The Federal Circuit held that patent claims directed to manufacturing driveshaft liners that “attenuate” vibrations were invalid under § 101 because they were simply an instruction to apply Hooke’s law — a natural law — without specifying how to do so, triggering a sharp dissent warning of § 101 ove
The Federal Circuit vacated a $145 million patent damages award against Apple, holding that Wi-LAN’s expert improperly used entire smartphone sales as the royalty base for cellular standard-essential patents — applying the entire market value rule without adequate apportionment to the patented
The Federal Circuit invalidated garage door opener patents covering a wireless sensor system for communicating door state, holding the claims were directed to the abstract idea of wirelessly communicating status information — an idea that cannot be its own inventive concept.
The Federal Circuit affirmed that patents covering the Contrave weight loss drug were obvious, rejecting arguments that unexpected synergistic effects between bupropion and naltrexone saved the claims from invalidity.
The Federal Circuit clarified the scope of IPR estoppel under § 315(e)(2), holding that IPR estoppel applies only to grounds based on patents or printed publications — the types of prior art available in IPR — and does not bar district court invalidity challenges based on prior art that could not ha
The Federal Circuit held that applying inter partes review (IPR) proceedings to patents issued before the America Invents Act does not constitute an unconstitutional taking under the Fifth Amendment, rejecting a major constitutional challenge to the PTAB system.
The Federal Circuit reversed a district court and invalidated Solutran’s check-processing patent under § 101, holding that the presence of physical steps involving paper checks does not transform an abstract business method into patent-eligible subject matter.
The Federal Circuit affirmed dismissal of Amgen’s doctrine of equivalents infringement claim, holding that arguments made during patent prosecution create estoppel bars even when those arguments were not strictly necessary to secure allowance of the claims.
The Federal Circuit affirmed invalidity of Enzo’s nucleotide labeling patents for lack of enablement, holding that claims covering tens of thousands of possible labeled polynucleotide embodiments were not enabled when the specification disclosed only a few working examples.
The Federal Circuit reversed a district court’s dismissal of patent claims as ineligible under § 101, applying Berkheimer to hold that well-pleaded factual allegations about how the claimed invention was an unconventional advance must be accepted as true at the 12(b)(6) stage — limiting early
The Supreme Court held that the Lanham Act’s prohibition on registering marks that are immoral or scandalous constitutes an unconstitutional viewpoint-based restriction on speech under the First Amendment.
The Federal Circuit held that state sovereign immunity does not apply in inter partes review proceedings, following the logic of its earlier St. Regis Mohawk Tribe ruling and closing the gap between tribal and state immunity claims at the PTAB.
The Supreme Court held that the federal government is not a ‘person’ eligible to petition for inter partes review, post-grant review, or covered business method review under the America Invents Act.
The Federal Circuit affirmed that patent claims directed to displaying profit-and-loss data on a trading screen were ineligible under § 101 because merely presenting new financial information on a generic display does not solve a technical problem.
The Federal Circuit held that patents covering network-controlled electric vehicle charging stations are directed to the abstract idea of network communication for device interaction, invalidating all four asserted patents under § 101.
The Federal Circuit reversed a district court’s ruling that Endo’s oxymorphone dosing patent was ineligible, holding that claims directed to a specific method of treating specific patients with specific dosages are not merely abstract natural laws.
The Federal Circuit upheld SRI’s network intrusion detection patents against a § 101 challenge, holding that claims requiring computers to perform surveillance and analysis that the human mind is incapable of doing are not directed to abstract ideas.
The Federal Circuit reversed a district court’s ruling that patents on using beta-alanine as a dietary supplement were invalid under § 101, holding that method of treatment claims covering use of a natural compound in non-naturally-occurring quantities to alter physiology are patent eligible.
The Supreme Court held that the Copyright Act’s authorization of “full costs” under § 505 covers only the six categories of costs specified in the general federal costs statute — not additional litigation expenses like expert witnesses, e-discovery, and jury consultants.
The Supreme Court unanimously held that copyright registration “occurs” when the Copyright Office registers a claim — not when the applicant files — meaning copyright holders must wait for the Office to act before they can sue for infringement.
The Federal Circuit invalidated a diagnostic patent for detecting autoantibodies linked to myasthenia gravis, then denied en banc rehearing in a rare decision accompanied by eight separate opinions, exposing the court’s deep division over § 101 and diagnostic patents.
The Federal Circuit held that the USPTO cannot reduce patent term adjustment by a period during which the applicant could not have taken any action to advance prosecution, limiting PTA deductions to periods of actual applicant delay.
The Supreme Court held that the AIA preserved pre-AIA law on the ‘on sale’ bar: a confidential commercial sale of an invention more than one year before the patent application triggers the bar, even if the invention’s details remain secret.
The Federal Circuit held that Trading Technologies’ patents on a graphical user interface for electronic futures trading were patent-ineligible abstract ideas under Alice — finding that displaying market data and allowing traders to place orders by clicking on a price ladder represented an abs