News & Analysis as of

Patents Statutory Interpretation

Morgan Lewis

USPTO Tightens Limits on AAPA Use in IPRs Following Qualcomm Precedent

Morgan Lewis on

A recent memo from the acting director of the US Patent and Trademark Office directs the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) to reject inter partes review (IPR) petitions that use “applicant admitted prior art (AAPA), expert...more

K&L Gates LLP

Let’s Make it a Date–Best Method and the Filing Date of the Earliest Complete Application

K&L Gates LLP on

In the recent decision of NOCO Company v. Brown and Watson International Pty Ltd [2025] FCA 887, Moshinsky J has provided welcomed clarity around the relevant date by which the best method known to the applicant is to be...more

Rothwell, Figg, Ernst & Manbeck, P.C.

July USPTO Guidance Sets Stricter Standards for Evidence in IPR Petitions

Acting Director of the USPTO, Coke Morgan Stewart, issued a memorandum last week that will change the way petitioners levy challenges to patents via inter partes review (IPR). The change will apply to any petition for IPR...more

Robins Kaplan LLP

Liquidia Techs., Inc. v. FDA - Updated 5.2.25

Robins Kaplan LLP on

Nature of the Case and Issue(s) Presented: FDA refused to approve Liquidia’s drug product, Yutrepia because another company, UTC, maintained marketing exclusivity. Liquidia sued FDA, and UTC intervened. The court granted...more

Mayer Brown

Reinvigorated Enforcement of Evidentiary Rules and the Permissible Uses of General Knowledge in Inter Partes Review

Mayer Brown on

On July 31, 2025, the Acting Director of the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a significant memorandum that alters the evidentiary landscape for inter partes review (IPR) proceedings before the Patent Trial and...more

Stikeman Elliott LLP

Left on the Sidelines: The Canadian Patent Appeal Board Rules that Artificial Intelligence Cannot Hold Inventorship Status

Stikeman Elliott LLP on

Whether AI can be an “inventor” was the key issue in an important recent ruling of the Canadian Patent Appeal Board (the “PAB”). In Thaler, Stephen L. (Re), 2025 CACP 8, the PAB had to decide whether Canadian Patent...more

McDermott Will & Schulte

Prosecution history primacy: “Consisting essentially of” means what applicant said it meant

In a decision that underscores the primacy of prosecution history to determine claim scope, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed the Patent Trial & Appeal Board’s interpretation of the transitional phrase...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

Eye Therapies LLC v. Slayback Pharma, LLC (Fed. Cir. 2025)

Patent law in many respects has its own language and idiosyncratic expressions, and one such respect involves so-called "transitional" words or phrases (discussed in greater depth in the Manual of Patent Examination Procedure...more

Haug Partners LLP

Settled Expectations: How the PTAB’s New Discretionary Denial Framework Is Reshaping IPR Strategy

Haug Partners LLP on

In a recent article, Haug Partners previewed that the impact of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) new bifurcated approach to discretionary denial requests would depend on how the new Acting USPTO Director, Coke...more

Knobbe Martens

No Injury, No Appeal: Patent Owners Must Show Actual Injury for Article III Standing

Knobbe Martens on

DOLBY LABORATORIES LICENSING CORPORATION v. UNIFIED PATENTS, LLC - Before Moore, Clevenger and Chen.  Appeal from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. A patent owner lacks Article III standing to appeal an inter partes review...more

Cooley LLP

European Patent Office Clarifies Claim Interpretation

Cooley LLP on

The Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office (EPO) has issued a new decision – G 1/24 – addressing the diverging approaches to claim interpretation when assessing patentability. Following this decision, the...more

Fish & Richardson

USPTO: No Bright-Line Rule on When Expectations Become Settled

Fish & Richardson on

On June 18, 2025, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Acting Director Stewart issued a discretionary denial decision in Dabico Airport Solutions Inc. v. AXA Power ApS, granting the patent owner’s request for discretionary denial...more

Irwin IP LLP

No Rhythm, No Review: USPTO Director Skips a Beat on IPRs. 

Irwin IP LLP on

iRhythm Technologies, Inc., v. Welch Allyn, Inc., IPR2025-00363, IPR2025-00374, IPR2025-00376, IPR2025-00377, IPR2025-00378 (P.T.A.B. June 6, 2025) - On June 6, 2025, United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”)...more

Foley Hoag LLP

The Enlarged Board of Appeal of the EPO Further Aligns Claim Construction With U.S. and U.K.

Foley Hoag LLP on

Key Takeaways: - The Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBA) of the European Patent Office (EPO) issued its opinion in G1/24 on June 18, 2025 resolving divergent case law on how patent claims should be interpreted at the EPO. - The...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

Edwards Lifesciences Corp. v. Cardiovalve Ltd. (Fed. Cir. 2025)

One of the assumptions, or promises, or hopes, attendant on the inauguration of post-grant review proceedings (particularly inter partes reviews) under the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act was that, as in European Opposition...more

ArentFox Schiff

Federal Circuit Narrows Scope of IPR Estoppel, Resolving District Court Split

ArentFox Schiff on

The Federal Circuit recently clarified in Ingenico Inc. v. IOENGINE, LLC that inter partes review (IPR) estoppel does not extend to physical systems described in prior art patents or printed publications....more

Fish & Richardson

Ingenico v. IOENGINE and the Diminishing Role of Sotera Stipulations

Fish & Richardson on

In Ingenico v. IOENGINE, No. 2023-1367 (Fed. Cir. May 7, 2025), the Federal Circuit resolved a long-standing split among District Courts in favor of petitioners regarding inter partes review (IPR) estoppel under 35 U.S.C. §...more

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Patent Office Denial of “Late” Inter Partes Review Petitions Changes Expectations

On June 6, 2025, the acting Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Coke Morgan Stewart, issued a decision in iRhythm Technologies v. Welch Allyn, Inc.1 that initiates a new basis for discretionary denial...more

McDermott Will & Schulte

Speculation of Harm Isn’t Standing: Not Every Adverse Board Decision Is Ticket to Appeal

After assessing whether a patent owner had standing to appeal the Patent Trial & Appeal Board’s final written decision, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit found no injury in fact to support Article III...more

A&O Shearman

Federal Circuit Rejects PTAB’s Implicit And Incorrect Claim Construction Of “Between 1 And 10”

A&O Shearman on

On May 23, 2025, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“CAFC”) issued a precedential opinion reversing a final written decision from the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) finding the challenged...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Federal Circuit Clarifies Scope of IPR Estoppel

Dorsey & Whitney LLP on

In a precedential opinion entered on May 7, 2025, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a jury verdict invalidating claims of two patents for anticipation and obviousness over the prior art....more

K&L Gates LLP

Estoppel Estopped?

K&L Gates LLP on

The Federal Circuit recently resolved a split among the district courts whether patent infringement defendants who bring inter partes review (IPR) challenges are estopped from raising new prior art challenges in a co-pending...more

Jones Day

Estoppel Trumps Substance: ITC Bars Respondent’s Invalidity Grounds Raised in IPR

Jones Day on

Recently, an ITC Administrative Law Judge applied IPR statutory estoppel under 35 U.S.C. § 315(e)(2) in denying a Respondent’s motion for summary determination of invalidity in Certain Audio Players and Components Thereof,...more

Morrison & Foerster LLP

Discretionary Denials—Act II

On March 26, 2025, the Acting Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office fundamentally changed how the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) initially considers petitions in post grant proceedings under the...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

Federal Circuit Provides Clarity on Use of Applicant Admitted Prior Art (“AAPA”) in IPRs

Qualcomm Incorporated v. Apple Inc., No. 23-1208 (Fed. Cir. 2025)—On April 23, 2025, the Federal Circuit reversed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s finding that claims of Qualcomm’s U.S. Patent No. 8,063,674 (“the ’674...more

105 Results
 / 
View per page
Page: of 5

"My best business intelligence, in one easy email…"

Your first step to building a free, personalized, morning email brief covering pertinent authors and topics on JD Supra:
*By using the service, you signify your acceptance of JD Supra's Privacy Policy.
- hide
- hide