Justia Patents Opinion Summaries

Integrated circuits are formed on a substrate “by the sequential deposition of conductive, semiconductive or insulative layers” that are “etched [after deposition] to create circuitry features.” Because the substrate surface becomes increasingly non-planar through this process, the substrate must be periodically flattened. CMP is a method in which the substrate is placed against a rotating polishing pad, and a polishing slurry is applied. Problems included the uneven distribution of slurry, the accumulation of waste material during pad conditioning, and a polishing problem associated with pad flexibility. The claimed inventions are “sufficiently rigid” pads with grooves that advantageously distribute the slurry, remove waste material, and increase pad life. Applied’s amended patents were rejected on reexamination as obvious under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) based on prior art. The Board and the Federal Circuit affirmed. The Board correctly found the limited evidence Applied provided of commercial success could not over-come the prima facie finding of obviousness. View "In re Applied Materials, Inc." on Justia Law

Lexmark manufactures printers and toner cartridges. Remanufacturers acquire used Lexmark cartridges, refill them, and sell them at a lower cost. Lexmark developed microchips for the cartridges and the printers so that Lexmark printers will reject cartridges not containing a matching microchip and patented certain aspects of the cartridges. SC began replicating the microchips and selling them to remanufacturers along with other parts for repair and resale of Lexmark toner cartridges. Lexmark sued SC for copyright violations related to its source code in making the duplicate microchips and obtained a preliminary injunction. SC counterclaimed under federal and state antitrust and false-advertising laws. While that suit was pending, SC redesigned its microchips and sued Lexmark for declaratory judgment to establish that the redesigned microchips did not infringe any copyright. Lexmark counterclaimed again for copyright violations and added patent counterclaims. The suits were consolidated. The Sixth Circuit vacated the injunction and rejected Lexmark’s copyright theories. On remand, the court dismissed all SC counterclaims. A jury held that SC did not induce patent infringement and advised that Lexmark misused its patents. The Sixth Circuit affirmed dismissal of federal antitrust claims, but reversed dismissal of SC’s claims under the Lanham Act and certain state law claims. View "Static Control Components, Inc v. Lexmark Int'l, Inc." on Justia Law

Water jacketed marine exhaust systems cool exhaust as it exits the engine of a marine vessel. These devices generally consist of two cylinders with exhaust flowing through the inner cylinder and water flowing through the space between the inner and outer cylinders. Woods exclusively licensed his 670 and 633 patents to MES. Sometime before 2006 MES became aware that DeAngelo was selling exhaust systems that were believed to infringe the Woods patents and filed suit. The district court ruled in favor of MES. The Federal Circuit affirmed, upholding exclusion of engineering drawings as an untimely interrogatory supplement despite DeAngelo’s identification of the drawings immediately upon finding them and on the final day of the scheduled discovery period. The court also upheld the district court's claim construction and rejection of claims of obviousness. View "Woods v. DeAngelo Marine Exhaust, Inc." on Justia Law

ActiveVideo asserted that Verizon’s video on demand (VoD) feature of the FiOS-TV system infringed its 578, 678, and 883 patents, which share a common specification and generally disclose and claim interactive television systems and methods for delivering interactive television to subscribers. Verizon counterclaimed that ActiveVideo infringed three of its patents. The jury found that Verizon infringed four ActiveVideo patents and that ActiveVideo infringed two Verizon patents and awarded damages to both. The court entered an injunction against Verizon but delayed enforcement for six months during which Verizon was ordered to pay a sunset royalty. The Federal Circuit reversed the injunction and the judgment of infringement against Verizon as to one patent; vacated the grant of summary judgment of invalidity as to one Verizon patent is vacated and remanded for further proceedings. The court affirmed other findings of infringement and the imposition of a sunset royalty. View "ActiveVideo Networks, Inc. v. Verizon Commc'n, Inc." on Justia Law

AFTG filed two actions in the District of Wyoming, claiming that defendants infringe several of its patents. Pegatron, PTS, and Unihan are named as defendants in one case; ASUSTeK and ASUS are named as defendants in the other. AFTG’s allegations are the same in both cases. The complaints generally allege that the defendants’ manufacturing, use, testing, and importation of computer chips, motherboards, computers, and other products directly infringe AFTG’s patents and that the defendants knowingly and intentionally induce and contribute to others’ infringement. The complaint against Pegatron, PTS, and Unihan also alleges misappropriation of trade secrets. The court dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction. The Federal Circuit affirmed. Wyoming’s personal jurisdiction statute explicitly reaches to the full extent of the United States and Wyoming constitutions. Specific (as opposed to general) jurisdiction examines: whether the defendant purposefully directs activities at the forum’s residents; whether the claim arises out of or relates to those activities; and whether assertion of personal jurisdiction is reasonable and fair. AFTG’s complaint represented nothing more than “bare formulaic accusation” that the defendants maintain sufficient contacts with Wyoming. View "AFTG-TG, LLC v. Nuvoton Tech. Corp." on Justia Law

Generic pharmaceutical manufacturers filed abbreviated new drug applications, seeking FDA approval to market generic formulations of the chemotherapy agent pemetrexed, currently marketed as Alimta. Permetrexed won FDA approval in 2004 for use in treating mesothelioma and then in 2008 for treatment of non-small cell lung cancer. A 1989 patent application claimed pemetrexed and a broader group of related antifolates containing pemetrexed’s characteristic core structure. The application, eventually abandoned, founded a family of related applications that yielded the three patents at issue; two have expired, but the 932 patent remains in effect until 2016, due to a patent term extension of over four years to compensate for delays, 35 U.S.C. 156. The ANDAs asserted that the 932 patent was invalid, unenforceable, or would not be infringed by the proposed generic products, 21 U.S.C. 355(j)(2)(A)(vii)(IV). Lily, which markets Alimta, sued alleging infringement, 35 U.S.C. 271(e)(2)(A). The district court rejected arguments that the 932 patent claims were invalid for obviousness-type double patenting over two earlier-issued claims. The Federal Circuit affirmed. View "Eli Lilly & Co. v. Teva Parenteral Med., Inc." on Justia Law

Amkor initiated an International Trade Commission investigation, based on the importation, sale for importation, and sale within the U.S. after importation of certain encapsulated integrated circuit devices that allegedly infringed patent claims The Commission determined that the patent was invalid under 35 U.S.C. 102(g)(2). The Federal Circuit reversed. Evidence establishing that there might have been a prior conception is not sufficient to meet the clear and convincing burden needed to invalidate a patent. View "Amkor Tech., Inc. v. Int'l Trade Comm'n" on Justia Law

Under 35 U.S.C. 251, a patentee may, within two years of the issuance of a patent, seek a broadening reissue of that patent if the patentee originally claimed “less than he had a right to claim,” but, under the rule against recapture, is precluded from regaining subject matter surrendered in an effort to obtain allowance of the original claims. The district court held that two claims in the reissued 370 patent were invalid under the rule against recapture. The specifications of the370 patent and its predecessor, the 585 patent, are substantially identical and disclose improvements to electronic memory devices, EEPROM circuits, in which “the presence or absence of charge on a floating gate electrode indicates a binary one or zero.” In an EEPROM, charge is transferred to and from the floating gate electrode through a tunneling oxide layer that acts as an insulator when not actively tunneling. However, traditional tunneling oxide layers formed by thermal oxide growth are susceptible to pin-hole defects as well as compressive stress. The improved tunneling oxide layer disclosed in the patents reduces defects and stress, and thereby improves, among other things, processing yields, reliability, and the useful life of EEPROM memory. The Federal Circuit affirmed. View "Greenliant Sys., Inc. v. Xicor, L.L.C." on Justia Law

WhitServe, owned by Whitmyer, an inventor and a practicing patent attorney holds four patents, namely: “Onsite Backup for Internet-Based Data Processing,” “System Automating Delivery of Professional Services,” “System for Delivering Professional Services Over the Internet,”; and “Web Site Providing Professional Services.” Whitserve sued CPi, which helps other businesses pay their patent maintenance fees on time, alleging infringement by CPi’s system, which are used by a CPi customer, such as a law firm, to generate and send reminders to its clients of upcoming patent or trademark annuity or maintenance fee deadlines. A jury found that CPi failed to prove any claims invalid, that CPi’s systems infringed the patents, that CPi’s infringement was willful, and that WhitServe was entitled to $8,378,145 in damages. The court denied WhitServe’s request for a permanent injunction and did not address a request for a compulsory license. WhitServe’s requests for enhanced damages and attorneys’ fees, prejudgment interest, prejudgment remedy, and disclosure were denied. The Federal Circuit affirmed the finding of infringement, the finding of no anticipation of most, but not all, claims, and denial of fees and sanctions. The case was remanded for a new trial on damages. View "Whitserve, L.L.C. v Computer Packages, Inc." on Justia Law

The district court held that medical organizations, researchers, genetic counselors, and patients had standing under the Declaratory Judgment Act to challenge patent claims to "isolated" DNA molecules and granted summary judgment that all of the challenged claims were drawn to non-patentable subject matter under 35 U.S.C. 101. On remand for consideration under Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus, Inc., 132 S. Ct. 1289 (2012), the Federal Circuit affirmed with respect to standing and reversed, in part, on the merits. The court reversed a holding that composition claims to “isolated” DNA molecules cover patent-ineligible products of nature under section 101 because each of the claimed molecules represents a nonnaturally occurring composition of matter. The court also reversed a holding that a method claim to screening potential cancer therapeutics via changes in cell growth rates of transformed cells is directed to a patent-ineligible scientific principle. The court affirmed that method claims directed to “comparing” or “analyzing” DNA sequences are patent ineligible; such claims include no transformative steps and cover only patent-ineligible abstract, mental steps View "Ass'n for Moleculat Pathology v. U.S. Patent & Trademark Office" on Justia Law