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In Zeroclick, LLC v. Apple Inc., 2017-1267 (Fed. Cir. June 1, 2018), the Federal Circuit overruled the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California for improperly interpreting claims regarding the application of 35 U.S.C. §112, ¶ 6.  The case related to an appeal from an action where Zeroclick had […]

I recently purchased some bathroom lighting from a Big Box store, confident in my ability to perform the necessary carpentry and electrical work to install it myself.  I had to wait 10 or 15 minutes while an associate that I estimated at about 19, unenthusiastically pulled a huge ladder up […]

The Dilworth IP Team is excited to run in support the Hole in the Wall Gang, a charitable organization founded by Paul Newman in 1988. The charity runs camps and various other programs across the Northeast for seriously ill children and their families. On June 2nd, team members Michael Dilworth, Bill Reid, and […]

Buried amidst the flurry of recent Federal Circuit subject matter eligibility decisions is a question that could significantly change how Section 101 is applied in patent litigation.  Specifically, the issue is whether performing Step 2 of the Mayo/Alice test can require a factual inquiry.  If upheld, this interpretation of Alice could make patent litigation […]

The cosmeceutical industry is ever more competitive and continues to grow with a myriad of new cosmeceutical products entering the market every day. Well-established and new companies are busily adapting to new trends created by people’s changing tastes. The total revenue of the U.S. cosmeceutical industry has only been increasing […]

For the first time since the Mayo Supreme Court decision of 2012, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) in Exergen vs Kaz has ruled in favor of the patent eligibility of a medical diagnostic invention.  While nonprecedential, this 2-to-1 decision is noteworthy for the guidance it provides to patent professionals seeking to protect diagnostic inventions.  Specifically, it instructs that diagnostic methods may be eligible for patent coverage so long as they use unconventional methods for detecting analytes.  Additionally, the Exergen decision offers another endorsement of the view put forth recently by the CAFC in Berkheimer v. HP and Aatrix v. Green Shades, that the inventive concept analysis that can arise in step-2 of the Mayo/Alice test is at least in part a factual question and not just a question of law.  This factual vs legal debate continues to have reverberations throughout the patent law field, affecting both the manner in which courts conduct 101 examinations as well as the conclusions they reach.

Dr. Anthony Sabatelli & David Puleo will be presenting a free webinar on Thursday, April 19th at 1:00 PM (ET) for Dilworth IP, entitled, “Just What is the Federal Circuit Thinking? A Path Forward Amid Subject Matter Eligibility Variability.” Tens of millions spent on product development – how do you protect your company’s technology in an environment where the Federal Circuit redefines patent eligible subject matter on nearly a weekly basis, and where the USPTO’s application of these judgments is just as inconsistent? Is subject matter eligibility no longer a question of law and is it now morphing into a question of fact?

The U.S. District Court of Connecticut has ruled that a small Connecticut manufacturing company can sue an Indiana- based national manufacturer and wholesaler for trademark infringement in Connecticut, based on the defendant’s modest sales to distributors in Connecticut.  This illustrates how Connecticut courts provide an important forum for Connecticut business to protect their brands against out-of-state competitors that sell into Connecticut.

Matthew Siegal, a patent attorney with Dilworth IP’s affiliate firm, Dilworth & Barrese, and Of Counsel to Dilworth IP, recently had an article published in The Intellectual Property Strategist entitled, “Even the Value of the Smallest Salable Unit Must Bes Apportioned.” In the article, Mr. Siegal discusses the Federal Circuit ruling in Finjan, Inc. v. Blue Coat.

There has been a lot of recent buzz about chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell technology.  Novartis and Gilead have FDA-approved CAR-T therapies offering complete patient remission from certain cancers.  A flood of new CAR-based technologies is likely to hit the market.  As with any novel therapy, patent protection is essential.  The large number of patent filings suggest that intellectual property protection is an important part of the research efforts in this field.  The bolded patent documents cited in this article are further summarized in the table at the end of this installment.