Justia Patents Opinion Summaries

Smith & Nephew’s patent relates to an endoscope and method to remove uterine tissue; it claims priority to an earlier-filed PCT application by the same inventor with a nearly identical specification. On inter partes review, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board found that S&N’s earlier-filed PCT application has sufficient written description to make it a priority document instead of an invalidating obviousness reference. The Federal Circuit affirmed. Substantial evidence supported the finding that the PCT application reasonably conveys to a person of ordinary skill that the inventor had possession of the “first channel having a light guide permanently affixed therein.” The court also upheld the Board’s definition of a person of ordinary skill in the art as a “degreed engineer having at least 5 years of experience designing and developing devices used in minimally invasive surgery (endoscopes, resectoscopes, shavers, tissue removal devices, etc.).” View "Hologic, Inc. v. Smith & Nephew, Inc." on Justia Law

Aseptic packaging involves putting a sterile food product into a sterile package within a sterile environment. Steuben’s 435 patent is generally directed to providing such a sterile environment in a sterilization tunnel. Sterile air, pressurized to a level above atmospheric pressure, flows out of the tunnel, ensuring that contaminants cannot flow into it. The aseptic sterilant used in the apparatus may be hydrogen peroxide. Nestlé challenged claims of the 435 patent in an inter partes review. The Patent Trial and Appeal Board instituted trial on claims directed to the sterilization tunnel and found that several of the challenged claims would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art in view of prior art references in the record. The Federal Circuit affirmed, upholding the construction of “sterilant concentration levels” to be the levels measured “at any point within the sterilization tunnel— including the ‘residual’ concentration on bottle surfaces— such that the 5 to 1 ratio is satisfied.” Substantial evidence supports the Board’s obviousness determination based on prior art. View "Steuben Foods, Inc. v. Nestle USA, Inc." on Justia Law

Aseptic packaging involves putting a sterile food product into a sterile package within a sterile environment. Steuben’s patent is generally directed to providing such a sterile environment in a sterilization tunnel. Sterile air, pressurized to a level above atmospheric pressure, flows out of the tunnel, ensuring that contaminants cannot flow into it. The aseptic sterilant may be hydrogen peroxide. Nestlé challenged claims of the patent in an inter partes review. The Patent Trial and Appeal Board instituted trial on claims directed to the sterilization tunnel and found that several of the challenged claims would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art in view of prior art references in the record. The Federal Circuit affirmed with respect to several claims, upholding the construction of “sterilant concentration levels.” With respect to Nestle’s appeal concerning a claim found to be not obvious, the court vacated the Board’s construction of the terms “aseptic” and “aseptically disinfecting.” Collateral estoppel attaches to that issue because Nestlé previously appealed the Board’s construction of “aseptic” in a separate inter partes review of another Steuben patent. In that case, the court relied on binding lexicography in the specification for “aseptic” to construe the term to mean the “FDA level of aseptic.” View "Nestle USA, Inc. v. Steuben Foods, Inc." on Justia Law

SimpleAir initiated patent infringement lawsuits against Google’s Cloud and Cloud to Device Messaging Services, involving patents from a family of SimpleAir patents directed to push notification technology. The 433 “parent” patent claimed priority from a 1996 provisional application and expired in 2017. The “child” patents share a common specification with the 433 patent and also claim priority from the provisional application. During prosecution, SimpleAir filed terminal disclaimers for each child patent to overcome obviousness-type double patenting rejections. The disclaimers require them to expire with the 433 patent, 35 U.S.C. 253(b), and to be “commonly owned with the application or patent which formed the basis” for the obviousness-type double patenting rejection. Google won judgments of noninfringement in three cases. SimpleAir’s fourth complaint asserted infringement of two additional “child” patents. The court dismissed both complaints as barred by claim preclusion and the Kessler doctrine, which precludes assertions of a patent against post-judgment activity if an earlier judgment held that “essentially the same” accused activity did not infringe. The Federal Circuit reversed. The district court erred by presuming that terminally-disclaimed continuation patents are patentably indistinct variations of their parent patents without analyzing the scope of the patent claims. A terminal disclaimer is a “strong clue” but does not give rise to a presumption that a patent subject to a terminal disclaimer is patentably indistinct from its parent patents. View "SimpleAir, Inc. v. Google LLC" on Justia Law

Ottah’s Patent, entitled “Book Holder,” describes “a removable book holder assembly for use by a person in a protective or mobile structure such as a car seat, wheelchair, walker, or stroller” “having an adjustable, releasable clipping means and a support arm configured for . . . adjustment of the book supporting surface of the book holder to hold a book in a readable position in front of the user.” The patent recites that it may also be used to support such items as audio/video equipment, PDAs, or mobile phones, cameras, computers, musical instruments, toys, puzzles and games and cites disadvantages associated with prior art book holders, relating to “the ease of application” without tools. The patent refers to a writing board and a removable attachment. The district court rejected, on summary judgment, Ottah’s infringement suit against automobile companies relating to camera holders. The Federal Circuit affirmed. No reasonable fact-finder could find that the accused cameras meet the “removably attached” limitation of claim The district court correctly found that the “book holder” cannot plausibly be construed to include or be the equivalent of a camera holder, in view of the specification and the prosecution history. View "Ottah v. Fiat Chrysler" on Justia Law

Knowles’s 231 patent, entitled “Microelectromechanical System Package with Environmental and Interference Shield,” discloses microelectromechanical system (MEMS) packages comprising a substrate, a microphone, and a cover accommodating the microphone. The MEMS packages shield the microphone from an interference signal or an environmental condition, and purportedly improve over the prior art’s drawbacks “associated with manufacturing these housings, such as lead time, cost, and tooling,” On inter partes reexamination, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board affirmed an examiner’s rejection of claims 1−4 for anticipation and proposed claims 23−27 for lack of an adequate written description. The Federal Circuit affirmed. The Board properly construed the term “package” in claims 1–4. Substantial evidence supports the board’s lack of adequate written description determination as to proposed claims 23–27. View "Knowles Electronics LLC v. Cirrus Logic, Inc." on Justia Law

Knowles’s 231 patent, entitled “Microelectromechanical System Package with Environmental and Interference Shield,” discloses microelectromechanical system (MEMS) packages comprising a substrate, a microphone, and a cover accommodating the microphone. The MEMS packages shield the microphone from an interference signal or an environmental condition, and purportedly improve over the prior art’s drawbacks “associated with manufacturing these housings, such as lead time, cost, and tooling,” On inter partes reexamination, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board affirmed an examiner’s rejection of claims 1−4 for anticipation and proposed claims 23−27 for lack of an adequate written description. The Federal Circuit affirmed. The Board properly construed the term “package” in claims 1–4. Substantial evidence supports the board’s lack of adequate written description determination as to proposed claims 23–27. View "Knowles Electronics LLC v. Cirrus Logic, Inc." on Justia Law

Nalco’s patent, titled “Enhanced Mercury Control in Coal-Fired Power Plants,” describes a method for the removal of elemental mercury, a toxic pollutant, from the flue gas created by combustion in coal-fired power plants. Previous attempts to filter mercury from coal combustion flue gas failed due to lack of commercial viability or excessive expense. The 692 patent solves this problem by reacting halogens, such as molecular chlorine (Cl2) or molecular bromine (Br2), with elemental mercury (Hg) in flue gas to form mercuric halides (HgCl2 or HgBr2), which precipitate into solid particles that can be filtered from the flue gas more easily. The Federal Circuit reversed the dismissal of Nalco’s direct infringement, doctrine of equivalents, indirect, and willful infringement claims. View "Nalco Co. v. Chem-Mod, LLC" on Justia Law

On inter partes review of Arendi’s patent, which relates to a computerized method for identifying and substituting information in an electronic document, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board held all of the claims unpatentable. The claims recite a method of information handling whereby information such as a name or address is identified in a document, a database is searched for related information, and the retrieved information is displayed and entered into the document, all on a single command from the user. The Federal Circuit affirmed, based on the PTAB’s alternative claim construction. Even if Arendi’s prosecution disclaimer were accepted, the claims are unpatentable for obviousness in view of prior art. View "Arendi S.A.R.L. v. Google LLC" on Justia Law

On inter partes review of Arendi’s patent, which relates to a computerized method for identifying and substituting information in an electronic document, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board held all of the claims unpatentable. The claims recite a method of information handling whereby information such as a name or address is identified in a document, a database is searched for related information, and the retrieved information is displayed and entered into the document, all on a single command from the user. The Federal Circuit affirmed, based on the PTAB’s alternative claim construction. Even if Arendi’s prosecution disclaimer were accepted, the claims are unpatentable for obviousness in view of prior art. View "Arendi S.A.R.L. v. Google LLC" on Justia Law