new-email-outline

District Court Illustrates How Specification Can Help or Hurt Patent Eligibility

September, 11th, 2017

By Stephen Ball At issue was a Motion for Summary Judgment that certain claims of U.S. Patent Nos. 5,960,032 (the “‘032 patent”) and RE41,490 (the “‘490 patent”) are patent-ineligible under 35 U.S.C. § 101. Intellectual [Read More…]

Earnhardt Family Races Through Federal Circuit Over Surname

August, 8th, 2017

By Christopher J. Stankus On July 27, 2017, the Federal Circuit vacated and remanded for reconsideration the TTAB’s finding that the mark EARNHARDT COLLECTION is not primarily merely a surname because it was unclear whether [Read More…]

Supreme Court Rules Disparagement Refusals Unconstitutional—Will Scandalous Refusals Be Next?

July, 14th, 2017

By Chelsea A. Russell On June 19, 2017, the Supreme Court expanded trademark protection in its much-awaited ruling of Matel v. Tam, 582 US ___ (2017). The Lanham Act has long held that a trademark [Read More…]

The Great Chemical Divide: Federal Circuit Suggests the Insubstantial Differences Test for Evaluating Equivalence in Chemical Patent Cases

July, 14th, 2017

By Mackenzie L. Long In 1950 the Supreme Court outlined the two tests for evaluating the doctrine of equivalents in the case, Graver Tank & Mfg. Co. v. Linde Air Products Co., 339 U.S. 605, [Read More…]

Shaw-shank Relitigation: District Courts Chiseling Away at Estoppel Provisions

June, 27th, 2017

By Robert D. Keeler Congress established inter partes review (“IPR”) as a less expensive, more efficient method of challenging the validity of a patent. Indeed, Congress explained that the IPR is a “complete[] substitute for [Read More…]

While Fame Is All-Or-Nothing For Some And Relative For Others, This Is Not To Be Confused At The TTAB

June, 7th, 2017

By Michael J. Kosma In Joseph Phelps Vineyards, LLC v. Fairmont Holdings, LLC, [2016-1089] (May 24, 2017), the Federal Circuit was “perplexed” by the TTAB’s finding that Phelp’s INSIGNIA wine has no “fame,” giving no [Read More…]

PTAB Reverses 101 Rejection for Internet Technology

May, 19th, 2017

By Stephen Ball For practitioners who specialize in computer-implemented inventions, the last several years have been challenging while the USPTO has struggled to consistently apply precedent defining the scope of patentable subject matter. Internet-based technologies [Read More…]

Dislike v. Discourage: The Metes and Bounds of Successful “Teaching Away” Arguments

May, 9th, 2017

By Benjamin N. Luehrs A patentee can overcome obvious-type rejections by establishing that a prior art reference “teaches away” from the applicant’s invention. This argument is often difficult to make, however. Unless the prior art [Read More…]

GUI Claims Upheld as Patent-Eligible by Federal Circuit

January, 31st, 2017

The Federal Circuit, in Trading Technologies International, Inc. v. CQG, Inc. et al., found claims covering a graphical user interface (GUI) for electronic trading of stocks to be patent eligible under 35 U.S.C. § 101.[1] [Read More…]

© Copyright 2024 Whitmyer IP Group