Category: Marynelle’s Posts

The Patent Proof Olympics

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Just like Olympians, patent challengers have to clear hurdles and jump over high bars to show that a patent is invalid. As this case shows, when it comes to legal standards in patent cases, the facts may change, but the standard of proof stays the same. Sciele Pharma, Inc. v. Lupin Ltd., No. 2012-1228 (Fed. […]

Chasing Patent Windmills at the ITC

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General Electric v. Int’l Trade Comm’n, No. 2012-1223 (Fed. Cir. Jul. 6, 2012) (Judges Rader, Newman and Linn) (revised opinion) General Electric v. Int’l Trade Comm’n, No. 2012-1223 (Fed. Cir. Jul. 6, 2012) (Judges Rader, Newman and Linn) (order on petition for rehearing) A few months ago, Matt Levy blogged about this case and explained […]

Patent Obviousness Is Sticky Business

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This is a case about chewing gum. Unfortunately, the district court’s approach to analyzing Wrigley’s patent for obviousness and anticipation led to a sticky situation among the judges hearing this appeal. Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. v. Cadbury Adams USA LLC, Nos. 2011-1140, -1150 (Fed. Cir. Jun. 22, 2012) (Judges Newman, Bryson, and District Judge Jeremy […]

1 + 1 + 1 = Zero Patents

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This inventor’s patent application for a computing device for arithmetic processes didn’t add up to a patentable invention. In re Mouttet, No. 2011-1451 (Fed. Cir. Jun. 26, 2012) (Judges Prost, O’Malley, and Reyna) Mouttet’s processor is built from two sets of intersecting conductive parallel wires. The two sets intersect at right angles, like a Tic-Tac-Toe […]

When Patent Jurisdiction Gets Personal

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Merial Ltd. v. Cipla Ltd., Nos. 2011-1471, -1472 (Fed. Cir. May 31, 2012) (Judges Lourie, Schall, and Reyna) Jurisdiction questions at the Federal Circuit usually relate to subject matter jurisdiction—whether the case encompasses issues that court has the authority to decide. In Merial, however, the jurisdiction question gets personal: how does the court determine if […]

Extended Reach Patent Jurisdiction

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The opinion and order in this post take a look at whether the Federal Circuit’s jurisdiction over legal malpractice claims in patent prosecution matters reaches too deep and too far. Just a couple of weeks ago, I discussed Judge O’Malley’s concurrence on this topic in the USPPS case, in which she concluded that the Federal […]