Patent Litigation

Federal Circuit Sitting en banc Overrules Long-standing Test for Assessing Obviousness of Design Patents and Adopts the Same Framework Established for Utility Patents Federal Circuit Affirms District Court's Grant of §285 Fees Request for Fees Incurred in Litigation and Denial of Fees Request for Fees Incurred In a Parallel IPR Proceeding

The downfall of the Rosen-Durling test will generally make it harder to obtain design patents and easier to invalidate design patents.

Federal Circuit Weighs On the Patentability of Claims to Targeted Advertising Federal Circuit Clarifies the Result-Effective Variable Doctrine

A recent order from Chief Judge Colm Connolly in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware may serve as a warning for "patent trolls" — the derogatory term used to describe companies whose sole function is to acquire and then assert patents, often in cases that are questionable on the merits — against filing cases in Delaware going forward.

Each decision involves reversal of a prior art rejection and contrasts with the other decisions on subject matter eligibility, revealing different PTAB approaches and results that can inform prosecution and appeal strategies.

Part Two of a Two-Part article While the last decade has seen a dramatic increase in the number of AI patents, such patents face difficulty in overcoming the patent-eligibility challenges under §101 and Alice. Section 101, however, is not the only hurdles AI patents must overcome. Section 112, with its written description, enablement, and definiteness requirements, presents additional obstacles.

The USPTO has created or expanded several programs to promote the development of sustainable energy. For patent owners and inventors in the energy sector, these programs can provide a financial and administrative edge for the development and protection of their intellectual property, as well as play a beneficial role their overall IP strategy.

Part One of a Two-Part Article Under the current Alice framework, those attempting to patent AI innovations face an uphill battle. But, as the caselaw demonstrates, inventors and patent drafters can take steps to reduce the risk of AI patent claims being invalidated as abstract ideas.