On June 10, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Return Mail, Inc. v. United States Postal Service,[1] in which the Court held that the Government was not a “person” for definitions of the America Invents Act (AIA). The case originates from Return Mail’s patent, U.S. Patent …
CannabIP: Hemp Now Accepted For PVP Protection
On April 24, 2019, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that the Plant Variety Protection Office (PVPO) will begin accepting applications for new, distinctive hemp-based seed-propagated plants for Plant Variety Protection (PVP) Certificates, as a result of the 2018 Farm Bill signed December 20, 2018. Hemp is the non-psychoactive element of C. sativa plant, …
TechPat: Justice Department Reviews Truvada Manufacturer for Possible Patent Violations
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has recently opened an investigation into possible violations of Gilead Sciences, Inc.’s exclusive license with the U.S. Government of its blockbuster HIV drug, TRUVADA®. Truvada is the pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) which has been shown to prevent HIV infections. Because of its exclusive license, Gilead is the only manufacturer of …
CannabIP: U.S. Patent No. 10,179,694 B2
U.S. Patent No. 10,179,694 B2 (‘694) issued on November 20, 2018, for “Constant Illuminated Tamper-Resistant Plant Shipping Container.” It was issued to applicant/inventor Larry D. Fenner, Jr. of Bellingham, Washington. The assignee is THC Acquisition Corp. of Kelowna, British Columbia. THC BioMed Ltd. is the parent company, a Canadian medical cannabis company. Figure 1 illustrates …
TechPat: U.S. Patent No. D844,022 S1
U.S. Patent No. D844,022 S (‘022) issued on March 26, 2019, for “Computing Device Display Screen with Graphical User Interface.” It was issued to inventor Shalin Amin, of San Francisco, California. The applicant/assignee is Uber, Inc. of San Francisco, California, a ride share/ride hailing company. This patent is a design patent under 35 U.S.C. §171, …
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 …
Fed Circuit Watch: Cat’s Out of the Bag: Continuous Reduction to Practice is Reasonable Diligence
Arctic Cat Inc. has been involved in a few patent-related cases in recent years, including one case from 2018 which we discussed on this blog dealing with the law of obviousness’s motivation to combine analysis under 35 U.S.C. §103. Its most recent foray into the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit resulted in its …
CannabIP: U.S. Patent No. 10,206,963 B2
U.S. Patent No. 10,206,963 B2 (‘963) issued on January 15, 2019, for “Topical Medicinal Gel.” It was issued to applicants/inventors Joan McMahon of Midland, Michigan and Stephanie House of Merrill, Michigan. The ‘963 patent discloses a process for a topical composition containing cannabis. The novel aspect is rather than containing a greasy emollient like olive …
TechPat: U.S. Patent No. D842,331 S1
U.S. Patent No. D842,331 S (‘331) issued on March 5, 2019, for “Display Screen or Portion Thereof with Animated Graphical User Interface.” It was issued to inventors Jisi Guo, Eli Guerron, Craig Dehner, Frank Yoo, Karina van Schaardenburg, and Hernrique Penha, all of San Francisco, California. The applicant/assignee is Lyft, Inc. of San Francisco, California, …