Posts Tagged: "patents"

Federal Circuit Again Dismisses Apple Appeal of PTAB Rulings for Qualcomm; Newman Dissents

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) today dismissed Apple, Inc.’s appeal of four decisions of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) in favor of Qualcomm. The CAFC found that an April 2021 CAFC decision (Apple I) on related PTAB rulings, in which the court found Apple lacked Article III standing, controlled. The opinion for the court was authored by Judge Prost. Judge Pauline Newman dissented. In part, the court in Apple I held that a global settlement between Apple and Qualcomm on the terms of a license agreement meant that “the validity of any single patent would have no effect on Apple’s ongoing payment obligations,” and that Apple had therefore failed to establish standing under the reasoning of MedImmune, Inc. v. Genentech, as it asserted. The court in Apple I explained: “Ultimately, Apple’s assertions amount to little more than an expression of its displeasure with a license provision into which it voluntarily entered. Such allegations do not establish Article III standing.”

Patent Filings Roundup: In a Slow Week, IP Edge Hits Amazon on Cryptographic Keys and Jeffrey Gross-Run Entities Proliferate

Another week, another dearth of any Fintiv denials, which sort of begs the question, if the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) has effectively walked back their reliance on the Fintiv factors, does that order’s precedential status merit walking back? In terms of district court and PTAB filings, subdued is the word; just 19 PTAB petitions (all inter partes reviews) with four being apparent joinders by LG Electronics against Gesture Technology Partners, LLC [a Tim Pryor entity] well prior to institution, seeking to join Apple petitions. Previous Pryor entities include Motion Games LLC, PSTP Ttechnologies, Tactile Feedback Technology, LMI Technologies Inc., and Great Lakes Intellectual Property, Ltd]. Gil Hyatt filed yet another suit this week (and has filed one a week, it seems, for some time).

Judge Upholds UK Power to Set FRAND Terms

A judge has affirmed the ability of the UK courts to settle FRAND terms of a patent license covering foreign patents, despite the defendants challenging the court’s jurisdiction. But in his judgment, published on November 4 20201, His Honour Judge Hacon noted that the current framework for settling a global license between owners of standard essential patents (SEPs) and implementers “is plainly not satisfactory.” He explained: “[I]t does encourage expensive parallel litigation in several jurisdictions and more uncertainty than is necessary. I doubt that it can be sustained in the long term.” The case is one of many that SEP owners have brought before the courts since the UK Supreme Court judgment in the Unwired Planet and Conversant litigation established English courts’ jurisdiction to set global FRAND terms in August 2020.

Federal Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Celgene’s Hatch-Waxman Suit Against Mylan, Clarifying Venue and Pleading Requirements

On November 5, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) issued a precedential decision in Celgene Corp. v. Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc. affirming a ruling of the District of Delaware, which dismissed a Hatch-Waxman lawsuit against related Mylan entities for either improper venue or failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. In issuing the decision, the Federal Circuit found that Mylan’s submission of a notice letter to Celgene regarding Mylan’s paragraph IV certification to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stating that Mylan’s generic version of the multiple myeloma treatment Pomalyst would not infringe Celgene’s patents was not itself an act of infringement for purposes of the patent venue statute.

As Raimondo Takes the Helm on Council for Inclusive Innovation, Inventors Have an Unresolved Ask

In a letter provided last week to members of the National Council for Expanding American Innovation (NCEAI), Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce Gina Raimondo announced her role as Chair of the Council for Inclusive Innovation (CI2). I congratulate the Secretary for this extremely important role. Innovation should have no barriers, and both of these—a) innovation and b) the breaking down of unjust barriers—stand at the root of America’s success and identity. To aid the CI2 and all who create and execute innovation policy in our government, underrepresented inventors have an unresolved ask, and it involves breaking down a barrier identified by the very people who the CI2 and Congress desire to help. That ask is this: remedy the inventor’s second prong.