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Zeroclick v Apple

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ZEROCLICK, LLC, Plaintiff-Appellant  v. APPLE INC., Defendant-Appellee

2017-1267

The Federal Circuit found that the district court had failed to undertake a relevant inquiry and make related factual findings to support its conclusion that the asserted claims recited means-plus- function terms.  The Federal Circuit vacated and remanded the district court’s judgment.

The patents-in-suit relate to modifications to graphical user interfaces that allow the interfaces to be controlled using pre-defined pointer or touch movements instead of mouse clicks by using a two-step method or by making two configuration changes to the user interface code. (more…)

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D Three v Sunmodo Corp

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D THREE ENTERPRISES, LLC, Plaintiff-Appellant v. SUNMODO CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellee

2017-1909, 2017-1910
Decided: May 21, 2018

The district court granted summary judgment in favor of appellees based on a determination that D Three could not claim priority from a provisional application filed February 9, 2009 (“2009 Application”). The priority claim was necessary to D Three’s case, since it was undisputed that the appellees’ allegedly infringing products were available to the public prior to the effective filing dates of the utility applications upon which the infringement claims were based. The Court affirmed, finding that the 2009 Application did not meet the written description requirement of 35 U.S.C. § 112(a). (more…)

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Droplets v E*TRADE Bank

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Droplets, Inc., v. E*TRADE Bank

Nos. 2016-2504,-2602 Fed. Cir. Apr. 19, 2018 Opinion by Judge O’Malley with Circuit Judges Dyk and Wallach.

This appeal arises from a finding by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“the Board”) that all claims of U.S. Patent No. 8,402,115 (“the Patent”), owned by Droplets, Inc. (“Droplets”), are invalid as obvious under 35 U.S.C. § 103. The issue on appeal is the sufficiency of a priority claim incorporated by reference to avoid invalidating prior art. The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“Federal Circuit”) affirmed the Board’s finding of invalidity. (more…)

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Merck Sharp Dohme v Amneal Pharmaceuticals

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Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., v. Amneal Pharmaceuticals LLC

No. 2017-1560 Fed. Cir. Feb. 9 2018 Opinion by Circuit Judge Stoll with Circuit Judges Taranto and Clevenger.

Merck filed an infringement suit alleging that, if approved by the FDA, Amneal’s proposed Abbreviated New Drug Application (“ANDA”) product would infringe U.S.Patent No. 6,127,353. Following a bench trial, the district court found that Merck failed to prove by preponderant evidence that Amneal’s ANDA product would infringe the patent. The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“Federal Circuit”) affirmed the district court. (more…)

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AVC v HTC BLACKBERRY MOTOROLA

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ADVANCED VIDEO TECHNOLOGIES LLC, v. HTC CORPORATION, HTC AMERICA, INC., BLACKBERRY LTD, BLACKBERRY CORPORATION, MOTOROLA MOBILITY LLC, Defendants-Appellees

Federal Circuit law requires that all owners of a patent must be parties to an infringement action. In this case, the Court determined that Ms. Hsuin was a co-inventor of US Patent No. 5,781,788 and that the terms of an employment agreement were ineffective to transfer her interests to the Appellant. The Court affirmed the district court’s dismissal of the case due to plaintiff’s lack of standing. (more…)

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Travel Sentry v David Tropp

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TRAVEL SENTRY, INC.,  Plaintiff-Cross-Appellant v. DAVID A. TROPP, Defendant-Appellant

2016-2386, 2016-2387, 2016-2714, 2017-1025  Appeals from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Nos. 1:06-cv-06415-ENV- RLM, 1:08-cv-04446-ENV-RLM, Judge Eric N. Vitaliano.

For the third time, the Court presided over this dispute regarding whether Travel Sentry, Inc. (“Travel Sentry”) and its licensees infringed one or more claims of two patents issued to appellant David A. Tropp (“Tropp”).  In this iteration, the Court reversed the district court’s entry of summary judgment that Travel Sentry and its licensees did not directly infringe any of the method claims recited in the patents under 35 U.S.C. § 271(a).

This case closely tracked the developments of, and presented similar issues to, another well-traveled case, Akamai Technologies, Inc. v. Limelight Networks, Inc., which the Court discussed at length in this opinion.  Akamai examined the respective scopes of divided and induced infringement. (more…)

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Partial patent art for US Patent 6,816,356

Presidio v American Technical Ceramics

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PRESIDIO COMPONENTS, INC. v. AMERICAN TECHNICAL CERAMICS CORP.

2016-2607, 2016-2650

Presidio filed suit against American Technical Ceramics Corp. (“ATC”) for patent infringement. The Federal Circuit affirmed the district court’s holdings that the claims of the patent are not indefinite and that ATC is entitled to absolute intervening rights because a substantive amendment was made during reexamination. The Federal Circuit reversed the award of lost profits and remanded for determination of a reasonable royalty, while concluding that the district court did not abuse its discretion in declining to award enhanced damages. The Federal Circuit vacated the district court’s issuance of permanent injunction. (more…)

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Organik Kimya v Rohm and Haas

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Organik Kimya AS v. Rohm And Haas Co. Nos. 2015-1983, -2001 Fed. Cir. Oct. 11, 2017

Opinion by Circuit Judge Newman with Chief Judge Prost and Circuit Judge Taranto

Organik appeals the decisions of the PTAB in two IPR proceedings. The PTAB sustained the patentability of claims U.S Patent No. 6,020,435 (“the ’435 Patent”) and claims of its division, U.S. Patent No. 6,252,004 (“the ’004 Patent”). The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Federal Circuit) affirmed in an opinion written by Judge Newman.

The ’435 Patent and the ’004 Patent are directed to processes for preparing emulsion polymers having improved opacity. Improved opacity is the result of voids (hollows) produced within the polymer particles. A base swelling agent and excess monomer are introduced into an aqueous emulsion of the polymer, with no substantial polymerization. The base permeates the outer shell of the polymer particle and neutralizes the acid core. The resulting hydrophilic salt in the core promotes diffusion of water, swelling the polymer particle. Evaporation of the water leaves an enlarged hollow core. Suitable swelling agents include fixed or permanent bases such as potassium hydroxide.  Proceedings were instituted on grounds of anticipation and obviousness. (more…)

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Waymo v Uber, Ottomotto

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Waymo LLC, v. Uber Technologies, Inc., Ottomotto LLC, Otto Trucking LLC

Nos. 2017-2235, -2253 Fed. Cir. Sept. 13, 2017 Opinion by Circuit Judge Wallach with Circuit Judges Newman and Stoll

Appellant Anthony Levandowski intervened seeking to prevent discovery sought by Appellee Waymo LLC (“Waymo”) in its lawsuit against Uber Technologies, Inc. (“Uber”). Waymo alleged that Mr. Levandowski, its former employee, improperly downloaded documents and then left Waymo to create Ottomotto, which Uber subsequently acquired. Before the acquisition closed, counsel for Ottomotto and Uber (but not counsel for Mr. Levandowski) jointly retained a firm to investigate Ottomotto employees that were previously employed by Waymo, including Mr. Levandowski. That report (“the Stroz Report”) was the subject of the discovery dispute before the court on appeal. (more…)

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Honeywell v Mexichem, Daikin

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HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC., Appellant v. MEXICHEM AMANCO HOLDING S.A. DE C.V., DAIKIN INDUSTRIES, LTD., Appellees

2016-1996 Decided: August 1, 2017 Opinion by Circuit Judge Lourie with Circuit Judge Reyna Opinion dissenting-in-part by Circuit Judge Wallach

Honeywell appealed from a decision of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Patent Trial and Appeal Board affirming the Examiner’s rejection, in two merged inter partes reexaminations, of claims under 35 U.S.C. § 103. The Federal Circuit vacated the decision and remanded the case to the Board.

The Examiner found that the primary reference expressly discloses HFO-1234yf (a hydrofluoroolefin refrigerant) required by the claims and that each of the secondary references teaches the use of PAG (polyalkylene glycol) lubricants with HFC (hydrofluorocarbon) refrigerants. Honeywell argued to the Board that the primary reference does not teach the use of HFO-1234yf with any particular lubricant, much less a PAG lubricant, and that such a combination would not have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art. Honeywell submitted evidence of secondary considerations, including: unexpected stability of HFO-1234yf in combination with PAG lubricants; long-felt but unmet need for compositions having certain environmentally-favorable characteristics; and skepticism that such an environmentally-friendly composition existed. (more…)

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