Anyone hoping for clarity on the standard for patent “eligibility” under 35 U.S.C. § 101 will be disappointed by the Federal Circuit’s recent en banc decision in CLS Bank International v. Alice Corporation (No. 2011-1301, decided May 10, 2013). In a one-paragraph per curiam opinion, the court affirmed the district court’s holding that Alice’s patent claims […]
Patents confer upon the owner of the patent the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling or importing the invention for a set period of time. Tensions arise when patented technologies are included as part of industry technical standards, creating standard-essential patents that are required for system interoperability for certain technologies. […]
On September 13, 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, in 1st Media, LLC v. Electronic Arts, Inc., No. 2010-1435 (“1st Media”), reversed a Nevada district court’s ruling holding a patent owned by 1st Media unenforceable due to inequitable conduct. 1st Media, LLC v. do Pi Karaoke, Inc., No. 07-cv-1589 (Apr. 23, 2010). The opinion […]
On June 25, 2012, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Already, LLC v. Nike, Inc., No. 11-982, on the issue of whether a federal district court is divested of Article III jurisdiction over a party’s challenge to the validity of a federally registered trademark if the registrant promises not to assert its mark against the […]
The Supreme Court has addressed the first question of patentability – whether the invention falls within the scope of patentable subject matter – for the second time in three years with its opinion in Mayo Collaborative Services, et al. v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc., 566 U.S. ___ (2012). Through unanimous decision, the Supreme Court has provided […]
Litigation often involves information that a company wants to protect from disclosure in public court records, such valuable technical, financial, and business information that is otherwise kept confidential. One way of protecting this type of information is to seal court records. Although courts generally are leery to impede the public’s interest in open access to […]
Traditionally, a plaintiff seeking a preliminary injunction in a trademark infringement case has been entitled to a presumption of irreparable harm if the plaintiff can prove likelihood of success on the merits. In 2006, the Supreme Court decided eBay, Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C. The Court there rejected a categorical rule that a patent infringement plaintiff […]
Today, President Obama signed the America Invents Act, H.R. 1249, into law. The patent reform legislation took many years to pass, and contains significant changes to the United States patent laws. This post summarizes those that are most significant from a patent litigation perspective. Post grant review procedure (regulations within a year). Within nine months after […]
The first question of patentability – whether the invention falls within the scope of patentable subject matter – will have been addressed by the Supreme Court twice in three years once the Court issues its opinion in Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories. For most of 2009 and the first half of 2010, many eagerly […]
Welcome to the Snell & Wilmer intellectual property and technology litigation blog! Check here for useful news and information about patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret, and other IP and technology litigation developments. For links to posts on recent developments occurring before this blog’s launch, click here: pleading, inequitable conduct, inducement of patent infringement, patent invalidity, and […]
