Analysis of patent litigation, PTAB practice, prosecution and pharma IP, written on the data behind LexDana.
Alice is clear that inventions drawn to automating well-known concepts are not patent-eligible. However, this area of the law becomes a bit murky when the automated concept is one that involves concrete or physical devices. The District of Minnesota…
“As she said these words her foot slipped, and in another moment, splash! she was up to her chin in salt water….'I wish I hadn't cried so much!' said Alice, as she swam about, trying to find her way out.” Lewis Carroll,…
The Federal Circuit has released its long-awaited opinion in McRo v. Bandai , reversing the lower court’s decision that the claims were ineligible subject matter. McRo’s invention in U.S. 6,307,576 was a method used in 3D computer animation,…
Last week we published the result of our analysis of software patent suits since 2010 , observing that such patent suits are on a rapid decline, post the Alice decision. This week, we’re expanding that analysis to include all patent lawsuits since…
The race is on to gain control of a new technology that has the power to reinvent banking and make transactions and other agreements between parties cheaper, safer and easier to complete. Like disruptive inventions that preceded it, blockchain has…
Introduction On July 19, 2016, the District Court for the Western District of Washington (“Court”) dismissed a patent suit because the asserted patents (U.S. Patent Nos. 8,682,959 and 9,049,267 ) cover ineligible subject matter. See Appistry,…
Unitary patents in Europe The European unitary patent and Unitary Patent Court (UPC) are slated to go into effect in early 2017. These monumental changes will have a significant impact on the ways patent rights are obtained and enforced in Europe.…
On July 14, 2016, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued new subject matter eligibility guidance for life science claims following a ruling by the Federal Circuit in Rapid Litigation Management v. CellzDirect , No. 15-1570 (Fed. Cir. July 5, 2016),…
The second prong of the Alice test is commonly abbreviated as requiring an “inventive concept.” Of course, that same nomenclature is used by many international patent laws as a synonym for nonobviousness. Can a defendant then cite prior art to…
Over the past two months, the trends I've discussed in my previous blogs on AliceStorm have continued and become more entrenched. In particular, the Federal Circuit has been quite active, issuing nine decisions since late June. These decisions lay out…
Inter partes reviews are the new hotbed of patent litigation. Filed at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, IPRs take down bad patents and eliminate them from the courts. Every accused infringer gets the chance to…
A few weeks ago, we identified the 25 most litigated patents since 2010 and learned they were responsible for more than 6% of all patent suits in the country. As promised, we decided to look at the technologies involved in litigation in order to identify…
