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Mealey's Patents

  • October 28, 2025

    AI Company To High Court: Federal Circuit Opinion Could Harm AI Patents

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A machine learning patent holder is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling on a matter of first impression that affirmed the invalidation of the patents for describing the abstract concept of machine learning without pointing to specific improvements; the company tells the high court that the Federal Circuit’s approach to patent eligibility “flouts this Court’s instruction to consider preemption.”

  • October 28, 2025

    Judge’s Construction Of Claim In Heart Valve Patent Correct, Federal Circuit Says

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Oct. 27 affirmed a stipulated judgment of noninfringement issued by a Delaware federal judge in a patent dispute over a transcatheter aortic valve, holding that there was no error in the judge’s construction of the disputed claim phrase “outer frame.”

  • October 28, 2025

    PTAB Right To Find Semiconductor Claims Obvious, Federal Circuit Says

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel rejected a semiconductor company’s challenge of a U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) finding that its patent application contained certain claims that were invalid as obvious, finding that the company forfeited its arguments on appeal by failing to properly raise them before the PTAB.

  • October 27, 2025

    Charging Patent Claims Invalid As Obvious, Federal Circuit Panel Says

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — There was no error in the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) construal of the claim term “coupled” in its consideration of a technology company’s patent describing an inductive charging system, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Oct. 24, affirming PTAB’s findings that multiple claims of the patent were obvious due to prior art references.

  • October 23, 2025

    Federal Circuit: No Error In PTAB Recusal, But Board Didn’t Examine Copying

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said Oct. 22 that it saw no error in the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) analysis of the recusal of an administrative patent judge (APJ) after the institution of inter partes review (IPR) for a cybersecurity patent; the panel also held, though, that PTAB failed to fully consider evidence on copying provided by the appellant patent holder.

  • October 22, 2025

    Panel Affirms Judgment For Coca-Cola On Patent Claims Over ‘Freestyle’ Dispenser

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Oct. 21 affirmed a Georgia federal judge’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Coca-Cola Co. on claims its Freestyle soft drink dispenser infringed the patent of a technology company; the panel upheld the judge’s claim construction, which the parties agreed was dispositive if affirmed.

  • October 21, 2025

    Panel Affirms Judge’s Finding Of No Infringement, Validity In Fencing Patent

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held that a federal judge in Texas in a dispute over patents describing rackable fencing devices correctly found no infringement and no invalidity, rejecting arguments from both parties who filed cross-appeals; the panel held that a rejected disclaimer in the prosecution history of a related patent with a shared specification can still be an effective disclaimer for the purpose of claim construction.

  • October 20, 2025

    No High Court Review Of En Banc Federal Circuit’s Vacating Of Patent Damages

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an Oct. 20 order list, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a smart thermostat company’s petition for a writ of certiorari, in which the company told the high court that the en banc Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ decision to order a Texas federal judge to hold a new trial on damages wrongly eschewed the jury’s factual findings in its favor in a patent dispute with Google LLC.

  • October 17, 2025

    Summary Judgment For Ford, BMW Affirmed In Cruise Control Patent Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a Delaware federal judge’s decision to grant summary judgment to Ford Motor Co. and several entities related to BMW of North America LLC (collectively, BMW) on claims brought by a patent holder, finding no clear error in how the judge construed certain claim terms in asserted patents describing systems within vehicles with adaptive cruise control (ACC).

  • October 16, 2025

    Brita’s ITC Patent Loss Affirmed By Federal Circuit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Oct. 15  affirmed a finding by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) that certain claims of a water filter patent held by Brita LP were invalid for lack of written description and lack of enablement because the patent does not disclose the full scope of filter material covered by its claims that do not meet a claimed performance metric.

  • October 16, 2025

    Federal Circuit Rejects Rehearing Bid From Database Patent Holder In IPR Appeal

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals rejected a technology company’s petition for panel rehearing or rehearing en banc, rejecting its arguments that a panel used the wrong standard of review to find that the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) erred in claim construction and incorrectly rejected reply evidence from Google LLC in inter partes review (IPR) proceedings it brought.

  • October 16, 2025

    Federal Circuit: Judge Wrong To Find Prior PTAB Ruling Precluded Issues

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Wisconsin federal judge was wrong to apply issue preclusion based on prior findings from the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) when granting summary judgment in a patent infringement dispute over eyeglass lens patents, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Oct. 15; the panel said the PTAB findings relied on by the judge came under a different standard of proof than that required for district courts.

  • October 15, 2025

    Federal Circuit Rejects Rehearing Bid For Dumbbell Abstractness Finding

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Oct. 14 denied a company’s request for either panel rehearing or rehearing en banc, leaving in place its August finding that a Utah federal judge was wrong to hold that a patent was directed to an abstract idea by conflating a “rather simple mechanical invention” for stacking dumbbells with the kind of computerized automation that is often unpatentable as abstract.

  • October 15, 2025

    Willful Infringement Claim Survives Dismissal In Gene Sequencing Patent Dispute

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A federal judge in Delaware denied a biotechnology company’s motion to partially dismiss a patent infringement complaint brought against it by a research institution, finding that the research entity plausibly alleged willful infringement of two of its cancer-detection patents based on related European patent disputes.

  • October 10, 2025

    Federal Circuit Affirms Invalidation Of Hearing Device Patent Claims

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Across three opinions issued Oct. 9, two panels in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a series of decisions by the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that invalidated multiple claims in three patents related to hearing devices, with the panels agreeing with PTAB that prior art references rendered the patents’ claims obvious.

  • October 09, 2025

    More Amici Urge Supreme Court To Take Up Entresto Patent Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Public Interest Patent Law Institute (PIPLI) tells the U.S. Supreme Court in an Oct. 8 amicus curiae brief that it should grant a generic drugmaker’s petition for a writ of certiorari in a dispute over the patent for heart medication Entresto, arguing that the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has created conflicting strategies on how to treat after-arising technology.

  • October 09, 2025

    PTAB Erred In Bone Plate Patent Anticipation Finding, Federal Circuit Says

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel has narrowed a medical device company’s wins before the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB); while the panel affirmed PTAB’s findings as to one of the patents at issue, it also found that substantial evidence did not support the board’s rejection of arguments regarding whether three other patents at issue were anticipated.

  • October 08, 2025

    Panel: Patent Organizations Lacked Standing To Sue PTO For Rules Change

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a District of Columbia federal judge’s decision to dismiss a complaint brought against the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) by two organizations that represent patent holders, agreeing with the judge that the organizations lacked standing because they could not show they were injured by the PTO’s decision to deny their petition for rulemaking.

  • October 08, 2025

    Federal Circuit Vacates $20M Patent Award Because Plaintiff Didn’t Own Patents

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held that a medical device company lacked standing to bring infringement claims against another device maker because it did not own the patents at issue when the suit was filed; the panel vacated a Massachusetts federal judge’s findings of infringement and remanded with instructions to dismiss.

  • October 08, 2025

    High Court Won’t Consider If Federal Circuit Erred On Hip Implant Color Mark

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a medical ceramics company’s petition for a writ of certiorari, leaving in place a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals holding that the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) correctly canceled its marks because the pink color of its artificial hip parts was a functional element of an expired patent.

  • October 07, 2025

    Supreme Court Denies Certiorari To Crocs In Sprawling Patent, False Ad Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 6 denied Crocs Inc.’s petition for a writ of certiorari in which the company argued that the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals improperly expanded the federal false advertising statute to include intangible concepts, including statements about whether a product is patented.

  • October 07, 2025

    Supreme Court Won’t Hear Device Maker’s Patent Discovery Arguments

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 6 rejected a medical product company’s petition for a writ of certiorari in which it told the court that a North Carolina federal court violated its due process rights by changing both the time to trial and the time for discovery in a patent infringement case for which the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has already ordered a new trial.

  • October 07, 2025

    Supreme Court Denies Certiorari For Floor Tape Patent, False Ad Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 6 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari from entities that make floor-marking tape and argued that the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals should not have affirmed an Ohio federal judge’s finding that the patent at issue was anticipated by prior art.

  • October 07, 2025

    High Court Won’t Consider Obviousness Of Oxycontin Patent Claims

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 6 rejected a petition for a writ of certiorari from Purdue Pharma LP and related entities, which told the justices that the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has created a rigid nexus test when considering evidence of nonobviousness in a dispute over patents controlling Purdue’s OxyContin drug.

  • October 07, 2025

    Supreme Court Rejects USAA’s Petition In Patent Row With PNC Bank

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 6 denied the United Services Automobile Association’s (USAA) petition for a writ of certiorari, leaving in place the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ affirmation of the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) decision to invalidate USAA’s mobile banking patents; USAA contended that PTAB arbitrarily rendered opposing decisions on its patents in inter partes review (IPR) proceedings sought by different IPR petitioners.