Blog
These articles are for informational purposes, and are not intended to constitute legal advice. These articles are only the opinion of the authors and are not attributable to Muncy, Geissler, Olds & Lowe, P.C., or the firm’s clients.
LOUGHLIN v. LING (Fed. Cir. 2012) (P) – Timeliness of an interference
Outside of the interference context, the court seems to suggest that an applicant can rely on § 120 priority in interpreting almost any statutory provision unless it is otherwise clear that the actual filing date is the one at issue. Background / Facts: 35 USC §...
PRESTON v. MARATHON OIL CO (Fed. Cir. 2012) (P) – Employment agreements
Employment agreements (and patent assignment agreements generally) are governed by state contract law, and should be carefully worded as such, further keeping in mind that ordinary patent law definitions may not apply (e.g., “conception” vs. “invention”). This case...
CLS BANK v. ALICE CORPORATION (Fed. Cir. 2012) (P) – Patent eligibility of computer-implemented inventions
Lamenting how the abstractness of the “abstract ideas” test for patent eligibility has become a serious problem, leading to great uncertainty and to the devaluing of inventions of practical utility and economic potential, the CAFC has taken a bold step here in view of...
GENERAL ELECTRIC CO. v. INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION (Fed. Cir. 2012) (NP) – Claim construction of “predetermined values” and “coupled to”
Nothing ground breaking here, just try to avoid narrowing your claims beyond what is necessary and don’t expect your specification to broaden out your deliberate word choice. Both parties argued for elaborate claim constructions and both were shot down. The best thing...
SCIELE PHARMA INC. v. LUPIN LTD. (Fed. Cir. 2012) (P) – Burden of proof for invalidity
If one wants to be cynical, I think the big picture takeaway is that an issued patent, even a potentially invalid one, is valuable. This one was issued by pure mistake and it took the CAFC itself to invalidate it. Smaller picture, although the burden of proof remains...