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n Rovalma S.A. v. Böhler-Edelstahl GmbH & Co. KG (decided May 11, 2017), the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) recently had trouble with “phonons” and struggled to adequately explain why Rovalma’s phonon-laced process would have been obvious. The Federal Circuit concluded that the lack of a reasoned explanation warranted a remand. The decision continues a trend, discussed in our earlier article (insert link), in which the Federal Circuit insists on reasoned explanations rather than conclusory assertions of obviousness.

The Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) Patent 1000 has recognized Michael P. Dilworth, Managing Partner of Dilworth IP, as one of the World’s Leading Patent Professionals for 2017. IAM spends a five month period receiving feedback and written submissions from private practice lawyers and clients on the current state of the market in order to come up with a list of potential candidates for this distinction. The individuals on the final listing are determined by the substantial positive feedback received about them from multiple sources. Mr. Dilworth said that it is “an incredible honor to be recognized alongside so many of my notable colleagues who I hold in high esteem, and I consider this distinction to be a testimony to the reputation built by the whole team at Dilworth IP.”

Dr. Jonathan Schuchardt of Dilworth IP will be presenting an upcoming Strafford CLE webinar focusing on the evolving obviousness standard of the USPTO. Obviousness Standard: Leveraging Latest PTO and Court Guidance will be presented on Thursday, June 1st from 1:00 to 2:30 PM (EdT). The webinar will review the Federal Circuit’s recent decisions and their effect on the obviousness standard, discuss what level of “unexpected results” is now needed in light of these decisions, and offer strategies for successfully asserting obviousness in an IPR Proceeding. This is the fourth time Jon has been invited by Strafford to present on the continual developments in this area of U.S. patent law. Jon will be joined in this session by Barry J. Herman of Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice.

Recent decisions from the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit from 2016 and 2017 suggest a loosening grip and increasing flexibility of the two-part Mayo/Alice framework that has dominated the question of patent subject matter eligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101. In fact, in 2014 after the Alice decision, just one Federal Circuit case addressing 101 challenges was ruled to have eligible claims. Although there were no 101 eligibility affirmations in 2015, there were five such cases in 2016 alone. Fewer than five months into 2017, there have now already been two 101 decisions from the Federal Circuit finding patent eligible claims (see Figure 1 and Table 1).

William Reid, Partner at Dilworth IP, will be presenting a free webinar on Wednesday, June 14th at 1:00 PM EDT entitled, “Laying Your Claim: Best Practices for Patent Claim Construction in a Post-Teva World.” The interpretation of a patent claim’s meaning is fundamental to the scope of its coverage and, thus, is a pivotal consideration when drafting and prosecuting an application or when assessing infringement. This webinar will summarize current law with respect to claim construction in the post Nautilus, Inc. v. Biosig Instruments, Inc. and Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. v. Sandoz, Inc. world. Patent practitioners will be armed with current best practices and advice regarding claim construction for their use when drafting patent applications, writing patent infringement opinions, or litigating a case.

To register for this free webinar, Click Here

On Monday May 22, the Supreme Court ruled on the much-anticipated decision in TC Heartland v. Kraft Foods, a case that many viewed as having the potential to upend the question of patent venue in patent litigation. In a unanimous decision (8-0, Justice Gorsuch took no part in this case), the Court ruled in favor of TC Heartland, stating that, “a domestic corporation “resides” only in its State of incorporation for purposes of the patent venue statute.”

Conventional techniques available to refiners having FCC units for increasing light olefin production (not employing significant capital expense), have included: (1) catalyst approaches, such as reducing the unit cell size of the Y-zeolite used, or employing octane additives to crack naphtha range material to light olefins; (2) modifying operating conditions to drive conversion levels up and increase olefinicities; and (3) combining hardware modifications and alternative feedstocks. This last option includes processing large amounts/quantities of Light Straight-Run Naphtha (LSN), Light Coke Naphtha (LCN) and Natural Gas Condensate (Liquid – NGL). Some new technologies are also available, however, due to the heat-balance constraints imposed by the processing of large quantities of light feedstocks, changes to the process and to hardware have been necessitated. To date, there have only been a very few of these units built and operated and the others are still in the R&D stage as there are still considerable issues with their development that need to be sorted-out/worked through.

Magnetic nanoparticles are superior imaging contrast agents for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) due to the intrinsic magnetic properties of nanoparticles. As of 2012, the FDA has approved several MNPs as MRI contrast agents or therapeutic agents: ferumoxides (also known as Feridex in the USA) as an MRI contrast agent for imaging liver lesions; ferucarbotran (also known as Resovist) as MRI contrast agent for imaging liver lesions; ferumoxsil (also known as GastroMARK or Lumirem) as an orally administered MRI contrast agent; and ferumoxytol (also known as Feraheme) as an intravenously administered nanoparticle to treat iron deficiency in adults with chronic kidney disease.

This is the second article in a series related to programs initiated by the Patent Office to assist patent practitioners; for part one in this series, Awaiting the Return of P3, Click Here. This article discusses the Track One program. Track One is one of three programs directed to expediting the front end of patent prosecution. Besides Track One, the other programs include the patent prosecution highway and Accelerated Examination. The value of these programs is evident when one considers that total prosecution time is dominated by the time waiting to receive an Office Action. In fact, this time amounts to over 60% of the total prosecution time. So, any effort to reduce overall patent prosecution time must affect the time awaiting the first office action. Track One addresses this. The saved time translates to earlier issue dates, which can aid the client in terms of licensing opportunities, or in blocking the patent applications of the client’s competitors, and potentially reduce prosecution costs.

After her strange trip down the rabbit hole, we might all be willing to cut Alice some slack for being confused in her response to the Caterpillar’s demand, “Explain yourself!” Lately, however, the Federal Circuit has become increasingly strict with the USPTO Board and examiners when they fail to explain adequately the basis for an obviousness ruling. In fact, a splash of recent decisions makes me wonder if this is mere ripple in Section 103 jurisprudence or a welcome wave of change.