Posts Tagged: "joint inventorship"

CAFC Affirms District Court’s Inventorship Analysis

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) on Friday affirmed a district court finding that two inventors should be added as co-inventors to a patent for a method of transporting gaseous fluids. The CAFC concluded that the record “does not leave us with a definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been made” in finding the inventors contributed significantly to the invention.

SCOTUS Declines to Consider Joint Inventorship Petition

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied certiorari to HIP, Inc. in a case that asked the Court to review the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s (CAFC’s) standard for determining joint inventorship. The petition, filed in August, asked the Court to resolve what it called “an indisputable conflict between the express language of Section 116(a) of Title 35, informed by the legislative history of its 1984 amendments, and requirements the Federal Circuit has imposed on the joint inventions statute since the 1984 amendments.”

CAFC’s Joint Inventorship Analysis Challenged in SCOTUS Petition

HIP, Inc. recently filed a petition for writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court asking the Justices to review a May 2023 U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) decision holding an inventor’s contribution to a patent for methods of pre-cooking bacon and meat pieces did not satisfy the joint inventorship test because the contribution was “insignificant in quality.”

CAFC Reverses Delaware Court on Question of Joint Inventorship

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC), in a precedential decision, today reversed a district court holding that an inventor should be added as a joint inventor for his contributions to a patent for methods of pre-cooking bacon and meat pieces. The CAFC said the inventor’s contribution did not satisfy the three-part test articulated in Pannu v. Iolab Corp. because the contribution was “insignificant in quality.”

Federal Circuit Affirms District Court Ruling that Dana-Farber Inventors Must Be Added to Patents for Cancer Treatment

The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute last week had its district court win affirmed when the Federal Circuit upheld a decision that two of the Institute’s researchers must be added as co-inventors on several patents relating to advancements in cancer treatment. The Court ruled that the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts did not err in its determination that Dr. Gordon Freeman and Dr. Clive Wood should be added to the patents, and said that the appellants’ arguments would require the Court to “adopt an unnecessarily heightened inventorship standard.” Ono Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Tasuku Honjo, E.R. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C., and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (collectively, “Ono”) appealed the district court’s ruling.