Post Grant Review and Inter Partes Review At a Glance

By Blog Staff

Patent Office reviews known as a Post Grant Review (PGR) or Inter Partes Review (IPR) of issued patents are constitutional, Oil States Energy Servs., LLC v. Greene’s Energy Grp., LLC, 138 S. Ct. 1365, 1370 (2018), likely to avoid some sovereign immunity challenge, Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe v. Mylan Pharm. Inc., 896 F.3d 1322 (Fed. […]

Leftover Pizza? Domino’s Reheats Pizza Hut’s Invalidity Claim Against Ameranth Inc.

By Gregory Lars Gunnerson

Ameranth Inc. asserts it is a leading provider of wireless and Internet based solutions for the hospitality/gaming markets and that it has a very strong intellectual property portfolio including numerous strategic patents in technologies such as Wireless POS, Table Management, Reservations Management, Mobile Concierge, Electronic Menus, Guest Surveys, Inventory Management, Health Care Services and Enrollment […]

CRISPR: Broad Institute Holds onto its Piece of Pie, and it’s Delicious!

On Monday, September 10th, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) upheld the decision from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) on the interference between the Broad Institute and the University of California. The PTAB held, and the CAFC upheld, that given the difference between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, one skilled in […]

Supreme Court to Decide Whether “Secret Sales” are Prior Art

By Michael C. Gilchrist

Prior art is any publication or activity that can be cited to find a claimed invention invalid as not new or as a merely obvious combination of existing elements. Until recently, the law had been settled that any sale (within the United States) of a product that included claimed features of an invention is prior […]

Bloody Shoes: Christian Louboutin Wins Battle Over Non-Traditional Trademark

By Nicholas J. Krob

“These expensive, these is red bottoms, these is bloody shoes.” Does this line, from Cardi B’s breakout single “Bodak Yellow,” call to mind a particular fashion brand? If not, the following line from Lil Uzi Vert’s “The Way Life Goes” might help you out: “My Louboutins new, so my bottoms they is redder.” For over […]

Shoe Wars: Nike’s Use of Utility Patents Against Puma

By Mark D. Hansing

The athletic shoe industry has seen many legal disputes. Intellectual property fights have included trademarks, copyrights, and design patents; all of which protect some aspect of the appearance of the shoes or the logos on the shoes. What is interesting about the recently filed Nike Inc. v. Puma North America Inc., Case No.1:18-cv-10876, in the […]

Design Patents and Indefiniteness

By Luke T. Mohrhauser

            In a recent decision, the Federal Circuit addressed indefiniteness and enablement issues under 35 U.S.C. § 112 as they apply to design patent applications. In In re: Ron Maatita, the court held that two-dimensional drawings in design patents can meet the definiteness and enablement requirements under § 112, and that the determination includes, at […]

Protecting Your Nanotechnology Inventions – Part 2: Defining Your Invention

By Jonathan L. Kennedy

Have you invented materials with improved properties, such that you can seek to protect materials having those properties? Have you invented materials with a new structure such that you can seek protection of that structure beyond your specific species of materials? Have you invented a method that can be applied to items broader than your […]

Bills in Congress would Revoke the PTAB and Restore Patentability of Several Products

Several bills have been introduced in Congress in the last two months that would have a big impact on patent law if passed. The first, introduced at the end of June is HR6264, referred to as The Restoring American Leadership in Innovation Act. Among the provisions of this bill would be elimination of the Patent […]

Federal Circuit Judge Calls for a Fix to the “Abstract Idea” Mess: Part 4

By Kirk M. Hartung

Below you’ll find the last and final post of this blog series concerning the “abstract idea”. To read the previous posts, please view Part 1 of the series, Part 2 of the series, and Part 3 of the series. Prior blog posts illustrate concern from judges of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit regarding […]