“Stairway to Heaven” Holds on to Iconic Riff One of the most iconic rock songs of the 20th Century came under fire earlier this summer for allegations of copyright infringement. The estate of Randy Wolfe, guitarist for Spirit on the song “Taurus,”brought a copyright suit against Led Zeppelin, frontman Robert Plant, and guitarist Jimmy Page alleging infringement of a guitar riff that opens […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit Remands Treble Damages CAse after Supreme Court Decision In the Striker-Halo decision, the Supreme Court addressed the standard for awarding treble damages for patent infringement, finding the existingSeagate standard was “unduly rigid”and “impermissible encumber[ed] the statutory grant of discretion to trial courts.”In order to award treble damages, theSeagate standard required clear and convincing evidence that the infringer acted despite an objectively highly likelihood […] Continue Reading →
“White” Color Mark In In re Hodgdon Powder Company, Inc., the TTAB overturned a prior refusal to register a color mark for gunpowder. In doing so, the TTAB found that Hodgdon Powder Co. had proven acquired distinctiveness under Section 2(f) of the Trademark Act of 1946, 15 U.S.C. § 1052(f), for the color “white”as applied to gunpowder in […] Continue Reading →
The Federal Circuit Further Defines the Scope of the On-Sale Bar to Patentability In The Medicines Co. v. Hospira, Inc., the full Federal Circuit recently elaborated what exactly constitutes a “sale”for the purposes of the “on sale”bar under Pre-America Invents Act (AIA) 35 U.S.C. § 102(b). Pre-AIA § 102(b) and AIA § 102(a)(1) forbid the granting of a patent where the claimed invention was “on sale”prior to an […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit Revives Life-Sciences Patent Directed to Law of Nature On Tuesday, the Federal Circuit revived a life-sciences patent that was invalidated as being directed to a law of nature. The patent involved a method for multiple freeze-thaw cycles in liver cells. In Vitro Technologies designed the method by using previously frozen cells and then pooling the cells that remained viable for re-freezing and thawing […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit Upholds 180-Day Notice Period for Biosimilars On Tuesday, the Federal Circuit sustained an injunction preventing generic drug maker Apotex, Inc. from selling a similar version of Amgen Inc’s Neulasta drug without a 180 day notice period after being approved by the FDA. The drug is used to boost white blood cell counts in cancer patients and is made using living cells. […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit Finds Patent Eligibility for Application of Natural Law The Federal Circuit has handed down its decision in Rapid Litigation Management v. CellzDirect. The technology at issue in the case is a method of freezing-and-thawing a group of hepatocytes and then selecting those that are still viable. The patent-owner sued the defendant for infringement of the patent, and the defendant in turn filed a […] Continue Reading →
Olympian Patent Champions The final judges scores are in, and the champions have been named for most utility patents received in 2015. IBM took home the gold medal with 7440 utility patents issued for the year. This software company, based in New York, has led the patent grant field for 23 consecutive years. The silver medal in 2015 went […] Continue Reading →
Sequenom and the Future of Patentable Subject Matter On June 27, the Supreme Court denied Sequenom’s petition from the Federal Circuit’s 2015 decision in Ariosa v. Sequenom. The relevant patent claimed methods of measuring cell-free fetal DNA (cffDNA) in maternal plasma and serum in order to identify fetal characteristics. The Federal Circuit assessed whether the claimed methods were directed to a naturally-occurring phenomenon, […] Continue Reading →