Pending Case, Cannabis Companies May Be Able to Prosecute Patent Infringements in Court

May 22, 2019

In "United Cannabis v. Pure Hemp Collective," United Cannabis claims that Pure Hemp used a cannabis extract that United Cannabis had a patent on. Lawyers say this case is the first of its kind.... Read more

What You Say Can Hurt You

May 21, 2019

Often in writing applications there is a tendency to denigrate prior art techniques. This is not risk free as the patentee in Nuvo Pharmaceuticals (Ireland) v. Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Inc. (Fed. Cir. May 15, 2019) discovered.... Read more


Category: Patent Eligibility

PTAB Issues Two New Precedential Opinions On Discretion to Deny Review - Implications for Generics

May 9, 2019

The PTAB designated two decisions as precedential this week (in addition to several in previous weeks), both relevant to the Board's discretion to deny review. These cases illustrate that the PTO is in the process of designating precedential opinions on a number of issues, in line with revised Standard Operating Procedure 2 for designating precedential and informative decisions. See my previous posts on other recent precedential decisions here and here.... Read more

The Proper Application of the Supreme Court's Alice Standard is an Evolving and Sometimes Hazy Area of Law

April 29, 2019

Marijuana, for medical purposes and recreational purposes, is an area of great political, social and legal interest. By some accounts (https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomaspellechia/2018/03/01/double-digit-billions-puts-north-america-in-the-worldwide-cannabis-market-lead/#6d925dd76510), the industry is rapidly growing leaps and bounds. Not surprisingly, patents and disputes centered on patents for this industry are increasing in numbers.... Read more

Follow-On IPR Petitions - Institution Is Not Impossible But Difficult

April 16, 2019

同一特許に対するIPR申請 ¾審理開始は不可能ではないが難しい<... Read more

Cleveland Clinic - Another Black Eye for the Federal Circuit and Dissing the USPTO

April 3, 2019

In the April 1 Cleveland Clinic Foundation v. True Health Diagnostics LLC decision, the Federal Circuit has once again given itself a black eye in finding a new diagnostic procedure to be patent ineligible and with the same punch dissed the USPTO.... Read more

Natural Alternatives - Claim Construction Defeats A 101 Challenge On The Pleadings

March 26, 2019

The Federal Circuit on March 19 in Natural Alternatives Intl. v Creative Compounds LLC. reversed a district court's opinion finding Natural's patent claims to be patent ineligible. The district court's decision arose out of a motion for judgment on the pleadings filed by Creative.... Read more


Category: Federal Circuit

Invention by "Another": Duncan Parking Technologies, Inc. v. IPS Group, Inc., Appeal No. 2018-1205, -1360 (Fed. Cir. Jan. 31, 2019)

March 19, 2019

IPS Group Inc. ("IPS") appealed from two decisions of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California granting summary judgment of non-infringement of U.S. Patents 8,595,054 and 7,854,310. Duncan Parking Technologies Inc. ("DPT") appealed from a related decision of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board ("the Board") in an inter partes review holding that claims 1–5 and 7–10 of the '310 patent were not shown to be unpatentable as anticipated under 35 U.S.C. § 102(e).... Read more

Biologic Patent Transparency Act - New Bill Aimed at Biologics

March 12, 2019

A bipartisan group of senators sponsored a bill this week—the Biologic Patent Transparency Act, S. 659—aimed at making patent information associated with biologics easier to identify and easing the approval process for biosimilar manufacturers encountering patent roadblocks.... Read more

Motions to Amend: Is the PTAB's Lectrosonics Order Just of Western Digital?

March 11, 2019

Spring gardening season has begun and the USPTO is once again planting its Motion to Amend ("MTA") seeds. In a substantial redux of Western Digital Corporation v. Spex Technologies, IPR2018-00082,-00084, paper 13, the PTAB this past week designated paper 15 of Lectrosonics v. Zaxcom, IPR2018-01129, 01130("Lectrosonics Order") as an informative decision.... Read more