AKAMAI TECHNOLOGIES, INC. v. LIMELIGHT NETWORKS, INC. (Fed. Cir. 2015) (P, en banc) – Direct infringement can be established by user steps performed in a prescribed manner to receive a benefit

Direct infringement under § 271(a) may be established even absent a principal-agent relationship, a contractual arrangement, or a joint enterprise, when an alleged infringer conditions participation or a benefit upon performance of a step and sets the manner or timing...

POWER INTEGRATIONS, INC. v. LEE (Fed. Cir. 2015) (P) – Previous judicial interpretation of a claim term should be treated as persuasive precedent by PTO

Where the principal argument to the PTO about the proper interpretation of a claim term is consistent with a previous judicial interpretation, the PTO is obligated to acknowledge that interpretation and assess whether it is consistent with the broadest reasonable...

ETHICON ENDO-SURGERY, INC. v. COVIDIEN, INC. (Fed. Cir. 2015) (P) – Measurement techniques for a claimed value need not be specified if understood by one of ordinary skill

There is no requirement for the specification to identify a particular measurement technique for ascertaining a claimed value or range of values as long as such an understanding is within the scope of knowledge possessed by one of ordinary skill in the art. Here, for...

ALLERGAN, INC. v. SANDOZ INC. (Fed. Cir. 2015) (P) – A prior art range is not anticipatory when there is material and unpredictable variation across the range

A range disclosed in the prior art does not anticipate a claimed invention falling within that range when it can be shown that there is material and unpredictable variation across the range. Here, for example, a prior art disclosure of a composition comprising...

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY v. MARVELL TECHNOLOGY GROUP, LTD (Fed. Cir. 2015) (P) – An element comprising another element having a claimed characteristic is not an independent such element

An element comprising another element having a claimed characteristic is not a separate and independent element having that characteristic. Here, for example, an invocation function invoking a signal-dependent branch metric function in combination with the...