The Federal Circuit vacated summary judgment of non-infringement, holding that the district court improperly imported a structural limitation (a “ledge”) from the patent drawings into a broader claim term (“angular medial surface”), and clarified when a patentee’s pre-s
The Federal Circuit held that a key Eli Lilly patent covering the method of using fluoxetine (Prozac) was invalid for obviousness-type double patenting, opening the door for generic competition with the world’s best-selling antidepressant years ahead of schedule.
The Federal Circuit held that process patent infringement under § 271(g) requires the patent to be issued at the time the accused process is performed; pre-issuance use cannot infringe.
The Federal Circuit reversed summary judgment, holding that Intel’s cross-license from National Semiconductor did not extend to Intergraph’s Clipper processor patents, because those patents were directly assigned from Fairchild to Intergraph and never passed through National Semiconducto
The Federal Circuit vacated a preliminary injunction against Barnes & Noble’s one-click shopping feature, holding that Barnes & Noble raised substantial questions about the validity of Amazon’s one-click patent that precluded injunctive relief at the preliminary stage.
The Federal Circuit held that where a patent specification consistently and clearly defines the invention in terms of a specific structure, the claims are limited to that structure even if the claim language is broader.
The Federal Circuit sitting en banc adopted a sweeping complete-bar rule: any narrowing amendment made during prosecution to comply with the Patent Act creates an absolute estoppel that bars all claims of equivalence for the amended element — a rule later rejected by the Supreme Court in 2002.
The Federal Circuit held that a claim limitation that does not use the word “means” carries a strong presumption against means-plus-function treatment under § 112(6), and that even when that presumption is overcome, the limitation must still be construed in light of the specification to
The Federal Circuit invalidated OxyContin-related patent claims because the applicant added a specific plasma concentration ratio during prosecution that had not been disclosed in the original filing, violating the written description requirement of § 112.
The Federal Circuit affirmed infringement of a process patent covering genetically engineered bacteria for producing the amino acid threonine, holding that importing bacteria manufactured abroad using the patented method constitutes infringement under 35 U.S.C. § 271(g) even when the manufacturing w