Mealey's Patents : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Patents

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affirmed a Texas federal judge’s entry of summary judgment of noninfringement in favor of Walmart Inc., writing in a nonprecedential Feb. 5 opinion that the plaintiff-appellant technology company could not show that the asserted patent claims were not invalid as abstract.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.
January 28, 2026
Federal Circuit Rejects Google’s Challenge To PTO’s ‘Settled Expectations’ Rule

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 27 denied a petition for a writ of mandamus, declining to reconsider the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (PTO) reliance on “‘settled expectations’” in denying Google’s petition for inter partes review (IPR) challenging a software patent.
January 28, 2026
Federal Circuit: PTAB Wrongly Analyzed Prior Art Combination For DNA Patent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) erroneously required a health care company to provide proof for the motivation to combine prior art references “because the prior art reference expressly discloses performing those steps in sequence,” a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled.
January 27, 2026
Federal Circuit: Judge Should Have Found Obviousness In Tire Pressure Patent Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Texas federal judge should have issued judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) finding that asserted claims in a tire pressure patent were rendered obvious as per certain prior art combinations, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held.
January 23, 2026
Supplement Patent Owner To High Court: Federal Circuit Wrongly Affirmed Sanctions

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A patent-holding company tells the U.S. Supreme Court that the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was wrong to affirm a Florida federal judge’s entry of sanctions against it, in part because the appeals court did not rely on the District Court’s primary bad faith finding.
January 23, 2026
Federal Circuit: Judge Rightly Tossed Infringement Suit Asserting Abstract Claims

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a Washington federal judge’s dismissal of a patent owner’s infringement complaint against Google LLC, determining in the Jan. 22 opinion that the asserted claims of the patent are directed at an unpatentable abstract idea without a necessary inventive concept.
January 23, 2026
Federal Circuit: Issue Preclusion Required PTAB Find Claim Invalid

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found that issue preclusion barred the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) from adjudicating the validity of a patent claim in inter partes review (IPR) proceedings initiated by Apple Inc.; the panel reversed the PTAB’s finding that Apple failed to show that the patent claim was invalid as obvious.
January 22, 2026
Federal Circuit Affirms Denial Of Patent Owner’s JMOL Of Infringement Motion

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Jan. 21 affirmed a Minnesota federal judge’s refusal to grant a patent owner’s posttrial request for judgment as a matter of law of infringement and patent validity, but the panel vacated portions of the judge’s final order that improperly applied to unasserted patent claims.
January 21, 2026
Split Federal Circuit Says Judge Wrongly Excluded Experts From Patent Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A split Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Jan. 20 reversed a Pennsylvania federal judge’s decision to exclude two expert witnesses in a dispute brought by a physician who claims DePuy Synthes Sales Inc. and related DePuy entities induced surgeons to infringe certain claims of his patents; the panel majority held that the judge wrongly treated claim construction and survey methodology questions as admissibility issues and not questions for a jury.
January 20, 2026
Federal Circuit Affirms: No Infringement By Nintendo Of Handheld Gaming Patent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A video game console made by Nintendo Co. Ltd. does not infringe another gaming company’s patent for a type of handheld gaming device because Nintendo’s accused device did not meet certain claim requirements, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed Jan. 16.
January 16, 2026
High Court Agrees To Hear Pharma Entities’ ‘Skinny Label Infringement’ Fight

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 16 granted a bioequivalent pharmaceutical maker’s petition for a writ of certiorari, agreeing to consider its challenge to the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ finding that the petitioner’s “skinny label” generic version of a prescription cardiovascular medication constituted reverse infringement.
January 15, 2026
Comcast To High Court: Federal Circuit Wrong To Consider Waived Issue

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Comcast Cable Communications LLC tells the U.S. Supreme Court in a petition for certiorari that the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was wrong to vacate a Florida federal judge’s judgment of noninfringement in its favor, arguing that the finding was based on deciding sua sponte a nonjurisdictional issue that was deliberately waived by the patent holder.
January 15, 2026
Federal Circuit Affirms Rejection Of Pet Food Packaging Patent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a Jan. 14 opinion, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) finding that the claims of a pet food company’s packaging container patent application were unpatentable as obvious.
January 15, 2026
Federal Circuit: No Infringement By Apple Of Device Setting Patent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a short opinion issued Jan. 14, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a California federal judge’s entry of summary judgment of noninfringement to Apple Inc. in a patent infringement suit brought against it by another technology entity, agreeing that Apple’s accused product does not meet claim limitations required under the judge’s unchallenged claim constructions.
January 14, 2026
Federal Circuit: PTAB Failed To Consider Apple’s Obviousness Arguments In IPR

WASHINGTON, D.C. — While the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) correctly construed a claim phrase requiring bidirectional antennas during inter partes review (IPR) proceedings initiated by Apple Inc., the board erred by failing to address alternate arguments raised by Apple in response to the patent holder’s proposed claim construction, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Jan. 13.
January 13, 2026
PTO Designates 4 Orders On Discretionary Decisions As Precedential

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) designated as precedential four discretionary decisions issued last summer concerning when to approve or deny petitions for inter partes review (IPR) or post-grant review (PGR); among the findings now designated precedential is the advice that petitions from “time-barred parties should proceed only in exceptional circumstances.”
January 13, 2026
PTO Sets 2 More Decisions As Precedential Regarding PTAB Discretion

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) issued two decisions on Jan. 12 that it designated as precedential; both decisions concern the PTO and the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) discretion in granting petitions.
January 12, 2026
Federal Circuit: ITC Rightly Found No Infringement In Importation Investigation

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) was correct to issue a summary determination against a patent holder that accused technology companies of wrongfully importing allegedly infringing two types of network service devices, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Jan. 9.