On June 25, 2019, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit handed down CellSpin Soft, Inc. v. Fitbit, Inc.,[1] in what is an important case dealing with patent-eligibility under 35 U.S.C. §101, further hardening by the Fed Circuit that factual allegations in the pleadings can support patent-eligibility. Further, Cellspin held that issued patents are …
Category: patent eligible subject matter
Fed Circuit Watch: EV Battery Claims Found Patent-Ineligible
What had opened with a promise of clarity for patent subject matter eligibility under 35 U.S.C. §101 took a detour with the ChargePoint, Inc. v. SemaConnect, Inc.,[1] decision issued on March 28 2019, by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Four patents were at-issue, all owned by ChargePoint: U.S. Patent Nos. 8,138,715 (‘715), …
Fed Circuit Watch: Treatment Method Claims Found Patent-Eligible
The third treatment method case in the last year that was challenged as patent-ineligible subject matter under 35 U.S.C. §101 has been found eligible by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, in a recent case, Endo Pharms. Inc. v. Teva Pharms. USA, Inc.,[1] decided March 28, 2019. Endo owns U.S. Patent No. 8,808,737 …
CannabIP: District Court Finds §101 Patent-Eligibility in First Cannabis Patent Litigation
On April 17, 2019, Judge William J. Martinez denied an early motion for partial summary judgment for invalidity based patent-ineligible subject matter under 35 U.S.C. §101, in the first federal patent infringement case testing the patent claims of cannabinoid formulations. Judge Martinez, sitting in the District of Colorado, found the patent-at-issue, U.S. Patent No. 9,730,911 …
Fed Circuit Watch: Network Intrusion Claims Found Patent-Eligible
On March 20, 2019, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled in SRI Int’l, Inc. v. Cisco Sys., Inc.,[1] in which claims directed to network intrusion were found patent-eligible under 35 U.S.C. §101. While the ruling is a welcome sign of patent-eligibility, the ruling itself is convoluted in its rationale and difficult to …
Fed Circuit Watch: Dietary Supplement Claims Found Patent-Eligible
In its second patent-eligibility ruling in a few weeks, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decided Natural Alts. Int’l, Inc. v. Creative Compounds, LLC,[1] on March 15, 2019, in which it found claims directed to dietary supplements in six patents to be patent-eligible under 35 U.S.C. §101. Natural Alternatives International (NAI) was recently …
Fed Circuit Watch: Party Lacks Both Sovereign Immunity and Patent-Eligible Treatment Claims
In one of the more fascinating legal analyses presented in recent memory, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit handed down Univ. of Florida Res. Foundation, Inc. v. General Electric Co.,[1] on February 26, 2019. The issues presented were state assertion of sovereign immunity in federal court, and method and system of treatment claims …
Fed Circuit Watch: Another Mayo, Another §101 Kill
Medical diagnostics patents involving a certain lab testing company named Mayo took a hit when those patents were deemed invalid under 35 U.S.C. §101. No, it’s not that Mayo case,[1] but the one in which the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently decided on February 6, 2019, Athena Diagnostics, Inc. v. Mayo Collaborative …
Fed Circuit Watch: Method of Wagering a Dice Game Bites Alice Dust
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, on the last day of the court’s calendar year, December 28, 2018, ruled on In re Marco Guldenaar Holding B.V.,[1] in what is the last 2018 case discussing patent-eligibility under 35 U.S.C. §101. The ruling is not very groundbreaking, although it does emphasize that gaming methods are …
Fed Circuit Watch: Computer Security Improvement Found Patent-Eligible
Another patent-eligibility case has made its rounds through the appeals process, as the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, in an opinion dated November 16, 2018, in Ancora Techs., Inc. v. HTC America, Inc.,[1] held that computer security improvement claim is patent-eligible under 35 U.S.C. §101. Ancora owns U.S. Patent No. 6,411,941 (‘941) directed …