Posts in Federal Circuit
US Inventor Backs SCOTUS Petition to Clarify Claim Construction Principles
Inventor advocacy group US Inventor has filed an amicus brief in support of a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court asking the justices to clarify “[w]…
Washington Insiders Say Farewell to 2020 and Look Ahead to 2021
As we thankfully see 2020 fading into the rear-view mirror and all look forward to a hopefully much better 2021, we want to take a moment to reflect on …
Drawing Software Patent Drafting Guidance in 2021 from an Unlikely Source: the Federal Circuit
Since the Supreme Court’s Alice decision in 2014, inventors have faced extra hurdles trying to protect their software-related inventions with patents. A chief obstacle has been satisfying …
Skidmore-Mead Can Solve the Patent Eligibility Dilemma
Judge Kimberly Moore, in a comprehensive and insightful opinion dissenting from the denial of the petition for rehearing en banc in Athena Diagnostics, Inc. v. Mayo Collaborative …
Supreme Court Will Review Doctrine of Assignor Estoppel
On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court granted a petition for certiorari filed by Minerva Surgical, Inc. asking the Court to clarify questions around the doctrine of …
Federal Circuit Affirms TTAB Dismissal of QuikTrip’s Opposition to Convenience Store Mark
On January 8, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) affirmed a decision of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Trademark Trial and …
Alice in 2020: Slashing Software Patents and Searching for Functional Language at the Federal Circuit (Part II)
In Part I of this article, I explained that the CAFC invalidated almost every software patent on appeal for eligibility in 2020 and recapped the first 13 such cases …
CAFC Dismisses Appeal as Moot, Prost Dissents in Part
On January 7, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) dismissed ABS Global's appeal from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Patent …
Federal Circuit Reverses Holding of Infringement Based on Faulty Claim Construction
On January 5, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) reversed a decision of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of …
Alice in 2020: Slashing Software Patents and Searching for Functional Language at the Federal Circuit (Part I)
Last year was an active one at the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) for software eligibility. It also was a brutal year …
Inventors Have Their Say on PTAB at SCOTUS in Arthrex Amicus Briefs
Eleven amicus briefs were docketed during the last two business days of 2020 in United States v. Arthrex, Inc., et al., which is scheduled for oral argument on …
Federal Circuit Affirms District Court Ineligibility Decision under Alice
On December 29, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) affirmed a district court’s decision dismissing Simio’s patent infringement action against FlexSim …
The Patent System is ‘Desperate’: American Axle Implores High Court to Take Up Eligibility Fight
American Axle & Manufacturing, Inc. filed a petition for certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court on December 28, 2020, asking it to review the Federal Circuit’s July 31, 2020 modified …
One Entrepreneur’s Story: Snapizzi Gets Caught in the Section 101 Snare
In 2015, Randy dela Fuente launched Snapizzi. Randy had bet big, putting his career, savings, and company at risk. Later, Randy brought in a business partner, Chris Scoones, …
Federal Circuit Vacates PTAB Holding that Raytheon Patent is Non-Obvious
On December 23, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) vacated a decision of the USPTO’s Patent Trial and Appeals Board (PTAB), holding …
