Federal Circuit reverses lost profits award and finding of personal liability In a decision today, the Federal Circuit reversed a jury's award of damages based on lost profits as well as personal liability against the defendant corporation's principal. The district court let the issue of lost profits damages go to the jury, but the Federal Circuit determined that, as a matter of law, the court should […] Continue Reading →
Preliminary injunction against Google image search’s display of copyrighted images reversed In a lengthy and tech-heavy opinion [Update (12/4): the court has released an amended opinion, available here], the Ninth Circuit this week reversed a preliminary injunction against Google restricting its image search from displaying thumbnails of images copyrighted by Perfect 10, Inc. There are several aspects of the ruling of interest, such as: Holding that […] Continue Reading →
House subcommittee sends Patent Reform Act of 2007 to full Judiciary Committee The House subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property this week has approved the House version of the Patent Reform Act of 2007 (H.R. 1908). The bill now goes to the full House Judiciary Committee for further review before going to the House for a full vote. Although this is a key first hurdle […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit affirms inequitable conduct finding, Judge Newman not happy about it In a second opinion today, the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court's finding of inequitable conduct based on the nondisclosure of three pieces of information to the USPTO. The patentee had two similar pending applications at the USPTO, and in fact had cited the same prior art in both applications via information disclosure statements. In […] Continue Reading →
Proper successor shielded from patent infringement claim In General Mills, Inc. v. Kraft Foods Global, Inc., the Federal Circuit affirmed the judgment of the district court holding that General Mills's claim for patent infringement against Kraft Foods was barred by a covenant not to sue that General Mills granted to Farley Candy Company, Kraft's predecessor in interest. In affirming the district court's […] Continue Reading →
Coalition of over 100 companies expresses concerns over the Patent Reform Act of 2007 In a letter to democratic and republican leadership as well as the members of the House and Senate judiciary committees, the Innovation Alliance, along with over 100 other companies, expressed concern over many of the proposed reforms in the Patent Reform Act of 2007 (H.R. 1908 and S. 1145). The group states that many of […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit: Board can’t use its own expertise as evidentiary substitute in interferences The Federal Circuit today held that during inter partes proceedings, the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (the Board) cannot, under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), rely on its own expertise when making factual findings if there is no evidence of record supporting its conclusion. The court did not opine whether this limitation extended to […] Continue Reading →
More continuation rules rumormongering: 2 continuations + 1 RCE? With the AIPLA 2007 spring meeting going on in Boston this week, there has been no shortage of rumors flying about the substance of the new continuation rules expected to be issued by the USPTO in July. According to multiple reports (all apparently originating with Hal Wegner), the substance of the rules is likely to […] Continue Reading →
Inventors’ appreciation of invention intones interference’s inversion On appeal from the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (BPAI), the Federal Circuit today reversed a priority determination, finding that the junior party had shown conception and reduction to practice before the senior party's filing date. As a result, the case was remanded to determine whether the senior party could prove earlier priority. More […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit post-KSR: Combination of familiar elements obvious when yielding predictable results In this matter before the Federal Circuit, the Court affirmed the district court's grant of judgment that Fisher-Price's PowerTouch device did not infringe claim 25 of LeapFrog's U.S. Patent 5,813,861 ("the '861 patent") and that claim 25 of the '861 patent was invalid as obvious. Notably, the court cited the Supreme Court's KSR decision for […] Continue Reading →