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Federal Circuit to consider overhaul of inequitable conduct standards en banc

In an order today, the Federal Circuit granted rehearing en banc in Therasense, Inc. v. Becton, Dickinson & Co. The order indicates the court will be reconsidering its precedent on virtually the entire gamut of issues relating to inequitable conduct. Specifically, the questions presented are: Should the materiality-intent-balancing framework for inequitable conduct be modified or […]

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En banc Federal Circuit reaffirms written description requirement is separate from enablement

Monday the Federal Circuit released its en banc opinion in Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Eli Lily & Co., where the court addressed whether 35 U.S.C. § 112 has a written description requirement separate and apart from the enablement requirement. A substantial majority of the court (10 judges) joined in the majority opinion, with two judges […]

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False marking applies on a per article basis, not a per decision to mark basis

In Forest Group v. Bon Tool Co., the Federal Circuit held that the false marking statute applies on a per article basis, rather than on a per decision to mark basis. The Federal Circuit reversed the district court, which had imposed a fine of $500 for a single decision to falsely mark a shipment of […]

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Patented method of traffic detection not infringed

In an opinion released in July last year, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a ruling in the case of Wavetronix v. EIS Electronic Integrated Systems. This case involved a traffic monitoring system that had been patented by Wavetronix, and EIS had received summary judgment for noninfringement of the Wavetronix patent at […]

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Supreme Court: Registration requirement of 411(a) not jurisdictional for copyright claims

Today the Supreme Court decided Reed Elsevier, Inc. v. Muchnick, a case regarding whether the registration requirement of 17 U.S.C. § 411(a) is jurisdictional or a claim processing rule. The Court held the requirement to be nonjurisdictional. The case involves a class action for copyright infringement by freelance journalists based on republication of works in […]

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Harmless Error at the Federal Circuit

A recent decision by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit addressed the issue of how much deference should be given to a decision by the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences when the Board makes an error in ascertaining the teachings of references. The appeal concerns the status of U.S. Patent Application number […]

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More on Crocs at the CAFC

Another decision regarding a number of patents relating to foam based footware, this time held by Crocs, Inc. ("Crocs") has been handed down from the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ("CAFC"). In this appeal from the U.S. International Trade Commission ("USITC"), the court addressed obviousness of a utility patent and claim construction of […]

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UNIX Copyrights Owned by SCO, not Novell

In the late 1960's, AT&T developed a computer operating system known as UNIX. This operating system is now widely used in both servers and workstations, and is generally characterized by a less polished (and in many ways more powerful) user interface than typical consumer products (such as Microsoft's Windows or Apple's Mac OS). The product […]

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Ninth Circuit Spanks Spoiled Brats

They may be trashy role models for impressionable young girls, but Bratz dolls are not copyright infringers. The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit confirmed a lower court's finding that the maker of the popular Bratz dolls did not infringe the copyright or trade dress rights in a line of T-shirts called Spoiled Brats. […]

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Clogging up the Federal Circuit

On December 17, 2009, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit addressed in International Seaway Trading Corp. v. Walgreens Corp. whether the "ordinary observer" test from Egyptian Goddess likewise applies to anticipation of design patents. In Egyptian Goddess, the CAFC dropped the "point of novelty" test for design patent infringement and adopted the "ordinary […]

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