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 …
Category: patent
TechPat: U.S. Patent No. D835,564
U.S. Patent No. D835,564 S (‘564) issued on December 11, 2018, for “Wiper.” It was issued to inventors Franz Von Holzhausen of Malibu, California, David Tadashi Imai of Los Angeles, California, Randy Rodriguez of Torrance, California, and Julien Bilodeau of Los Angeles, California. The applicant/assignee is Tesla, Inc. of Palo Alto, California, the high-end electric …
Fed Circuit Watch: No Standing to Appeal When Biosimilar Product Withdrawn
Sometimes substantive patent issues are never dealt with in cases, but rather dispositive issues are handled by procedural mechanisms. One case in point is Momenta Pharms., Inc. v. Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.,[1] which the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decided on February 7, 2019. BMS owns U.S. Patent No. 8,476,239 (‘239), entitled “Stable protein …
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 …
TechPat: U.S. Patent No. 10,109,003 B1
U.S. Patent No. 10,109,003 B1 (‘003), issued on October 23, 2018, for “Method, Medium, and System for Enhancing Privacy.” The inventors are Jon Jenkins of San Francisco, and Catherine Cissy Lee of Mountain View, California. The applicant and assignee is Pinterest, Inc., of San Francisco, California, the image and pictorial social media company. The title …
TechPat: U.S. Patent No. 10,227,611 B2
Today is DNA Day, and to honor the occasion, we present a newly issued patent utilizing deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA. U.S. Patent No. 10,227,611 B2 (‘611) issued on March 12, 2019, for “Methods and Compositions for RNA-Directed Target DNA Modification and for RNA-Directed Modulation of Transcription.” It was issued to inventors Jennifer A. Doudna and …
CannabIP: U.S. Patent No. 10,098,867 B2
U.S. Patent No. 10,098,867 B2 (‘867) issued on October 16, 2018, for “Use of Phytocannabinoids in the Treatment of Ovarian Carcinoma.” It was issued to applicant GW Research Ltd. of Cambridge, Great Britain, the research division of the cannabinoid-based pharmaceutical company GW Pharmaceuticals, plc. The inventors are Farideh Afshin Javid of Huddersfield, Great Britain, Marnie …
TechPat: U.S. Patent No. 10,152,892 B2
U.S. Patent No. 10,152,892 B2 (‘892), issued on December 11, 2018, for “Autonomous Vehicle Notification System.” The inventors are Taggart Matthiesen of Kentfield, California, Jisi Guo of San Francisco, California, Sebastian Rolf Johan Brannstrom of San Francisco, California, and Jess Garms of San Francisco, California. The applicant and assignee is Lyft, Inc. of San Francisco, …
CannabIP: U.S. Patent No. 10,137,161 B2
U.S. Patent No. 10,137,161 B2 (‘161) issued on November 27, 2018, for “Medical Cannabis Lozenges and Compositions Thereof.” It was issued to applicant/inventor Jeffrey A. Kolsky of San Francisco, California. Kolsky is the owner of JollyMeds, which makes cannabis-infused edibles. The ‘161 claims are directed to a composition in the form of a lozenge, consisting …
Fed Circuit Watch: District Courts Still Have Problems with Cray Rule
On February 5, 2019, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit denied a petition for writ of mandamus, with a combined petition for rehearing and/or rehearing en banc, in In re Google LLC, the writ of mandate review stems from a patent infringement suit filed by SEVEN Networks, LLC, a mobile data analytics company, …