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Corporate Counsel Patent Litigation Abstract Ideas

Fitch, Even, Tabin & Flannery LLP

Federal Circuit Offers Some Helpful Patent Eligibility Guidance

On August 11, in Powerblock Holdings, Inc. v iFit, Inc., the Federal Circuit offered at least two observations that can benefit patentees seeking patent protection for inventions involving software. First, the court noted...more

McDermott Will & Schulte

The Alice Eligibility Two-Step Dance Continues

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court’s dismissal of a Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) motion, holding that patent claims directed to abstract ideas and lacking inventive steps that transform...more

Fitch, Even, Tabin & Flannery LLP

Federal Circuit Affirms Invalidation of Digital Camera Patent as Ineligible Under § 101

On June 11, in Yanbin Yu, Zhongxuan Zhang. v. Apple Inc., the Federal Circuit issued a decision finding that a claim directed to an improved digital camera was patent-ineligible under 35 U.S.C. § 101. This decision follows...more

Holland & Knight LLP

Federal Circuit: Requesting, Transmitting, Receiving, Copying, Deleting, and Storing Data Records Is an Abstract Idea

Holland & Knight LLP on

A recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit highlights the importance of describing any improvements to technology in the specification. In the case of Whitserve LLC v. Dropbox, Inc., WhitServe...more

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

Federal Circuit: Improvements Inherent to Using a Computer, Such as Improved Speed and Efficiency, Do Not Transform an Abstract...

In deciding patent eligibility of computer-implemented claims, courts consider whether the claims merely implement a generic computer or whether they improve the functioning of the computer itself. The Federal Circuit...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Federal District Court Finds Claims Directed to Dog Chew Toy Patent Eligible

Few subjects have drawn as much interest among patent stakeholders and practitioners as understanding the framework used to determine a patent claim’s eligibility. Courts continue to address different factual situations in...more

Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP

5 Patent Law Petitions to Watch at the Supreme Court

As the 2018-2019 Supreme Court term nears its end, several consequential patent law petitions still await certiorari rulings before the Justices recess for the summer, while other patent cases are scheduled to be briefed and...more

Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P.

Lessons And Challenges Arising Out Of The Federal Circuit’s New Focus On Factual Issues In “Patent Eligibility” Disputes

With its Alice and Mayo opinions, the U.S. Supreme Court dramatically changed how patent eligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101 is defined. ...more

Burr & Forman

Improving Patent Eligibility for Your Software Despite the Prohibition of Patent Protection for "Abstract Ideas"

Burr & Forman on

As technologies advance, the Patent Office (as well as the Nation’s courts) must utilize Section 101 of the Patent Act to place reasonable limitations on patent eligibility to ensure that our patent system balances the...more

Fish & Richardson

Amdocs v. Openet: Federal Circuit Will Take Case-by-Case, Common-Law Approach to “Abstract Idea” Determinations Under Alice

Fish & Richardson on

The Federal Circuit in a 2-1 decision upheld four software patents against a patent-eligibility challenge, finding that the patents do not claim an “abstract idea.” The decision, Amdocs (Israel) Ltd. v. Openet Telecom Inc. et...more

Mintz - Intellectual Property Viewpoints

Another Friendly Reminder from the CAFC – Use of “the Present Invention” is Clear and Unequivocal Evidence of Disavowal

Disavowal can occur when a patent holder disavows the full scope of claim terms in the specification or during prosecution (e.g., through the doctrine of prosecution history estoppel). In either event, disavowal requires...more

Foley & Lardner LLP

Federal Circuit Finds Claims Implemented on a General Purpose Cellphone Not Patentable

Foley & Lardner LLP on

In Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International, the Supreme Court applied its two-part test for patent eligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101 – i.e., (1) whether the claims are drawn on a law of nature, natural phenomenon or abstract...more

Saul Ewing LLP

Patent Owner Asserts 101 Ineligibility Is Not a Defense That Can Be Raised in Litigation

Saul Ewing LLP on

On September 26, 2016, RPost Communications Limited (“RPost”) filed a brief in the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“Federal Circuit”), arguing that the district court did not have statutory authority...more

Fenwick & West LLP

AliceStorm in the Dog Days of Summer

Fenwick & West LLP on

Over the past two months, the trends I've discussed in my previous blogs on AliceStorm have continued and become more entrenched. In particular, the Federal Circuit has been quite active, issuing nine decisions since late...more

Fenwick & West LLP

#AliceStorm: When It Rains, It Pours...

Fenwick & West LLP on

Last year I christened the post-Alice impact on patents #Alicestorm, riffing on the hashtag #hellastorm used to refer to the Pineapple Express storms the drenched the Bay Area in December 2014. This year we have El Niño...more

Foley & Lardner LLP

The Threshold of Exceptionality: There Is a Line, and It Can Be Crossed

Foley & Lardner LLP on

Non-practicing entity (“NPE”) plaintiffs beware and NPE defendants be delighted: sanctions for objectively unreasonable claims and conduct are alive and well. Defendants in NPE litigations, particularly in the Eastern...more

Miles & Stockbridge P.C.

Is the Patent Trial and Appeal Board Still a “Death Squad” in Instituting Covered Business Method Reviews?

Miles & Stockbridge P.C. on

Last year, then Federal Circuit Chief Judge Randall R. Rader referred to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (the “PTAB”) as a “death squad,” a view not shared by the PTAB. The focus of this blog is to look at the latest trends...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

"Software" Claims Reciting No Structural Components and Having Questionable Novelty Struck Down under 35 U.S.C. § 101

Two recent District Court decisions show examples of "weak" claims, which in the past would likely be found invalid as lacking novelty or being obvious, but today are struck down as being unpatentable under § 101. The cases...more

Fenwick & West LLP

Overview of Comments on the USPTO's July 2015 Update to the Interim Examination Guidance

Fenwick & West LLP on

In late July, the USPTO issued its July 2015 Update to the 2014 Interim Section 101 Patent Eligibility Guidance (IEG). The July 2015 Update addresses a number of the issues and concerns raised in the public comments to the...more

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