USPTO Begins Implementing TM Modernization Act
USPTO regulations implementing two new procedures for challenging registered marks, as well as other provisions of the Trademark Modernization Act (TMA), went into effect on December 18, 2021. Generally, the new procedures enable streamlined challenges to registrations for non-use within certain timeframes. The USPTO began accepting petitions to institute the new challenge procedures on December […]
Yu and the Case of Shifting Tests for Patents
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the invalidation of Yu et al.’s patent on a motion to dismiss in Yanbin Yu v. Apple Inc., No. 2020-1760, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 17434 (Fed. Cir. June 11, 2021). U.S. Patent No. 6,611,289 claims digital cameras having multiple image sensors and software for combining […]
Copy and Paste – Supreme Court Holds Copying Software Function Calls Was Fair Use
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in litigation involving Google’s Android operating system for mobile devices on April 5, 2021. When developing Android, Google had copied the text and format of function calls from Oracle’s Java SE Application Programming Interface (API). This copying enabled programmers already familiar with the Java programming language to easily […]
Automating Animation: Patentable; Automating Captions: Hold On
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has issued a decision affirming that patent claims to automating the process of making closed captions for audio-visual media are ineligible for patent protection. In Enco Sys. v. Davincia, the Court affirmed a lower court’s early resolution of a patent infringement lawsuit, granting a motion to dismiss […]
Federal Circuit’s Dropbox Decision: Missing the Forest for the Trees?
On June 19, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the invalidation of three Dropbox patents. The Northern District of California had granted a motion to dismiss on grounds that the claims in those patents were to nothing more than abstract ideas. In Dropbox, Inc. v. Synchronous Techs., No. 2019-1765, 2020 […]
Sequenom’s More Specific Claims Survive
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit took another look at Sequenom’s techniques for detecting fetal blood cells in a maternal blood sample. In Illumina Inc. & Sequenom, Inc. v. Ariosa Diagnostics, Inc., No. 2019-1419, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 8327 (Fed. Cir. March 17, 2020), the Court held that specific, unconventional acts in […]
Customedia Techs. Patent for Storing Ads Invalidated
Patent claims to storing ad data based on user preferences locally at a user’s video player were confirmed invalid in Customedia Techs., LLC v. Dish Network Corp., No. 2018-2239, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 7005 (Fed. Cir. March 6, 2020). To enable the claimed technology, a cable distributor would provide customers with a set-top box having […]
Provisional Patent Application Strategies for Success
Starting the process of patenting your innovation by filing a provisional patent application can be a high-value approach. However, misconceptions about what provisional applications are, and the standards applicable to them, may lead to a filing that provides no benefit at best or, at worst, actively undermines your strategy. When seeking patent protection, innovators should […]
The Patent Office Wanted Us to Pay for What?!?
The U.S. Supreme Court held that the costs borne by an appellant seeking review of a rejection from the U.S. Patent Office by a District Court do not include the apportioned salaries of the Office’s employees in Peter v. Nantkwest. The Patent Office had argued that § 145 of the Patent Act authorized it to […]
Software Patent Claims Saved by Problem-Solution Approach
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed a lower court’s decision that software patent claims involving techniques for varying check data to verify data transmissions were ineligible for patent protection in KPN v. Gemalto, No. 2018-1863, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 34075 (Fed. Cir. Nov. 15, 2019). The lower court had found that […]