Patent claims not at issue at trial can’t be found invalid, even if mentioned in complaint In a recent decision, the Federal Circuit reversed much of a district court's finding of willful infringement of a plaintiff's patents, tortious interference with the plaintiff's business relationships, and invalidity of the defendant's patents. Regarding the willful infringement, the Federal Circuit determined that the district court had improperly interpreted the claims of the plaintiff's patents-in-suit […] Continue Reading →
No evidence of intent to deceive, no inequitable conduct In a recent decision, the Federal Circuit reversed a district court's grant of summary judgment of inequitable conduct against the patentee. At issue was whether the patentee's failure to disclose a letter describing an aspect of the prior art constituted inequitable conduct. The court reversed finding that the alleged infringer had failed to provide sufficient […] Continue Reading →
Clinical trials necessary to determine invention works for intended purpose In a recent decision, the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court's ruling in favor of AstraZeneca, holding that the generic drug manufacturers Apotex and Impax Laboratories infringed patents for the popular heartburn medication Prilosec® (generic form omeprazole) in filing abbreviated new drug applications (ANDAs). The Federal Circuit previously addressed these patents in the context of […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit affirms USPTO’s interpretation of inter partes reexamination statute In a decision Tuesday, the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court's holding that the USPTO's interpretation of the inter partes reexamination procedure was correct, and therefore that all patent applications (other than reissue applications) filed after November 29, 1999 are eligible for inter partes reexamination, even if priority is claimed to an application filed before […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit: The difference between substantial cure and full cure is not insubstantial In a decision yesterday, the Federal Circuit affirmed a grant of summary judgment of anticipation and obviousness. While the court disagreed with the district court's conclusion that the prior art expressly anticipated the asserted claims as a matter of law, the court did conclude that the prior art inherently disclosed the relevant limitations as a […] Continue Reading →
Efforts to terminate infringement after notice of patent doesn’t avoid damages In a decision Tuesday, the Federal Circuit vacated a district court's grant of summary judgment of non-infringement of a patent on the basis of claim construction. Specifically, the district court had improperly imported limitations from nonasserted claims into the asserted claims, resulting in an unduly narrow claim construction. The court also vacated the district court's […] Continue Reading →
No case or controversy when patentee doesn’t even know of potentially infringing product In a decision last week, the Federal Circuit upheld a district court's decision that Article III jurisdiction did not exist in a case where a potential infringer was seeking a declaration of noninfringement. The district court granted a motion to dismiss the under the Federal Circuit's pre-MedImmune reasonable apprehension of suit test, noting that there […] Continue Reading →
Today’s lesson for litigators: make sure you present all your arguments to the district court In a decision Tuesday, the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court's holding that two patents were invalid under the on-sale bar of 35 U.S.C. § 102(b). The inventor filed a declaration during prosecution that the invention was reduced to practice before the critical date of the patents, and thereafter sold the claimed method, also before […] Continue Reading →
Irreparable harm to exclusive licensee cannot support injunction; willfulness vacated post-Seagate In a decision Monday, the Federal Circuit addressed a range of issues and ultimately affirmed a district court's denial of injunctive relief and, in light of the intervening Seagate decision, vacated and remanded the case for reconsideration regarding willfulness. The court also affirmed the district court's finding of no invalidity and the infringement of some […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit: Breach of open source license conditions can lead to copyright infringement In a recent decision, the Federal Circuit addressed some of the copyright issues involved with the open source movement. Often open source software is distributed under a so-called copyleft license, which permits others to use the work, subject to certain restrictions. The GNU general public license is the most well-known of these licenses. The license […] Continue Reading →