Newsletter RSS

Mealey's Patents

  • October 06, 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 06, 2025

    Federal Circuit Affirms Slashing Of Medical Staple Patent Damages To $1

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a Delaware federal jury’s finding that a medical technology company and affiliated entities infringed a single claim of a competitor’s patent on a surgical stapling product and also affirmed the judge’s decision to reduce the jury’s damages award from $10 million to only $1.

  • October 02, 2025

    Federal Circuit Vacates PTAB Obviousness Finding For Social Media Map Patent

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled Oct. 1 that the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) correctly held that a technology company’s substitute claims in a patent related to displaying social media posts on a geographic map satisfy the written description requirement under the Patent Act; however, the panel also decided that PTAB erred in its consideration of the obviousness of those substitute claims.

  • October 01, 2025

    Federal Circuit: Multiple Errors In Hookless Curtain Infringement Findings

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel issued a mixed opinion Sept. 30 in a long-running intellectual property dispute over hookless shower curtains, affirming a New York federal judge’s findings that one appellant company infringed multiple patents but vacating or reversing findings that another appellant company infringed the patents; the panel also vacated trademark and trade dress infringement findings against the appellant companies and set aside attorney fees.

  • September 30, 2025

    Judge: Prior And Pending Litigation Exclusion Does Not Bar Cyber Liability Coverage

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware judge granted in part and denied in part an insured and its excess insurers’ summary judgment motions in a cyber liability coverage dispute, holding that the prior and pending litigation policy exclusion does not relieve the excess insurers of their duty to defend but they have no duty to indemnify the insured for the costs it incurred in a reciprocal lawsuit.

  • September 30, 2025

    Federal Circuit Says Ride-Sharing Patents Were Obvious, Affirms Lyft’s Win

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Sept. 29 said Lyft Inc. successfully showed that certain claims of patents held by another technology company are unpatentable as obvious, affirming findings from the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) issued in multiple inter partes review (IPR) proceedings.

  • September 30, 2025

    Federal Circuit: Company Lacked Standing To Appeal PTAB Lottery Ticket Decision

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held that a technology company lacked standing to appeal a final written decision from the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) wherein the PTAB held that the company failed to show that multiple claims of a patent related to lottery ticket printing were unpatentable; the panel held that the company failed to show that it had suffered an injury in fact.

  • September 29, 2025

    Tech Companies, PTO Tell High Court PTAB Can Review Expired Patents

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Apple Inc., Google LLC, LG Electronics Inc. and an affiliate tell the U.S. Supreme Court in a pair of Sept. 26 briefs that it should reject a patent-holding company’s petitions for writs of certiorari because they raise arguments about the constitutionality of inter partes review (IPR) proceedings before the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that the high court has previously rejected.

  • September 26, 2025

    Mapping Patent Claims Rightly Found Abstract, Federal Circuit Holds

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel saw no errors in an Illinois federal judge’s finding that all asserted claims in patents related to methods for displaying brand information on a geographic map were invalid as abstract, affirming the judge’s dismissal with prejudice of the patent holder’s suit in a nonprecedential Sept. 25 opinion.

  • September 25, 2025

    EcoFactor To High Court: Federal Circuit Wrong To Vacate Jury’s Patent Damages

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Google LLC on Sept. 24 waived its right to a respond to a smart thermostat company’s petition for a writ of certiorari in which the company argues that the en banc Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ decision to order a Texas federal judge hold a new trial on damages wrongly eschewed the jury’s factual findings in its favor.

  • September 25, 2025

    Federal Circuit Vacates $166 Million Award Against Nokia, AT&T In Patent Fight

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Sept. 24 vacated a jury’s $166 million damages award against AT&T Mobility LLC and Nokia of America Corp., holding that a Texas federal judge should have granted the companies’ request for judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) of noninfringement against a plaintiff-appellee wireless technology company.

  • September 25, 2025

    Federal Circuit Affirms Summary Judgment In Wig Product Patent Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a California federal judge’s grant of summary judgment of noninfringement to defendant wig product manufacturers in a patent infringement suit, finding no error in the judge’s construction of a disputed claim term.

  • September 25, 2025

    Federal Circuit: No Error In PTAB Rejection Of Motorola Challenge To Lens Patent

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) final written decision upholding all claims in a patent regarding an optical lens assembly for compact devices challenged by Motorola Mobility LLC, holding that substantial evidence supported the board’s finding that there was no motivation to combine Motorola’s cited prior art references.

  • September 24, 2025

    Federal Circuit Partly Vacates PTAB’s Obviousness Ruling Against Bayer

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Sept. 23 agreed with the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that some claims in a patent held by Bayer Pharma Aktiengesellschaft are unpatentable as obvious, but the panel vacated the board’s finding of obviousness for other claims, holding that it was based on an incorrect claim construction regarding the administration of aspirin in a cardiac medication regimen.

  • September 24, 2025

    Judge Tosses FCA Suit Related To Drug Patent Pursuant To Public Disclosure Bar

    BOSTON — A Massachusetts federal judge on Sept. 23 dismissed a qui tam relator’s suit alleging violations of the federal False Claims Act (FCA) and related state laws regarding pharmaceutical companies’ purported fraudulently obtained patents for the drug Xyrem resulting in government health insurers reimbursing Xyrem prescriptions “at inflated prices,” finding that facts in the complaint were previously disclosed and that the public disclosure bar applies.

  • September 23, 2025

    Federal Circuit Vacates Jury’s Patent Verdict Over Faulty Claim Construction

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A jury’s finding of noninfringement in a patent dispute involving magnetic objects used in data recording may have been based in part on a Pennsylvania federal judge’s improper construction of a patent claim term, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held, vacating the jury’s verdict and remanding for a new trial.

  • September 18, 2025

    Del. Federal Judge Won’t Order Permanent Injunction Barring Bid For FDA Approval

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A pharmaceutical company that sought “equitable relief that is unprecedented under” federal law “has not established that its story warrants such relief,” a Delaware federal judge said, denying a motion that sought to bar a competitor from seeking approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a drug to treat narcolepsy.

  • September 12, 2025

    Federal Circuit Won’t Reinstate Invalidity Finding In Cherry Plant Patent Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a short Sept. 11 order, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for a writ of mandamus filed by cherry-growing entities requesting that a Washington federal judge be directed to reinstate a previous finding of patent invalidity against the Canadian government department covering agriculture in a dispute over U.S. plant patents.

  • September 12, 2025

    High Court Requests Response To Cert Petition In Entresto Patent Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court requested a response from Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. to generic drugmakers’ petition for a writ of certiorari in response to the petitioners’ argument that the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals wrongly considered after-arising technology in a dispute over the patent for heart medication Entresto.

  • September 11, 2025

    Clothing Maker Seeks Fees After Federal Circuit Reverses Infringement Verdict

    PHOENIX — After the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed an Arizona federal jury’s more than $20 million award against a clothing maker in a design patent and trademark infringement dispute related to oversized sweatshirts, the company now tells the court that it is owed roughly $3.6 million in attorney fees and costs, arguing that the case was “exceptional.”

  • September 11, 2025

    Federal Circuit Won’t Rehear Obviousness-Type Double Patenting Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Sept. 10 denied generic drugmakers’ petition for panel rehearing or rehearing en banc, leaving in place a panel’s June opinion affirming a Delaware judge’s grant of summary judgment of no invalidity to a biopharmaceutical company that holds the patent for a medication used to treat hallucinations.

  • September 10, 2025

    Federal Circuit: Applicants’ Vitamin Claims Anticipated By Own Prior Applications

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) rejection of a patent application based on previous applications from the appellants for a vitamin C and betaine product; the panel also dismissed arguments about patent term adjustment and abandonment for lack of jurisdiction.

  • September 10, 2025

    Federal Circuit: Fees Owed To Chipmaker In Tossed Infringement Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Texas federal judge should have granted attorney fees to Realtek Semiconductor Corp. because it was the “prevailing party” after the judge converted a patent owner’s voluntary dismissal of a pair of infringement suits to a dismissal with prejudice, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Sept. 9.

  • September 09, 2025

    Federal Circuit Orders New Trial In Oil Refining Patent Infringement Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Texas federal judge should have approved Magēmā Technology LLC’s request for a new trial in a patent infringement suit it brought against Phillips 66 and related entities, a panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held Sept. 8; the panel said it could not be certain if an improperly introduced theory from Phillips informed a jury’s verdict in its favor.

  • September 09, 2025

    Federal Circuit: PTAB Wrong To Skip Alice Analysis For Patent Application

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) failed to fully consider the indefiniteness and abstractness of an inventor’s proposed patent describing a system for distributing content between online users, a panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held in a nonprecedential judgment, vacating part of PTAB’s findings and reversing other aspects.