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

Mealey's Patents

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.
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.