Dissent by Judge Newman highlights the expanding instability in the patent eligibility inquiry under § 101 By Joseph M. Hallman On June 11, 2021, in Yu v. Apple Inc., the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“Federal Circuit”) affirmed a decision by the Northern District of California dismissing a patent infringement case on the grounds that the asserted claims were invalid due to patent ineligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101. A decision […] Continue Reading →
Oatly – wow no cow, yes patents By Brian D. Keppler, Ph.D. Oatly, the Swedish oat milk company, has been in the news recently with their initial public offering occurring just last month. Initially priced at $17, shares jumped to $22 on the first day of trading and have been as high as $29 since (which equates to a market cap of over $17 billion!). In the […] Continue Reading →
Aevum UAV’s Ravn X to Deliver Cargo AND Launch Rockets By Gregory Lars Gunnerson The Ravn X (Aevum) unmanned aircraft will be used to both deliver cargo and launch rockets, pending approval from the Federal Aviation Administration. For its intellectual efforts in this space, the company was awarded U.S. Patent No. 10,994,842. The heart of the invention concerns a payload delivery system for an aircraft. Aevum is the first […] Continue Reading →
COVID-19 VACCINE IP WAIVERS AND PLATFORM PATENTS By Charles P. Romano, Ph.D. The recent announcement by US Trade Representative Katherine Tai that the “US supports the waiver of IP protections on COVID-19 vaccines to help end the pandemic” has led to concern over the potential scope and effect of such waivers. Forced disclosure of trade secrets related to vaccine manufacturing processes has generated the most concern since […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit reiterates the principle that when a § 103 rejection is based on a single prior art reference, the reference must be self-enabling in order to render the claimed invention obvious By Joseph M. Hallman On April 16, 2021, in Raytheon Technologies Corp. v. General Electric Co., the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“Federal Circuit”) reversed a decision by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) regarding unpatentability due to obviousness under 35 U.S.C. § 103. In its decision, the Federal Circuit made clear that when […] Continue Reading →
Inherent anticipation – Is the phenotype exhibited by a transgenic plant an inherent feature? By Brian D. Keppler, Ph.D. A claim is anticipated only if each and every element as set forth in the claim is found, either expressly or inherently described, in a single prior art reference. If a prior art reference expressly sets forth each of the elements of a claim, then there is typically little question of whether or not the […] Continue Reading →
Pegasus Universal Aerospace’s Patents Vertical Business Jet By Gregory Lars Gunnerson Pegasus Universal Aerospace (Pegasus UA) has recently acquired a U.S. patent for a newly developed vertical takeoff and landing business jet. The patent, U.S. Patent No. 10,710,713, names Dr. Mohamed Reza Mia as its sole inventor. Dr. Reza Mia also serves as Pegasus UA’s founder and chairman. The Johannesburg-based South Africa company seemingly hopes to […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit Judge Evan Wallach Taking Senior Status By Gregory Lars Gunnerson Seat 9 of the Federal Circuit is being vacated by Judge Evan Wallach, who was appointed by President Barack Obama and will take senior status. President Joe Biden will thus be tasked with nominating the seat’s next holder. The seat will be officially vacated on May 31, 2021. The last seat to open up on […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit Revives SynQor Patent By Julie L. Spieker On February 22, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s decision that SynQor’s US Patent No. 7,072,190 was unpatentable. SynQor’s ‘190 patent relates to technology that converts DC current from one voltage to another for use in large computer systems and data communication equipment. […] Continue Reading →
Deposit of biological material and the differing national laws By Brian D. Keppler, Ph.D. For patent applications in the biotechnology area, a biological material is sometimes essential for carrying out the invention. The biological material can be any material capable of reproducing itself or being reproduced in a biological system, including bacteria, fungi, algae, eukaryotic cells, cell lines, hybridomas, plasmids, viruses, and plant seeds. If the biological material cannot […] Continue Reading →