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 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 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 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 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.