Federal Case Summaries
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Liquid Dynamics Corp. v. Vaughan Co. — Terms of Approximation Like ‘Substantial’ in Patent Claims Have Real Meaning and Cannot Be Interpreted to Require Perfection

The Federal Circuit vacated a summary judgment of non-infringement, holding that the claim term ‘a substantial helical flow path’ is a meaningful approximation — not an absolute requirement for a geometrically perfect helix — and that the district court erred by construing the term to re

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Geneva Pharmaceuticals v. GlaxoSmithKline — Method-of-Use Claims Cannot Extend Patent Protection When Earlier Compound Patent Discloses the Same Use

The Federal Circuit held that method-of-use claims on a pharmaceutical compound are not patentably distinct from an earlier patent claiming the same compound when the earlier patent’s specification already disclosed that use, affirming invalidity for nonstatutory obviousness-type double patent

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CFMT, Inc. v. YieldUp International Corp. — Enablement Standard Requires Only That Skilled Artisan Can Make and Use Invention, Not That Invention Meet Commercial Performance Thresholds

The Federal Circuit reversed summary judgments of invalidity for lack of enablement and unenforceability for inequitable conduct in a semiconductor wafer-cleaning patent case, holding that enablement requires only that skilled artisans be able to make and use the full scope of the claimed invention

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In re Coors Brewing Co. — Federal Circuit Reverses BLUE MOON Trademark Refusal; Beer and Restaurant Services Are Not Related Absent “Something More”

The Federal Circuit reversed the TTAB’s refusal to register BLUE MOON for beer, holding that beer and restaurant services are not presumptively related goods and services, and that the USPTO must point to something more than the mere relatedness of industries to refuse registration under the l

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Schering Corp. v. Geneva Pharmaceuticals — Metabolite of Patented Drug Inherently Anticipated by Prior Art, Cannot Be Separately Patented

The Federal Circuit held that Schering’s patent on a metabolite of Claritin (loratadine) was invalid because the metabolite is necessarily and inherently formed when a patient takes a dose of the previously patented loratadine — establishing that inherent anticipation does not require recognit

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SunRace Roots Enterprise v. SRAM Corp. — Claim Differentiation Creates Strong Presumption Against Reading Dependent Claim Limitation Into Independent Claim

The Federal Circuit reversed a declaratory judgment of non-infringement, holding that the doctrine of claim differentiation creates a strong presumption that an independent claim has a broader scope than its dependent claims, and that the narrow limitation in a dependent claim should not be read bac

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Omega Engineering v. Raytek Corp. — Prosecution Disclaimer Requires Clear and Unmistakable Surrender; Courts Cannot Add Negative Limitations Unsupported by Intrinsic Evidence

The Federal Circuit reversed summary judgments of non-infringement and invalidity, holding that the district court improperly added a negative limitation to patent claims without intrinsic evidence support, and that prosecution disclaimer applies only when a patentee makes clear and unmistakable sur

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