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ArcelorMittal v AK Steel

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ARCELORMITTAL, ARCELORMITTAL ATLANTIQUE ET LORRAINE, Plaintiffs-Appellants v. AK STEEL CORPORATION, SEVERSTAL DEARBORN, INC., WHEELING-NISSHIN INC., Defendants-Appellees

Case No. 2016-1357 Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Delaware Decided: May 16, 2017

This dispute between the parties made its third appearance before the Federal Circuit. The Court affirmed the grant of summary judgment of noninfringement and the finding of invalidity of claims 24 and 25 of U.S. Patent No. RE44,153 (“RE’153 patent”) for being improperly broadened on reissue. The majority opinion noted that the “case has a convoluted history,” involving multiple lawsuits and appeals. That case history is not repeated in this summary.

ArcelorMittal raised the following arguments on this appeal:

1) that it never asserted claims 24 and 25 against defendants in the “050 lawsuit”; and

2) that the dispute with defendants was moot because it tendered a covenant not to sue. (more…)

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Novartis AG v Noven Pharmaceuticals

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Novartis AG v. Noven Pharmaceuticals Inc.

No. 2016-1678, -1679 Fed. Cir. Apr. 4, 2017 Opinion by Circuit Judge Wallach with Chief Judge Prost and Circuit Judge Stoll

Editors note: The instant appeals concern inter partes reviews of U.S. Patent Nos. 6,316,023 (“the ’023 patent”) and 6,335,031 (“the ’031 patent”) (together, “the Patents-in-Suit”).

The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Federal Circuit) affirmed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (“PTAB”) finding that various claims of Novartis’s patents “would have been obvious over the prior art.” The PTAB reached different conclusions than the Federal Circuit and the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, which both found the claims to be nonobvious in prior opinions. (more…)

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Mentor v Synopsys

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MENTOR GRAPHICS v. EVE-USA, INC., SYNOPSYS EMULATION AND VERIFICATION S.A.S, SYNOPSYS, INC.

2015-1470, 2015-1554, 2015-1556  Appeals from the United States District Court for the District of Oregon  Decided: March 16, 2017

This lengthy opinion addresses: whether substantial evidence existed to support a jury’s infringement verdict; assignor estoppel; indefiniteness; eligible subject matter; preclusion of evidence of willful infringement and enhanced damages; written description; and claim preclusion. (more…)

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Shire v Watson Pharmaceuticals

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SHIRE DEVELOPMENT, LLC, SHIRE PHARMACEUTICAL DEVELOPMENT, INC., COSMO TECHNOLOGIES LIMITED, GIULIANI INTERNATIONAL LIMITED, NKA NOGRA PHARMA LIMITED,
Plaintiffs-Appellees v. WATSON PHARMACEUTICALS, INC., NKA ACTAVIS, INC., WATSON LABORATORIES, INC. – FLORIDA, NKA ACTAVIS LABORATORIES FL, INC., WATSON PHARMA, INC., NKA ACTAVIS PHARMA, INC., WATSON LABORATORIES, INC., Defendants-Appellants

2016-1785  February 10, 2017

Plaintiffs Shire sued Defendants Watson for infringing claims 1 and 3 of U.S. Patent No. 6,773,720. The Federal Circuit analyzed the Markush group requirements in claim 1(b). The Court strictly construed the claims as being “closed” due to the presence of the Markush group, reversing the district court with instructions to enter judgment of non-infringement.

The ’720 patent is directed to a controlled-release oral pharmaceutical composition of mesalamine. That composition includes the mesalamine active ingredient; an inner lipophilic matrix; an outer hydrophilic matrix; and other optional excipients. The inner lipophilic matrix and the outer hydrophilic matrix are expressed in the claim as Markush group.

This case has been to the Federal Circuit twice before: in 2014 (746 F.3d 1326), and 2015 (787 F.3d at 1366, remanded by 135 S. Ct. 1174 (2015)). Referencing the 2015 decision, the Court “explained that the matrix compositions are ‘limited by the Markush groups’ added during prosecution ‘to overcome the examiner’s rejection of the claims as obvious.’” (more…)

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Sonix Technology v Publications International

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Sonix Technology Co., Ltd. v. Publications International

No. 2016-1449 Fed. Cir. Jan. 5, 2017 Opinion by Circuit Judge Lourie with Circuit Judges O’Malley and Taranto.

Sonix appealed from the district court’s grant of summary judgment holding certain claims of its patent invalid. The district court concluded that the term “visually negligible” rendered the asserted claims indefinite under 35 U.S.C. § 112 ¶ 2. The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Federal Circuit) reversed. The Sonix patent purports to improve on conventional methods of encoding information on the surface of an object by rendering a graphical indicator (e.g., a matrix of small dots) “visually negligible.” An optical device reads the graphical indicator and outputs additional information. (more…)

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US Water Services v Novozymes

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U.S. Water Services, Inc. v. Novozymes A/S

No. 2015-1950, -1967 Fed. Cir. Dec. 15, 2016 Opinion by Circuit Judge Wallach with Circuit Judges Hughes and Stoll.

The district court granted Novozymes’s Motion for Summary Judgment in part, finding certain patent claims invalid as inherently anticipated by various prior art references. However, the district court denied Novozymes’s Motion as to inequitable conduct by U.S. Water. The parties filed cross-appeals. The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Federal Circuit) reversed the grant of summary judgment on anticipation and affirmed the denial of summary judgment on inequitable conduct.

The technology at issue relates to the production of ethyl alcohol (i.e., ethanol) from a milled grain. The Patent Family in issue generally claims methods of reducing fouling of processing machinery through the use of phytase. (more…)

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Unwired Planet v Google 2016

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Unwired Planet, LLC v. Google Inc

No. 2015-1812 Fed. Cir. Nov. 21, 2016 Opinion by Circuit Judge Reyna with Circuit Judges Plager and Hughes.

The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Court) found that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board relied on an incorrect definition of a covered business method (“CBM”) patent. The Court strictly applied the statutory language in vacating the Board’s decision and remanding the case to the Board. Google petitioned for CBM review of Unwired Planet’s U.S. Patent No. 7,203,752 (the “’752 patent”). As a threshold matter, the Board considered whether the ’752 patent is a CBM patent. (more…)

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MIT v Shire Pharmaceuticals 2016

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MIT v. Shire Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

No. 2015-1881 Fed. Cir. Oct. 13, 2016 Opinion by Circuit Stoll with Circuit Judges O’Malley and Chen.

The issues on appeal are:

1) the district court’s claim construction of “vascularized organ tissue” and “cells derived from a vascularized tissue” in view of the prosecution history; and

2) the district court’s determination that the term “three-dimensional” is not indefinite under 35 USC §112, and its construction of the term “three Page 13 dimensional scaffold.”

The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s (Federal Circuit) opinion by Judge Stoll affirming the district court is fact intensive.

MIT brought suit against Shire Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Shire Regenerative Medicine, Inc. for infringement of U.S. Patent Nos. 5,770,193 and 5,759,830

(more…)

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Wi-Fi One v Broadcom

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WI-FI ONE, LLC, Appellant, v. BROADCOM CORPORATION, Appellee

Wi-Fi asserted before the Board and on appeal that Broadcom was barred from petitioning for inter parties review because it was in privity with a time-barred district court litigant under 35 U.S.C. §315(b). The Court disagreed, and reasserted its holding in Achates that §314(d) prohibits this court from reviewing the Board’s determination to initiate IPR proceedings, and that preclusion of judicial review is not limited to substantive patentability determinations. An opinion concurring in the result observes that in an IPR a legal distinction that exists between an “institution” decision and a final decision, and that a final decision concerning the time bar set forth by 35 U.S.C. § 315(b) should be subject to review.

(more…)

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Multilayer Stretch Cling Film v Berry Plastics

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Multilayer Stretch Cling Film Holdings, Inc., v. Berry Plastics Corporation

No. 2015-1420, -1477 Fed. Cir. Aug. 4, 2016 Opinion by Circuit Judge Dyk with Circuit Judge Plager. Opinion dissenting in part by Circuit Judge Taranto.

Multilayer appealed the lower court’s summary judgment of non-infringement of US Patent No. 6,265,055 and invalidation of Claim 10 of the ‘055 patent under 35 USC §112(d). Berry appealed the denial of its request for sanctions against Multilayer under Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The Federal Circuit reversed the lower court’s claim construction of the Markush group appearing in Claims 1 and 28 of the ‘055 patent. (more…)

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