On Sept. 29, the USPTO issued another memorandum as well as a new flowchart addressing applicant “subject matter eligibility declarations” (SMEDs) submitted to establish eligibility under Section 101. This is now the third time the office has issued guidance on SMEDs in less than a year, which itself seems to highlight their importance to office
In VDPP v. Volkswagen, the Federal Circuit made short work of rejecting VDPP’s argument that settlement licenses are somehow different from ordinary licenses for marking purposes. Following up on Seeing More Clearly: Patent Marking Compliance in the Wake of VDPP v. Volkswagen, this post turns to a question that has been percolating
Following up on What VDPP v. Volkswagen Could Mean for Patent Settlements and Marking and aspects of No Spectacle Worth Watching: How a Non-Practicing Entity’s Failure to Mind Its Licensees Cost It the Case, the Federal Circuit’s decision in VDPP v. Volkswagen makes clear that marking compliance is not a formality patentees can afford
The Federal Circuit’s decision in VDPP, LLC v. Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. offers a clear-eyed look at three recurring pain points in patent litigation: what it takes to plead, what is “exceptional” under 35 U.S.C. § 285, and what it takes to preserve an issue for appeal. The panel (Chief Judge Kimberly Moore, writing
On Tuesday of last week, the Federal Circuit gave Import Global a second chance in district court, reminding practitioners of the importance of careful claim language and a detailed written description. In Socket Solutions, LLC v. Import Global, LLC, the appellate court vacated and remanded a Florida district court’s grant of a preliminary injunction
In a decisive reversal, the Federal Circuit handed Boston Scientific Corporation a complete victory in Board of Regents of the University of Texas System v. Boston Scientific Corp., vacating a jury verdict that had found Boston Scientific’s drug-eluting coronary stent infringed the University of Texas’s patent for drug-releasing biodegradable fiber implants. The Federal Circuit
In Ollnova Technologies Ltd. v. ecobee Technologies ULC, the Federal Circuit handed Ollnova a string of doctrinal wins — three of its four patents cleared the patent eligibility hurdle under 35 U.S.C. § 101 — only to throw out the entire $11.5 million verdict over a single defect in the verdict form. This decision
On October 17, 2025, USPTO Director John Squires issued a memorandum announcing that he would be sole decision-maker for institution of inter partes review (IPR) and post-grant review (PGR) proceedings. In this same memo, Squires stated those decisions would be determined “based on discretionary considerations.” In the time since, Squires has used a series of
In Hikma Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. v. Amarin Pharma, Inc. (June 4, 2026), a unanimous Supreme Court has further clarified what it takes to plead — and ultimately prove — that a defendant induced another party to infringe a patent, setting a high bar for induced infringement claims. While the case arose in the context of
In a recent precedential decision from the Federal Circuit, the appellate court explained that words of approximation like “about” are not inherently definite or indefinite — but when a patentee fails to provide sufficient guidance as to the meaning of such terms, it can be fatal to the claims. More specifically, in Enviro Tech Chemical
A recent precedential Federal Circuit decision further clarifies the limited scope of judicial review over PTAB institution-related rulings, holding that refusal by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to resolve a disputed real-party-in-interest issue under 35 U.S.C. § 312(a)(2) is unreviewable on appeal. The April 29, 2026, decision in Federal Express Corporation v. Qualcomm Incorporated