Spencer J. Johnson

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On April 16, 2019, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“the PTAB” or “the Board”) designated three orders as precedential related to the issue of the incomplete disclosure of “real parties-in-interest” (“RPIs”) at the time of the filing of petitions for post-grant proceedings.  These three relatively recent orders—all issued since January 2019—present a range of…

A Federal Circuit opinion issued September 13, 2018, has affirmed a decision by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB” or “the Board”) that claims of U.S. Patent No. 8,714,977 (“the ’977 patent”) covering certain dental implants are unpatentable. The ’977 patent, assigned to Nobel Biocare Services AG (“Nobel”), was challenged by Instradent USA, Inc.…

Abraxis Bioscience, developer of cancer drug Abraxane®, filed suit against Actavis in April of 2016 following its receipt of notice that Actavis sought approval of a generic form of the drug from the FDA. The notice, called a Paragraph IV Certification, represented that Actavis believed the patents covering the drug were invalid, unenforceable, or would…

Two IPRs (IPR2016-00663 and IPR2016-00669) filed on patents asserted against Microsoft in district court have ended with victory for the tech giant in an unusual procedural turn. Claims of the two patents were cancelled as a result of adverse judgment being entered against the owner of record, Global Technologies, Inc., after the PTAB deemed that…

On Thursday of last week, the Federal Circuit sitting en banc heard oral arguments in Wi-Fi One, LLC v. Broadcom Corporation. At its core, this rehearing focuses on the relatively narrow issue of whether USPTO determinations regarding the timeliness requirements of 35 USC § 315(b) are eligible for judicial review. However, based on the…