Bring on the New Year – What is in Store for IP in 2014?

Happy New Year to all of our FilewrapperÒ followers! We hope 2013 was a productive year and wish you the best in 2014. As the New Year quickly approaches we would like to share with you a few predictions for 2014 for you to look forward to and for which to prepare! · Increased opportunities […]

Federal Judicial Center – Hot Topics in Patent Litigation

The Federal Judicial Center recently released a Webinar entitled “Hot Topics in Patent Litigation: Actavis, Hatch-Waxman and the Biosimilars Act.” The Webinar focused on recent developments in areas regarding enforcement of patents in the life science area, generic drugs, and generic biologics. The entire webinar is available here; the following are brief highlights: Hatch-Waxman Patent […]

Supreme Court Addresses Product of Nature Doctrine Relating to Gene Patents

The Supreme Court today handed down its decision in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc. The Court held that isolated DNA is a product of nature and not patent eligible merely because it has been isolated, but that complementary DNA (cDNA) is patent eligible because it is not naturally occurring. The Court limited […]

Supreme Court Rejects Patent Exhaustion Defense for Patented Bean Replanting

The Supreme Court has handed down its much anticipated decision in Bowman v. Monsanto Co., holding that the defense of patent exhaustion does not apply to the practice of planting and harvesting patented seeds through planting and harvesting without the patent holder's permission. The case centers on the Roundup Ready gene, which confers resistance to […]

Supreme Court Decides Foreign First Sale Doctrine

The Supreme Court recentlydecided a much anticipated case, finally answering a long awaited question: Does the first sale doctrine apply to copyrighted works manufactured in other countries? According to the Supreme Court in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., the answer to this question is yes. John Wiley & Sons sued Supap Kirtsaeng for […]

U.S. Supreme Court Addresses Jurisdiction In Patent Related Case

New and Useful – Janurary 14, 2013

· The Supreme Court handed down its decision in Already, LLC v. Nike, Inc. The Court held that Nike’s covenant not to sue Alreadyfor alleged infringement of Nike’s AIR FORCE 1 trademark—entered into after Nike had filed suit and Already had filed a counterclaim challenging the mark’s validity—rendered both Nike’s claims and Already’s counterclaims moot. […]

Supreme Court Orders Federal Circuit to Reconsider Patent-Eligibility of Genes

Just six days after it handed down its decision in Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc., the Supreme Court vacated the Federal Circuit’s decision in Association for Molecular Pathology v. United States Patent and Trademark Office, ordering the appellate court to reconsider the case in light of the Prometheus decision. Order granting cert., vacating […]

Supreme Court Clarifies Patentability of Medical Treatments

The Supreme Court recently handed down its unanimous decision in Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc., No. 10-1150, slip op. (March 20, 2012). The Court specifically considered the patentability of a method for determining the effective levels of a drug to be administered to a patient, and found the claims in question to be […]

Court Redefines Knowledge Requirement for Induced Infringement

In a recent decision, authored by Justice Alito and joined by all the other Justices but Justice Kennedy, the Supreme Court redefined the knowledge requirement for finding induced infringement under 35 U.S.C. § 271(b). The case—which centered on a patent for an innovative fryer—provided an opportunity for the Court to elucidate what is required for […]