by the America Invents Act cannot be drawn into interference proceedings—a landmark ruling that clarifies the divide between the old first-to-invent system and the modern first-inventor-to-file regime.