In Comparer Corp. v. Antec, Inc., the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ("CAFC") upheld the District Court's claim construction but vacated the jury's verdicts on obviousness as irreconcilably inconsistent, remanding the case for a new trial on invalidity. Comaper had brought suit against Antec alleging willful infringement of multiple claims of U.S. Patent No. 5,955,955, a cooling device designed to mount within the drive bay of a computer. The jury found willful infringement of claims 1, 2, 7, 12, and 13, and that independent claims 1 and 12 were not invalid as obvious. However, the jury also found that dependent claims 2, 7, and 13 were obvious. Because the District Court did not grant a new trial based on the irreconcilably inconsistent verdicts the CAFC vacated the verdict and remanded. (more...)
Archive for the ‘United States’ Category
CAFC holds forwarding GPS signals satisfies transmission/communication elements of processing method patent; GPS receiver satisfies machine component of Bilski method test
In SiRF Technology, Inc v. International Trade Commission and Broadcom, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ("CAFC") affirmed the United States International Trade Commission's ("Commission") ruling that (1) Broadcom Corporation and Global Locate, Inc. (collectively, "Global Locate") had standing to sue SiRF Technology, Inc., E-TEN Information Systems Co., Ltd., Pharos Science & Applications, Inc., MiTAC International Corp., and Mio Technology Limited, USA (collectively, "SiRF"); (2) SiRF infringed Global Locate's patents; and (3) Global Locate's patents claimed patentable subject matter. (more...)
Posted in United States: Patents 
Tags: Assignment, Bilski, patentable subject matter, standing 
No Comments »CAFC Holds Multi-Input Video Game Controller Unsupported by Single Input Specification of Parent Application, Invalidating Priority
In Anascape, Ltd. v. Nintendo of America, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ("CAFC") reversed a jury verdict from a District Court that found Microsoft had infringed U.S. Patent No. 6,906,700 ("the '700 patent"), owned by Anascape. The patent for a hand-operated controller used for video games was a continuation-in-part of U.S. Patent No. 6,222,525 ("the '525 patent") filed in 2000, and the infringed patent relied on the 1996 filing date of the parent '525 patent to remain valid in light of intervening prior art sold by Sony in 1998. The CAFC held that the written description of the '525 patent did not contemplate the broader scope claimed in the '700 patent and therefore the claims in the '700 patent were invalid. (more...)
En banc CAFC Affirms Independence of S112 Written Description Requirement
In Ariad Pharmaceutical v. Eli Lilly, 2008-1248, the en banc Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) in a 9-2 decision reaffirmed the existence of an independent written description requirement, separate from enablement, in 35 U.S.C. § 112, ¶1 (first paragraph).
Ariad Pharmaceuticals and its research partners (collectively, "Ariad") brought suit against Eli Lilly ("Lilly") alleging infringement of U.S. Patent No. 6,410,516 ("the '516 patent"), covering methods to regulate the activity of protein called NF-kB that regulates gene activity. After a jury's finding of infringement at trial, the case was appealed to a panel of the CAFC which found the claims at issue invalid for lack of written description in Ariad Pharms., Inc. v. Eli Lilly & Co., 560 F.3d 1366 (Fed. Cir. 2009). Ariad petitioned for a rehearing by the CAFC en banc, which was granted to address the lingering controversy regarding the existence of an independent written description requirement in § 112, ¶1. (more...)
TTAB Refuses Acquired Distinctiveness Tacking Under R2.41(b) Finding Hollywood/Bollywood Marks Lacking Legal Equivalence
In In re Nielsen Business Media, the Trademark Trial and Appeals Board ("TTAB") affirmed an examining attorney's refusal to register a mark under Section 2(e)(1) of the Trademark Act. After considering and rejecting the applicant's claim that the acquired distinctiveness of the applicant's previously registered marks could "tack" onto the new mark, the TTAB agreed with the examiner's finding that the mark THE BOLLYWOOD REPORTER (Serial Nos. 77223725 and 77223738) for entertainment news papers and online publications was merely descriptive of the goods. (more...)
TTAB rules minimual evidence of actual confusion suffuicent for summary judgemnt on liklihood of confusion where mark identical to prior famous mark used on identical goods
In Texas Department of Transportation v. Richard Tucker, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ("TTAB") unanimously granted the Texas Department of Transportation's ("TxDOT") motion for summary judgment, holding no genuine issue of material fact existed and Richard Tucker's ("Tucker") mark was likely to cause confusion.
TxDOT and Tucker both claimed use of and registered the same mark, "DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS" for goods, specifically clothing. TxDOT, claiming priority of use and a likelihood of confusion under 15 U.S.C. § 1052, filed a petition to cancel Tucker's registration and a notice of opposition against Tucker's pending application under 15 U.S.C. § 1064 and 15 U.S.C. § 1063 respectively. The two cases were consolidated. (more...)
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