PTAB’s Interpretation of 35 USC 315(b) Continues to Stand: Dismissal Without Prejudice Effectively Nullifies the One Year Bar to Bring an IPR The USPTO’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s holding that the voluntary dismissal of a lawsuit, without prejudice, effectively nullifies the service of the complaint for purposes of triggering the one year bar in 35 U.S.C. ยง 315(b) to petition for the institution of an inter partes review (IPR) stands in Shaw Indus. Grp. v. Automated […] 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 →
Purported inventor who waited eight years to file suit could not overcome presumption of laches In a decision yesterday, the Federal Circuit upheld a district court's grant of summary judgment due to laches and applicable state statute of limitations in an inventorship case. The plaintiff, having waited more than eight years after finding out about the patents to file suit, claimed that an intervening reexamination should have reset the time […] Continue Reading →
First Circuit: Discovery rule not triggered in copyright case by parties’ acrimonious split In a recent decision, the First Circuit reversed a district court's decision dismissing a copyright infringement claim on statute of limitation grounds. The main issue was whether the statute of limitations for copyright infringement claims barred an architectural firm's action against a former client. The court determined that no triggering event had occurred which would […] Continue Reading →
First Circuit: Copyright statute of limitations applies to accounting claims between joint authors In a decision last week, the First Circuit held that a purported assignee of a joint author of a copyrighted work was barred by the Copyright Act's three-year statute of limitations from seeking an accounting of profits, even though the state statute of limitations for seeking such an accounting had not yet run.The plaintiff had […] Continue Reading →