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On June 18, 2020, the Federal Circuit granted JHO Intellectual Property Holdings, LLC’s (“JHO”) motion to vacate the PTAB’s final written decision and remand the case in light of the court’s decision in Arthrex. In an ex parte reexamination proceeding, the PTAB denied JHO’s request for rehearing of its decision affirming the Examiner’s rejections…

The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued its decision in Bozeman Financial LLC v. Federal Reserve Bank Of Atlanta, Case No. 19-1018 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 10, 2020) [hereinafter Bozeman], holding that Federal Reserve banks (hereinafter “the Banks”) are people under the AIA, capable of petitioning for post-issuance review. The Court further…

On March 18, 2020, in Facebook, Inc. v. Windy City Innovations, LLC, the Federal Circuit held that 35 U.S.C. § 315(c) does not authorize same-party joinder and does not authorize joinder of new issues.

Windy City Innovations, LLC (“Windy City”) brought a patent infringement suit against Facebook, Inc. (“Facebook”) in a district court. Exactly…

In Customedia Techs., LLC v. DISH Network Corp., the Federal Circuit affirmed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s final written decisions holding that claims 1-6, 8, 17, and 23 of U.S. Pat. No. 8,719,090 (the “’090 Patent”) and claims 1-4, 6-7, 16-19, 23-24, 26-28, 32-36, and 41 of U.S. Pat. No. 9,053, 494…

The Federal Circuit was recently asked to review the interplay of real-parties-in-interest and the inter partes review (“IPR”) time-bar. Acoustic Technology, Inc., Appellant v. Itron Networked Solutions, Inc., Nos. 2019-1059, 2019-1060 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 13, 2020) (opinion available here).  The facts raised an interesting question of how business mergers can affect IPR and…

In BioDelivery Sciences International v. Aquestive Therapeutics, Inc., the Federal Circuit recently denied a petition for a rehearing en banc after the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB” or “the Board”) interpreted its remand order to “implement the [Supreme] Court’s decision in [SAS Institute v. Iancu]”[1] by modifying its institution decision, denying…

The Federal Circuit recently addressed the requirement for establishing “nexus” for secondary indicia. On December 18, 2019, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (the “Federal Circuit”) vacated and remanded a PTAB decision of non-obvious, and ultimately raised the bar a patentee needs to meet to invoke secondary considerations of non-obviousness. In Fox Factory, Inc. v. SRAM, LLC, No. 18-2024 (Fed. Cir. Dec. 18, 2019), the Federal Circuit vacated an inter partes review (“IPR”) final decision holding the claims of U.S. Patent No. 9,182,027 as non-obvious due in large part to a finding of commercial success attributed to the claimed invention. On appeal, the Federal Circuit concluded that the PTAB improperly applied the presumption of nexus between the evidence of commercial success and the claims of the patent. The court held that the proper presumption of nexus can only be achieved by proving that the product sold by the patentee is “essentially the claimed invention.” Id. at 12.
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Continue Reading Federal Circuit Raises the Standard of Nexus Requirement for Secondary Indicia of Non-Obviousness