Written by: Christopher H. Blaszkowski & Alyssa R.M. Pugh The USPTO has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking concerning its intention to replace the current “broadest reasonable interpretation” (BRI) claim construction standard in AIA trials with the “ordinary and customary meaning” standard set forth in Phillips v. AWH Corp., 415 F.3d 1303, 1313 (Fed. Cir. […]
Written by: Christopher H. Blaszkowski Just a few weeks ago, the U.S. Supreme Court issued SAS Institute Inc. v. Iancu, holding that that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) must issue a final written decision as to any patent claim challenged by an IPR petitioner. Two days later, the PTAB issued written guidance explaining that it will, […]
Written by: Christopher H. Blaszkowski & Alyssa R.M. Pugh In a 7-2 decision, Justice Thomas delivered an opinion in Oil States Energy Services, LLC v. Greene’s Energy Group, LLC holding that the inter partes review process is constitutional under both Article III and the Seventh Amendment. The determinative issue before the Court was whether patent […]
Written by: Benjamin E. Leace & Christopher H. Blaszkowski In a long awaited decision, the en banc Federal Circuit ruled today that the patent owner does not bear the burden of demonstrating the patentability of any claim amendments made during an inter partes review (“IPR”). Depending on how the United States Patent and Trademark Office […]
Declaring that “[s]peech may not be banned on the ground that it expresses ideas that offend,” the U.S. Supreme Court in Matal v. Tam (No. 15-1293) held that Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act (15 U.S.C. § 1052(a)) is facially unconstitutional for violating the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment. The salient section of […]
In a closely watched case in the biopharma space (Sandoz Inc. v. Amgen, Inc., No. 15–1039, June 12, 2017), the Supreme Court issued its first ever decision on how to interpret the biosimilar patent dispute provisions of the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (BPCIA). Most importantly, the Court ruled that biosimilar applicants do not […]
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a significant decision today that largely answers the question of how much control a patent owner can wield over a patented product after it has been sold, holding that a patent owner’s decision to sell a product exhausts all of its patent rights in that product, regardless of any restrictions […]
In a long awaited decision having the potential to impact where patent suits are litigated, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC today. TC Heartland confirms that, for the purposes of the venue statute for patent infringement actions—28 U.S.C. § 1400(b)—“resides” is limited to the state […]
In a second Intellectual-Property-related decision in as many days, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a long-awaited ruling on March 22, 2017, in Star Athletica, L.L.C. v. Varsity Brands, Inc. et al. (No. 15-866), confirming that copyright protection extends to pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works regardless of whether they were created as freestanding art or as […]
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a decisive ruling today in SCA Hygiene Products Aktiebolag v. First Quality Baby Products, LLC (No. 15-927), eliminating the defense of laches in patent cases. This ruling continues the Supreme Court’s recent trend of overturning Federal Circuit precedent. Laches is an equitable defense in which a plaintiff is barred from […]
