The Federal Circuit continues to struggle with software patentability, even after the Supreme Court’s decisions in Mayo v. Prometheus and In re Bilski. As you probably remember, those cases struck down patents for failing to claim patent-eligible subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101. Bilski dealt with a method of…
In re Baxter International, No. 2011–1073 (Fed. Cir. May 17, 2012) (Judges Newman, Lourie, and Moore) Patent Reexamination Is Normally Such a Peaceful Neighborhood… At first glance, this opinion doesn’t seem like a big deal. Fresenius Medical Care Holdings sued Baxter for a declaratory judgment of invalidity on Baxter’s patent…
Ergo Licensing, LLC v. Carefusion 303, Inc., No. 2011–1229 (Fed. Cir. Mar. 26, 2012) (Judges Newman, Linn, and Moore) Means-plus-function claims can be tricky. A means-plus-function limitation lets a patentee claim a structure by describing its function, like a “means for attaching a door to a wall” or a “means…
Landmark Screens, LLC v. Morgan, Lewis, & Bockius, LLP, No. 2011–1297 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 23, 2012) (Judges Bryson, Clevenger, and O’Malley) This is a malpractice case, and the conduct by Landmark’s former patent lawyer is pretty bad. The main issue before the court was whether Landmark’s fraud claim was barred…
3M Company v. Avery Dennison Corp., No. 2011–1339 (Fed. Cir. Mar. 26, 2012) (Chief Judge Rader and Judges Lourie and Linn) When is a threat of patent infringement not a threat? If a patent owner makes too much noise, the target may file a declaratory judgment action to get to…
Here are a couple of recent cases involving claim construction issues. In both, the patent owner tried to argue that a term meant something different than what seemed to be the term’s plain meaning. In re Transaction Holdings Ltd., No. 2011–3061 (Apr. 23, 2012) (Judges Bryson, Schall, and Prost) (nonprecedential)…