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Federal Circuit affirms finding of no anticipation or obviousness, no mention of KSR to be found

The Federal Circuit yesterday affirmed a decision by the District Court for the District of Delaware upholding the validity of Reissue Patent 34,712 ("the '712 patent") and the injunction preventing infringement of the '712 patent. Specifically, the court affirmed the district court's decision that the prior art reference relied upon for the defendants' anticipation argument […]

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Infringement and royalty rate affirmed; dismissal of willful infringement claim reversed

In a recent decision, the Federal Circuit affirmed-in part a district court's grant of summary judgment of infringement of a patent, finding that the claims were properly held to include measuring devices that either directly or indirectly compare two signals to determine the proper measurement. The court reversed-in part the district court's damages award. The […]

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When point of novelty is a combination of existing elements, it must be a “non-trivial” advance

In a case decided yesterday, the Federal Circuit clarified the point-of-novelty test for design patents when the point of novelty is a combination of existing design elements. The court adopted the rule that "to constitute a point of novelty, the combinations must be a non-trivial advance over the prior art." The court likened this analysis […]

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Reversible error if BPAI fails to consider rebuttal evidence of nonobviousness

The Federal Circuit today vacated a decision by the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences affirming an examiner's obviousness rejection. The inventors submitted three declarations evidencing the nonobviousness of their invention (unexpected results and teaching away), but the Board did not consider the evidence, finding that it related only to an intended use of the […]

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Equitable inventorship correction claim must be resolved after factually-overlapping fraud claim

The Federal Circuit issued a ruling Friday addressing the right to a jury trial in a case involving combined equitable (in the form of a correction of inventorship claim under 35 U.S.C. § 256 ) and legal (in the form of various tort claims) issues. The court held that the jury trial on the legal […]

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Statements in specification and prosecution history limit claims notwithstanding claim language

In a decision Friday, the Federal Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part a district court's decision granting summary judgment of noninfringement and invalidity. The Federal Circuit found that the district court had properly construed most of the asserted claims as being limited to "automatic computer determination of the finish positions of teeth" based […]

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USPTO not bound by district court claim construction on reexamination; obviousness affirmed

The Federal Circuit today addressed claim construction and obviousness in the context of a reexamination appeal. The patentee argued that the USPTO was bound, in reexamination, to apply the claim construction given the patents by a district court when the patents were in litigation before reexamination. The court found that because the USPTO was not […]

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En banc Federal Circuit scraps affirmative duty of care to avoid infringement

In a unanimous en banc decision issued late yesterday afternoon, the Federal Circuit granted a petition for mandamus requested by a party who was ordered by a district court to produce attorney-client privileged and work product protected material of its trial counsel, and to permit deposition of its trial counsel. The order was entered after […]

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Priority claim to foreign filing awarded in interference; disclosure in compliance with section 112

The Federal Circuit yesterday addressed the requirements for the use of a foreign filing date as a priority date in a U.S. interference proceeding. The court awarded the interference party the priority benefit of the foreign filing date based on the "constructive reduction to practice of an invention whose disclosure is in compliance with the […]

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Attorney cannot directly appeal finding of inequitable conduct absent formal sanctions

The Federal Circuit today addressed whether a prosecuting attorney who was found to have committed inequitable conduct during an infringement suit of the patent prosecuted may intervene to contest the finding. The court held that when an attorney is merely criticized by the court, not formally reprimanded, they have no standing to appeal. As a […]

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