Protecting Your Brand in China
What the First-to-File Patent Change Means (And What IP Strategists Should Do About It)
The Corporate Law Report: First-to-File Patents, Hiring for Cultural Fit, Roth Conversions Post-Fiscal Cliff, and Global Corporate Insights
In one of the first decisions regarding derivation proceedings under the America Invents Act (AIA), the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the Patent Trial & Appeal Board’s finding that an application...more
GLOBAL HEALTH SOLUTIONS LLC v. SELNER - Before Stoll, Stark, and Goldberg (sitting by designation). Appeal from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. The Federal Circuit affirmed the Board’s rejection of a derivation challenge,...more
In the U.S., patent rights generally go to the first inventor to file — not the first to invent. Filing early secures your place in line. But the type of application you choose (provisional vs. non-provisional) can...more
The Federal Circuit’s recent decision in Global Health Solutions LLC v. Selner is its first review of a rare patent dispute resolution process under the America Invents Act (AIA). The decision serves as a warning that proving...more
In its first precedential review of an AIA derivation proceeding, the Federal Circuit held that to prove derivation, a petitioner has the burden of showing that the petitioner conceived the claimed subject matter and...more
The United States patent system underwent a significant change with the enactment of the First-Inventor-to-File (FITF) provision of the America Invents Act, which became effective on March 16, 2013. The FITF provision...more
Precedential and Key Federal Circuit Opinions - SANHO CORP. v. KAIJET TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL LIMITED, INC. [OPINION] (2023-1336, 7/31/24) (Dyk, Clevenger, Stoll) - Dyk, J. The Court affirmed the Board’s decision...more
As part of the America Invents Act (“AIA”), Congress moved the patent system from a first-to-invent to a first-inventor-to-file system. For patents governed by the new first-to-file system, the Act also eliminated...more
This case addresses certain implications of the Laehy-Smith America Invests Act (AIA), namely whether patents with a filing date after March 16, 2013 (pure AIA patents) may be part of an interference proceeding under pre-AIA,...more
One of the wonderful (as in, it makes one wonder) and frustrating (which needs no explanation) aspects of patent law is that just when you think a question is settled it either isn't or the conventional interpretation is...more
Four subjects stood out in patent litigation in Texas in April 2023: (1) applicability of the customer-suit exception to the first-to-file rule; (2) the level of ties a reasonable royalty methodology must have to the facts of...more
In a “first to file” patent system as exists in the United States and in most countries throughout the world, timing of when to file a patent application is critically important but must be balanced by patentability...more
Dear Patenticity, My company has several new product concepts under development right now, and some are very early in the design process. We are in a very competitive space, so we want to protect our work with patents to...more
A patent is eligible for post-grant review (“PGR”) only if the patent is subject to the first-inventor-to-file provisions of the AIA. In Tricam Indus., Inc. v. Little Giant Ladder Sys., LLC, the PTAB explained that...more
There are many misconceptions or ‘myths’ about patents that have found their way into popular discourse, ranging from what type of innovations are patentable, to how important it is to own and protect your intellectual...more
After issuing a rare grant of a mandamus petition directing a district court to stay proceedings until ruling on a pending motion to transfer, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit denied a subsequent mandamus...more
Interferences were rendered unnecessary with the passage of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act in 2011, but they linger in disputes between patents and applications claiming priority to applications filed before the change...more
Expiration of a Patent Does Not Always Trigger Application of Phillips Standard on IPR Appeal - In Immunex Corporation v. Sanofi-Aventis U.S. LLC, Appeal No. 19-1749, the Federal Circuit held that expiration of a patent...more
Precedential Federal Circuit Opinions: In Re NITRO FLUIDS L.L.C. [ORDER] (2020-0142, 10/28/28) (REYNA, WALLACH, and CHEN) - Reyna, J. The Court considered a petition for a writ of mandamus seeking transfer from the...more
Vacating and remanding a district court’s decision not to transfer a case, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit granted a petition for a writ of mandamus because the district court did not consider whether the...more
In re: Nitro Fluids L.L.C., Appeal No. 2020-142 (Fed. Cir. Oct. 28, 2020) - In the Court’s only precedential patent opinion this week, the Federal Circuit granted a mandamus petition vacating the district court’s denial of...more
In what seems to be a pattern, the week before argument week was again light on output at the Federal Circuit. The Court issued just two opinions and two dispositive orders. Below we provide our usual weekly statistics and...more
IN RE: NITRO FLUIDS - Before Reyna, Wallach, and Chen. Petition for writ of mandamus to Western District of Texas. Summary: The balance of transfer factors must favor keeping a case in a second-filed court in order to...more
The Québec Court of Appeal recently released a decision in Micron Technology Inc. c Hazan, 2020 QCCA 1104, that could have important implications for defendants seeking to have proposed class proceedings in Québec courts...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court’s decision to dismiss a first-filed declaratory judgment complaint, finding that equitable considerations warranted departure from the first-to-file...more