<em> Tube-Mac Indus., Inc. v. Campbell </em>
The Federal Circuit Court affirmed an Eastern District Court of Virginia’s decision to mandate a correction of inventorship of U.S. Patent 9,376,049 (the “’049 patent”) which added Gary Mackay and Dan Hewson as named inventors.
<em> Freshub, Inc. v. Amazon, Inc. </em>
The Federal Circuit rejected Amazon’s cross-appeal and affirmed the district court ruling, determining that the lower court did not abuse its discretion or make a clear error on Amazon’s inequitable conduct defense.
<em> AlexSam, Inc., v. MasterCard Int’l Inc. </em>
AlexSam filed a breach of contract claim against MasterCard. The District Court held that the claim was prohibited under the parties’ covenant not to sue. The Federal Circuit reversed and remanded based on non-ambiguity in license agreements.
A Collision of Precedents: Assessing the <em> LKQ Corp. v. GM Global Technology Operations LLC </em> Patent Case
For the first time since 2018, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit sat en banc to review a patent case. LKQ Corp v. GM Global Technology Operations LLC marks a pivotal battle over design patents and spotlights the debate surrounding existing Court precedents.
Get a Kick Out of This
Nike filed two patent infringement lawsuits on November 6, one against New Balance in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts and another against Skechers in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, concerning its Flyknit shoewear technology. Nike sued multiple other global brands such as Puma, Adidas, and Lululemon regarding this same technology in the past five years.
<em>Medtronic, Inc. v. Teleflex Life Scis. Ltd.</em>
The Federal Circuit affirmed the Patent Trials and Appeals Board’s decision on the validity of Teleflex’s patent but refused to address whether an in vivo performance of an in vivo method is required to show actual reduction to practice.
Industry-Specific Patent Policy
Patent scholars have long called for industry-specific patent policy; however, these policies must support cross-functional collaboration amongst different technologies to continue to foster innovation.
A Digital Marketplace for Patents: Patents as NFTs
To rid the current patent recording system of its existing transparency and validity issues, patents should be digitized as NFTs and stored on a blockchain to create a trustworthy and extensive digital marketplace.
<em>Netflix, Inc. v. DivX, LLC</em>
The Federal Circuit vacated the Patent Trials and Appeals Board’s decision on Netflix’s asserted prior art reference, holding Netflix did not need to use the “magic words” field of endeavor to identify one in their asserted prior art reference.
<em>Baxalta Inc. v. Genentech, Inc.</em>
The Federal Circuit affirmed the district court’s ruling that Baxalta’s patent for antibodies that treat Hemophilia A was invalid for lack of enablement and applied the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Amgen Inc. v. Sanofi to reach its determination.
<em>Columbia Sportswear N. Am., Inc. v. Seirus Innovative Accessories, Inc.</em>
In line with anticipation analysis for design patents, prior art may only be deemed “comparison prior art” if applied to the claimed article of manufacture. Future design patent infringement plaintiffs are now limited in their potential comparison art.
<em>Ikorongo Texas LLC v. Bumble Trading LLC</em>
The Federal Circuit affirmed the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas decision and canceled Ikorongo Technology LLC’s patent claims under 35 U.S.C. § 251(a), which requires that a reissue patent contain no new matter.
The Unified Patent Court Committees Have Hit the Ground Running
The European Union has recently taken steps to integrate the Unified Patent Court (UPC) into their judicial system by getting the first few committee meetings underway, appointing judges, and adopting human resource standards for the Court. These are small steps which will lead to big advancements for patent proprietors in Europe, making it easier to enforce patents across borders in the European Union.
<em>American National v. Sleep Number Corporation</em>
On November 14, 2022, the federal circuit court released a precedential opinion on an appeal from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. The court’s opinion affirmed and clarified the Board’s decision. The case hinged on multiple claims’ of patentability regarding Sleep Number’s mattress pressure programming and in what ways Sleep Number could amend their claims in anticipation of an inter partes review. The court held that the Board was correct in rejecting multiple unpatentability arguments from American National Manufacturing and further held that some Sleep Number claims were unpatentable.