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Summary of today’s summary judgment hearing in the claim and continuation rule cases

As we reported earlier, Judge Cacheris took the parties' motions for summary judgment under advisement in the consolidated cases challenging the USPTO's claim and continuation rules. Below is a summary of the hearing from our representative who was in attendance. Tafas and GSK butted heads with the USPTO again today in front of a packed […]

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Federal Circuit once again affirms that saving patented seeds for replanting is infringement

In a decision yesterday, the Federal Circuit once again affirmed a finding of infringement against a farmer who saved seeds covered by a patent to replant the following year. The plaintiff in this case, Monsanto, has brought similar cases in the past, and they have resulted in similar outcomes.Here, the asserted claims covered the genetic […]

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Infringement of two claims and $74 million in damages affirmed, injunction reinstated

In a decision last week, the Federal Circuit affirmed-in-part and reversed-in-part a jury verdict of infringement of a patent owned by Tivo relating to its DVR technology. The ruling was based on claim construction, with the court finding that, based on the correct construction of claims directed to the DVR hardware, there was no infringement […]

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Federal Circuit reiterates that full scope of claim must be enabled to meet enablement requirement

In a decision last week, the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court's decision holding several claims of two patents invalid for lack of enablement. The district court held that while a portion of the scope of the claims was enabled, the full breadth of the claims were not, and as a result, the claims did […]

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Mandamus inappropriate unless no other way to get relief, even if result is unnecessary trial

In a precedential order last week, the Federal Circuit denied a petition for a writ of mandamus seeking to direct a district court to vacate its summary judgment order in favor of a patent infringement plaintiff and to enter judgment in favor of the alleged infringer. The district court's order did not completely resolve the […]

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Reply briefs filed in claim and continuation rules case; administration opposes patent reform

Late Friday, the parties filed their reply briefs in the cases challenging the USPTO's claim and continuation rules. As with the parties' opposition filings, these briefs largely represent another repetition of the arguments raised in the parties motions for summary judgment. The motions have now been fully briefed, and the hearing on the parties' motions […]

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Patent Reform Act of 2007 scheduled for consideration this month

The Patent Reform Act of 2007 (S. 1145) is now officially back on the radar. It was recently placed on the Senate's calendar, and is likely to be considered by the full Senate sometime this month. This has resulted in a corresponding increase in the lobbying efforts by those on both sides of the debate. […]

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Claim construction excluding disclosed embodiment improper absent disclaimer of some kind

In a decision today, the Federal Circuit reversed a district court's claim construction and the associated summary judgment of noninfringement. The district court's construction of one of the claim limitations resulted in certain embodiments of the invention disclosed in the figures to be excluded from the scope of the claims. Based on this construction, the […]

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Sufficient structure recited in claim limitation using “means” to prevent application of – 112 – 6

In a decision yesterday, the Federal Circuit reversed a district court's claim construction and the associated summary judgment of noninfringement. The district court held the relevant claim term was a means-plus-function limitation, as it used the word "means," as well as because in an interview summary in the prosecution history, it appeared the USPTO interpreted […]

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Tenth Circuit: Submitting eBay VeRO notice confers jurisdiciton in alleged infringer’s home state

In a recent decision, the Tenth Circuit reversed a district court's dismissal of a copyright case for lack of personal jurisdiction. The case arose out of the efforts by a copyright holder to have an eBay auction for allegedly infringing products removed via eBay's VeRO program. After the auction was removed, the alleged infringer filed […]

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