United States
Case summaries and articles about intellectual property that are relevant to the United States of America.
May 12, 2022
Under the “on-sale bar”, privately offering to sell an invention before filing a patent application can void the patent rights in all but a few permissible scenarios.
November 2, 2021
Fed. Cir. No. 2020-2044: The Federal Circuit found that the patents were directed to an abstract idea, with no additional elements to transform them into patentable subject-matter.
October 5, 2021
Fed. Cir. No. 19-2286: The actual notice requirement of § 287 is only satisfied when the recipient is informed of the identity of the patent and the allegedly infringing activity.
July 7, 2021
Fed. Cir. No. 2020-1760: The CAFC sided with Apple and Samsung, finding a patent for an “improved” digital camera to be an abstract idea and not patent-eligible subject matter.
April 22, 2021
No. 18-956: In ruling that Google's copying of Java code amounted to fair use, the court adapted traditional copyright laws to software, which is primarily functional in nature.
March 3, 2021
Fed Cir, 2019-1927: The CAFC overturned a finding of non-obviousness by the US Patent Trial and Appeal Board on a patent owned by Melanoscan, LLC.
December 2, 2020
Fed. Cir. 2018-1779: A patent for testing fetal DNA was found to be unpatentable because the claims were not fully supported by the written description.
September 10, 2020
Fed. Cir. 2019-1622: The CAFC found the same preamble created different limitations for different patents, limiting one patent but not the other.
August 10, 2020
Fed. Cir. 2019-2041 - The CAFC held that Packet Intelligence was precluded from claiming $3.5M in pre-suit damages because the marking requirement was not met.
July 7, 2020
An Oregon court ruled that Nike owns the Claw logo that includes a sketch of Leonard's hands that famously earned him the nickname “The Claw.”