On July 25, 2018, the USPTO submitted for publication a Federal Official Gazette notice of public hearing 2018-16432 pursuant to the Patent Public Advisory Committee (PPAC). The notice specifies broad increases affecting patent filings and prosecution. It was published on August 8, 2018, in the Federal Gazette. While most of the fees are in the …
Category: patent
Fed Circuit Watch: American Rule Does Not Require Applicants to Pay USPTO Attorneys’ Fees
“Each litigant pays his own attorney’s fees, win or lose.”[1] As such, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the American Rule by holding that 35 U.S.C. §145 does not require losing applicants to pay USPTO attorneys’ fees in NantKwest, Inc. v. Iancu,[2] in an en banc decision handed down on July 27, …
Fed Circuit Watch: Result-Oriented Claims Not Patent-Eligible
This case is the latest iteration of a protracted litigation between non-practicing entity Interval Licensing and AOL.[1] In the current case, Interval Licensing LLC v. AOL, Inc.,[2] the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled on July 20, 2018, that a claim that merely recites a result without how to achieve that result was …
Fed Circuit Watch: PTAB Anticipation Analysis All Wrong
Anticipation in patent law means the claimed invention lacks novelty, or is not new; in other words, the invention was already invented.[1] Anticipation, as codified in 35 U.S.C. §102(a) (or §102(b) in pre-AIA statute), is the gateway substantive legal analysis which must take place in order to assess patentability of an invention. Therefore, when the …
CannabIP: U.S. Patent No. 9,981,886 B2
U.S. Patent No. 9,981,886 B2 issued on May 29, 2018, for “Fertilizer.” It was issued to applicant Acupac Packaging, Inc., of Mahwah, New Jersey, and inventors Banak Ghalili of New York, New York, and Michael Borja of Mahwah, New Jersey. The specification discloses a composition of fertilizer material that comprises an SAP, or superabsorbent polymer, …
Fed Circuit Watch: Hyperlinked Material in Federal Register Notice is Prior Art
What constitutes prior art is not as easy as it may seem. While it may be uncontroverted that a Federal Register notice is prior art, the hyperlinked materials in that notice is what was at issue in Jazz Pharm., Inc. v. Amneal Pharm., Inc.,[1] decided by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on …
CannabIP: U.S. Patent No. 9,943,491 B2
U.S. Patent No. 9,943,491 B2 issued on April 17, 2018, for “Compressed tablet containing cannabidiol, method for its manufacture and use of such tablet in oral treatment of psychosis or anxiety disorders” It was issued to applicant Echo Pharmaceuticals B.V., of Weesp, Netherlands, and inventors Jan Albert De Vries, Maria Vanesa Fernandez Cid, Ana Maria …
CannabIP: U.S. Patent No. 9,962,340 B2
U.S. Patent No. 9,962,340 B2 issued on May 8, 2018, for “Device and method for the transdermal delivery of cannabidiol.” It was issued to applicant Medipatch Inc., of San Diego, California, and inventors Ludwig J. Weimann, of San Diego, California. The assignee is Life Tech Global, LLC, of Irvine, California. The specification discloses a drug …
Fed Circuit Watch: No Sovereign Immunity in IPR
Sovereign immunity is the right of the government to not be sued absent waiver or consent. The federal government retains sovereign immunity rights.[1] States, through the Eleventh Amendment, also have sovereign immunity in federal courts.[2] Indian tribes also have sovereign immunity absent waiver or congressional abrogation.[3] This final type, tribal sovereign immunity, has never been …
Fed Circuit Watch: PTAB Decisions Questioned in Light of SAS and Aqua Products
On June 19, 2018, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued Sirona Dental Systs. GmbH v. Institut Straumann AG.[1] The case is important because two other recent court decisions – SAS and Aqua Products – affected certain details of this case that ultimately affected how the Fed Circuit ruled. In SAS, the U.S. …