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Mealey's Patents

  • March 03, 2026

    Federal Circuit: Factual Questions Remain In Patent Monopolization Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held that genuine questions of material fact persist in a dispute over whether a plaintiff cross-appellant’s claims that another entity was attempting to monopolize the market for a type of steel tubing through fraudulently obtained patents, leading to the vacating of both a Texas federal judge’s grant of summary judgment in the defendant entities’ favor and a finding in the plaintiff’s favor that the defendants had acted inequitably.

  • February 27, 2026

    U.S. Government Moves To Participate In ‘Skinny Label’ High Court Arguments

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The United States government on Feb. 25 filed a motion to participate in oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court when it considers arguments from a bioequivalent pharmaceutical maker that a patent holder’s complaint failed to state a claim for induced infringement because the “skinny label” generic version of the patent carved out the patented cardiovascular use of the drug; the government’s motion was filed a day after it filed an amicus curiae brief in support of the petitioner entity.

  • February 27, 2026

    Federal Circuit Rejects Comcast’s Call To Rethink Transferring Patent Case Venue

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The full Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals rejected a request from Comcast Cable Communications LLC and a related entity (collectively, Comcast) to reconsider a December order denying its petition for a writ of mandamus that would force a patent suit brought against it to be transferred from a Texas federal court to one in Pennsylvania.

  • February 26, 2026

    Split Federal Circuit Affirms PTAB Rejection Of Tesla’s Challenge To EV Patent

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A split Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said in a Feb. 25 opinion that it agreed with the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that Tesla Inc. failed to show that certain claims in another company’s patent on a system of charging electric vehicles were unpatentable as obvious.

  • February 25, 2026

    Federal Circuit Finds Another AI Patent Directed At Abstract Concepts

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a New York federal judge’s decision to grant summary judgment in favor of Amazon.com Inc. on claims brought by a technology company that accused Amazon of infringing its patent on a type of machine learning; the panel agreed in its Feb. 24 opinion that the plaintiff-appellant’s patent claims were ineligible as abstract.

  • February 25, 2026

    High Court Won’t Consider Claim Constructions In Network Speed IPRs

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a patent holder’s petition for a writ of certiorari, leaving in place an August Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals opinion that affirmed eight inter partes review (IPR) decisions made by the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB); the Federal Circuit found that substantial evidence supported the board’s constructions of disputed claim terms in its consideration of patents describing a system for improving network communication speed.

  • February 23, 2026

    Federal Circuit: Host Cell In Patent Not Naturally Occurring, Judgment Reversed

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Delaware federal judge wrongly concluded that a patent’s claims involving genetically engineered cultured host cells containing a recombinant nucleic acid molecule were directed to a natural phenomenon, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Feb. 20.

  • February 23, 2026

    High Court Rejects Comcast’s Challenge To Federal Circuit Patent Ruling

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 23 denied Comcast Cable Communications LLC’s petition for a writ of certiorari in which the cable giant argued that the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was wrong to vacate a Florida federal judge’s judgment of noninfringement in its favor, contending that the finding was based on deciding sua sponte a nonjurisdictional issue that was deliberately waived by the patent holder.

  • February 20, 2026

    Federal Circuit: Judge Rightly Excluded Expert From Input Patent Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A plaintiff-appellant and its expert witness failed to grapple with some of the key claim limitations in their infringement analysis, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Feb. 19, affirming a Delaware federal judge’s grant of summary judgment of noninfringement on claims challenging some of the PlayStation line of video game consoles.

  • February 19, 2026

    Petitioner Tells High Court ‘Skinny Label’ Patent Ruling Could ‘Swallow’ Carve-Out

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In its Feb. 18 merits brief before the U.S. Supreme Court, a bioequivalent pharmaceutical maker argues that a patent holder’s complaint failed to state a claim for induced infringement because the “skinny label” generic version of the patent carved out the patented cardiovascular use of the drug.

  • February 19, 2026

    Jury Finds In Valve’s Favor On All Counts In ‘Patent Troll’ Case

    SEATTLE — A federal jury in Washington held that video game entity Valve Corp. showed that a claim of a patent held by an entity Valve called a “patent troll” was invalid and that the defendant entities’ breach of contract was material; the jury found Valve is owed nearly $160,000 in damages.

  • February 18, 2026

    Federal Circuit Emphasizes Court’s Gatekeeping Role In Affirming Patent Verdict

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Feb. 17 affirmed a Minnesota federal judge’s denial of defendant-appellants’ requests for judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) or for a new trial on damages; the panel emphasized that its role on appeal was to determine whether the jury had substantial evidence to support its findings, not to reweigh that evidence.

  • February 17, 2026

    Willful Infringement, Enhanced Damages Affirmed In Current Converter Patent Fight

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Feb. 13 affirmed a Texas federal jury’s finding that a defendant-appellant electronics manufacturer willfully infringed two claims of another entity’s patent on direct current to direct current (DC-DC) converters; the panel said substantial evidence supported both the jury’s finding and subsequent enhanced damages and attorney fees.

  • February 11, 2026

    Ballistic Armor Patent Preamble Was Limiting, Federal Circuit Agrees

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Maryland federal judge correctly granted summary judgment of noninfringement in a patent dispute over a technology for ballistic armor panels, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed Feb. 10, because the plaintiff entity failed to show that the accused product met properly construed claim limitations.

  • February 10, 2026

    No Infringement Of Patent Affirmed, Despite Wrongful Claim Constructions

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — While a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel vacated some of a Massachusetts federal judge’s claim constructions in a patent infringement dispute concerning artificial blood-pumping systems for cardiac patients, the panel held in a Feb. 9 opinion that other correct claim constructions supported the judge’s entry of summary judgment of noninfringement.

  • February 10, 2026

    Novo Nordisk Sues Hims For Patent Infringement Over Compounded Semaglutide Sales

    WILMINGTON, Del. — The manufacturer of Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus on Feb. 9 sued an online health care provider in Delaware federal court for patent infringement stemming from its marketing and sale of compounded semaglutide for weight loss.

  • February 09, 2026

    Federal Circuit: Judge Rightly Excluded Little Giant Expert For Claim Construction

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a Minnesota federal judge’s decision to grant summary judgment of noninfringement in favor of a company accused by Little Giant Ladder Systems LLC; the panel agreed that the accused product did not meet the court’s construction of a claim limitation requiring a “cavity” in a locking mechanism.

  • February 06, 2026

    Federal Circuit Affirms Abstractness Of Patent Asserted Against Walmart

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a Texas federal judge’s entry of summary judgment of noninfringement in favor of Walmart Inc., writing in a nonprecedential Feb. 5 opinion that the plaintiff-appellant technology company could not show that the asserted patent claims were not invalid as abstract.

  • February 05, 2026

    Federal Circuit: Subcontractor For NASA Can’t Infringe Martian Helicopter Patent

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A California federal judge rightly granted summary judgment to a NASA subcontractor in a patent infringement suit, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Feb. 4, because any alleged infringement the company performed on a helicopter sent to Mars is immunized by the subcontractor’s work for the U.S. government.

  • February 05, 2026

    Samsung, PTO Tell High Court To Reject IPR Scope-Challenging Petition

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) tell the U.S. Supreme Court that it should reject a technology company’s petition for a writ of certiorari in which it argues that the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals expanded the scope of inter partes review (IPR) to include consideration of an “abandoned patent application” when affirming findings by the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB); the respondents tell the high court that the Federal Circuit correctly applied the statutory boundaries of the IPR process.

  • February 04, 2026

    PTAB Right To Invalidate Roof-Mapping Patent, Federal Circuit Holds

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Feb. 3 affirmed a finding by the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board that certain claims in patents describing systems for generating roofing estimation reports were unpatentable as obvious; the panel saw no error in PTAB’s claim construction or other elements of its findings.

  • February 03, 2026

    Split Federal Circuit Affirms Noninfringement Finding For Massager Design Patent

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A split Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Feb. 2 affirmed a Maine federal judge’s grant of summary judgment of noninfringement in a dispute over a design patent describing a body massaging device; the panel majority held that a reasonable jury could not have found infringement under the judge’s construction, while the chief circuit judge wrote in dissent that the majority and the judge focused too much on individual features and not the similarity of the overall design.

  • February 02, 2026

    Judge Hands Valve Summary Judgment Victories On Eve Of Patent Troll Trial

    SEATTLE — In two orders, a Washington federal judge denied a request from a company accused by video game entity Valve Corp. of being a “patent troll” to grant summary judgment while simultaneously narrowly granting summary judgment in Valve’s favor; the judge said that a previous suit by the defendant entities was a breach of an earlier settlement agreement.

  • January 30, 2026

    Federal Circuit Affirms Noninfringement Finding In Streaming Patent Fight

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Jan. 29 affirmed a California federal judge’s summary judgment of noninfringement in favor of Hulu LLC, despite finding that the judge erroneously narrowed the meaning of a claim phrase, because Hulu’s accused systems did not perform the relevant processes in the order required by the patent.

  • January 29, 2026

    Federal Circuit: Analytics Company Failed To Show Information Was ‘Trade Secret’

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A business analytics company’s failure to adequately identify and define its alleged trade secrets in a dispute with another analytics company and its co-founders justified a Utah federal judge’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendant entities, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Jan. 28.