Federal Circuit Holds that USPTO Can’t Deny Trademarks as Offensive or Disparaging On Tuesday, December 22, 2015, the Federal Circuit held that a portion of § 2(a) of the Lanham Act is unconstitutional in a 10-2 decision. The decision was made in In re Simon Shiao Tam, an appeal from the Trademark Office. Mr. Tam is a member of an Asian American rock band called THE SLANTS. […] Continue Reading →
Expanded Powers of the USITC Under 19 U.S.C. §1337(b)(1) the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) is authorized to investigate allegations of unfair trade acts in the importation of articles that infringe a valid United States patent. If a violation of the statute is found, the USITC issues an exclusion order that bars the importation of some or all of the […] Continue Reading →
The Continuing Saga of the First IPR at the Federal Circuit The Federal Circuit has simultaneously issued an order and an opinion in In re Cuozzo Speed Technologies, LLC, previously discussed on Filewrapper® as being the first appeal arising from an inter partes review (“IPR‚¬) . The order issued by the Federal Circuit is a denial of the Petition for En Banc Rehearing to consider […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit Deems Software Patent Ineligible, Provides Little Certainty In its recent en banc decision inCLS Bank v. Alice Corp, the Federal Circuit has affirmed the finding of subject matter ineligibility of Alice Corp's method and software for management of risk in financial transactions through use of a third party intermediary. The ten-member panel produced seven different decisions, but did not produce any majority […] Continue Reading →
Another issue headed for en banc review by the Federal Circuit: How to assess redesigned products In an order Friday, the Federal Circuit granted en banc review of its second case in the past three weeks and its third over the past three months. This time it's a case involving Tivo relating to the contempt proceedings against Echostar relating to Tivo's DVR patents. After Echostar was found to infringe Tivo's patent […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit to consider overhaul of inequitable conduct standards en banc In an order today, the Federal Circuit granted rehearing en banc in Therasense, Inc. v. Becton, Dickinson & Co. The order indicates the court will be reconsidering its precedent on virtually the entire gamut of issues relating to inequitable conduct. Specifically, the questions presented are: Should the materiality-intent-balancing framework for inequitable conduct be modified or […] Continue Reading →
En banc Federal Circuit reaffirms written description requirement is separate from enablement Monday the Federal Circuit released its en banc opinion in Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Eli Lily & Co., where the court addressed whether 35 U.S.C. § 112 has a written description requirement separate and apart from the enablement requirement. A substantial majority of the court (10 judges) joined in the majority opinion, with two judges […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit to consider en banc whether new evidence may be introduced in a section 145 action In an order yesterday, the Federal Circuit has agreed to consider the scope of evidence to be considered in an action filed under 35 U.S.C. § 145 to obtain review of a decision of the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences. The case is Hyatt v. Kappos. Specifically, the court ordered briefing on the following […] Continue Reading →
En banc Federal Circuit to address potential patent misuse issues in license practices The Federal Circuit has agreed to hear en banc an interesting issue with regard to the potential for patent misuse in licensing. The case is Princo Corp. v. ITC. At issue is the patent pool related to the technology used for CD-R and CD-RW discs. The alleged infringer, Princo, admitted infringement before the ITC, but […] Continue Reading →
Claim and continuation rules dead: thousands of practitioners breathe easier In a Federal Register notice today, the USPTO has officially withdrawn the claim and continuation rule changes from the Code of Federal Regulations. This is consistent with a press release from Thursday announcing the rules were no longer going to be pursued. The summary of the notice: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office) […] Continue Reading →