Imagine That IP Law Blog

In Sanofi-Aventis Deutschland GMBH v. Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc., No. 2021-1981, 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 11311 (Fed. Cir. 2023), the Federal Circuit reversed a decision by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) that found all challenged claims of U.S. Patent No. RE47,614 (“the ‘614 patent”) unpatentable in Inter Partes Review (IPR) IPR2019-01657. The Petitioner (Mylan) argued that the combination of three prior art references rendered the claims obvious. In attempting to sustain its burden of establishing obviousness, Mylan appears to have attempted to apply the ... Read More ›

In last week’s precedential decision in HIP, Inc. v. Hormel Foods Corp, the Federal Circuit reversed a decision by the District Court of Delaware holding that an inventor, David Howard, should be added as a joint inventor on U.S. Patent 9,980,498 (“’498 Patent”). The Federal Circuit reasoned that the inventor failed to satisfy the three-part test articulated in Pannu v. Iolab Corp., 155 F.3d 1344,1351, because his contribution to the claims of the ‘498 Patent was “insignificant in quality.” HIP, Inc. v. Hormel Foods Corp., No. 2022-1696, 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS ... Read More ›

Last week’s non-precedential decision by the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Cioffi v. Google LLC, No. 2018-1049, 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 9142 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 18, 2023) serves as a warning for both holders of reissue patents and patent owners considering filing a reissue. The Court held that the “original patent” requirement is the standard for support in the specification for claims in a reissued patent under 35 U.S.C. §251. In order for a claim to be supported under the original patent requirement, there must be an express disclosure of the exact embodiment claimed on reissue ... Read More ›

Earlier this week, the Federal Circuit issued an opinion in Sequoia Technology LLC v. Dell Inc. et al. that underscores the importance of intrinsic evidence when construing claim language in a District Court litigation. Of particular importance are the Court’s statements regarding the patent specification’s provision of an “express purpose of the invention” and a “preferred embodiment,” as well as the Court’s reliance on statements made by the Patent Owner in its pre-institution filings and on a document cited in an Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) during ... Read More ›

In Salazar v. AT&T Mobility LLC, the Federal Circuit found that a claim reciting "a microprocesser" that performed several functions was not infringed by a system where the claimed functions were distributed among multiple microprocessors. The Court reasoned that “for a dog owner to have ’a dog that rolls over and fetches sticks,’ it does not suffice that he have two dogs, each able to perform just one of the tasks.”  Salazar v. AT&T Mobility LLC, Nos. 2021-2320, 2021-2376, 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 8071, at *15 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 5, 2023). 

The claim in Salazar recited:

1. A communications ...

In Arbutus Biopharma Corporation, FKA Protiva Biotherapeutics, Inc. V. Modernatx, Inc., FKA Moderna Therapeutics, Inc. (Fed. Cir. 2020-1183, April 11, 2023), Moderna challenged claims 1–22 of Arbutus’ U.S. Patent No. 9,404,127 (the ’127 Patent) by Inter Partes Review. The Board found all challenged claims anticipated by U.S. Patent 8,058,069 (Yaworski). The Board’s determination of anticipation relied on inherency and the disclosure of documents incorporated by reference by both Yaworski and the ’127 Patent.

The ’127 Patent was directed to compositions of ... Read More ›

The Federal Circuit’s 2004 decision in Superguide v. DirecTV can be influential in determining the fate of a patent’s validity based upon a simple test: does your claim recite “OR” or does your claim recite “AND” when listing a series of elements?  SuperGuide Corp. v. DirecTV Enters., Inc., 358 F.3d 870 (Fed. Cir. 2004).  What seems to be a triviality becomes critical under SuperGuide.  At issue is how to interpret the plain meaning of the phrase “at least one of” when it precedes a series of elements, such as in the hypothetical claim language, “at least one of A, B, and ... Read More ›

Regents of the University of Minnesota v. Gilead Sciences., Inc., CAFC 2021-2168

Gilead Sciences filed a petition for Inter Partes Review (IPR) against the University of Minnesota’s U.S. patent No. 8,815,830 (the ’830 Patent). Gilead challenged claims 1-9, 11-21, and 23-28 of the ’830 Patent, and alleged that they are anticipated by U.S. pre-grant publication No. 2010/0016251 (Sofia). The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) held that the Challenged Claims were anticipated, and the University of Minnesota appealed to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

The ... Read More ›

Director Vidal is reshaping the rules for discretionary denials of Inter Partes Review (“IPRs”) at the Patent Trials and Appeals Board (“PTAB”). The Director’s most recent decision in AviaGames v. Skillz Platform, Inc., IPR2022-00530, comes on the heels of her decision in CommScope Tech. v. Dali Wireless, Inc., IPR2022-01242.  In AviaGames, the Director articulates a new discretionary denial standard for IPRs where the patent has been ruled invalid under 35 U.S.C. § 101 in the parallel District Court litigation. (For a detailed discussion of CommScope see our previous ... Read More ›

The Director of the USPTO, Kathi Vidal, issued a decision this week raising the likelihood that the Patent Trials and Appeals Board (PTAB) will exercise its discretion to deny the institution of Inter Partes Review (IPR) challenges. Last June, Vidal issued guidance on the discretionary denial standard, which was widely interpreted to be the death knell for discretionary denials. The Director’s decision this week will undoubtedly change that view. It appears that the prospects for discretionary denial are alive and well at the PTAB.

In  COMMSCOPE TECHNOLOGIES LLC, v DALI ... Read More ›

One misconception among those who primarily litigate patent infringement actions before U.S. federal courts is that post-grant proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), including inter partes reviews (IPRs) and post grant reviews (PGRs), are similar to federal patent litigation. Although there are similarities between these types of proceedings, as IPR/PGR proceedings are also adversarial between the petitioner (i.e., the patent challenger) and the patent owner, there are important differences between the two. Besides the differences in legal ... Read More ›