Insights
Patent Board Allows an Open-Ended Numerical Range
June 15th, 2021
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) has reversed a rejection of a patent application for using an open-ended numerical range in a claim. The matter of Ex Parte Qiu (Appeal 2020-001512) involves a patent application for a chemical compound (shown…
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Categories: Patents
Federal Circuit: Claim Construction Limited When Essential Structure Only in Preamble
June 10th, 2021
The Federal Circuit has ruled that the preamble in a claim in a patent application can be limiting when it supplies “essential structure” and the body of the claim does not define “a structurally complete invention.” SIMO Holdings Inc v Hong…
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Categories: Patents
Deep Dive on Semiconductors Market in China
June 2nd, 2021
Semiconductors are crucial components for most electronic equipment. Currently, China lags in this aspect because it does not have a prominent chip maker and depends on semiconductor technology from other countries. For example, in 2020, Qualcomm sup…
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Categories: Patents
Would a vaccine patent waiver save lives or stifle future development?
May 25th, 2021
As the Washington Post has reported, access to COVID-19 vaccines is highly unequal around the world: The Washington Post found that 45 percent of all vaccine doses administered so far have gone to just 16 percent of the world’s population in what t…
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Categories: Patents
What is Likely to Drive Chinese Patent Filings in the Coming Years?
May 20th, 2021
Chinese companies have filed the most number of patents in 2020 at the European Patent Office. Pharmaceuticals and biotechnology patents had the biggest jump in filings last year, which is unsurprising given the global health concern brought on by th…
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Categories: Patents
Federal Circuit Rules that Flower-Arranging Method is Abstract
May 17th, 2021
The Federal Circuit has ruled that a method for creating a floral arrangement on an electronic display screen is abstract and thus not eligible for patent protection. The case of In re Sturgeon involved an appeal from the US Patent and Trademark Offi…
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Categories: Patents
Small patent filing mistakes can have a decisive impact on high-stakes disputes
May 12th, 2021
At first glance, a translation error in a patent may seem to be of little consequence, but a small such mistake in a patent owned by IBSA Institute Biochimique (IBSA) cost the company a lot to litigate. IBSA filed a petition for writ of certiorari in…
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Categories: Patents
US Supreme Court Holds that Copying Application Programming Interface (API) is Fair Use
April 27th, 2021
The US Supreme Court has held that Google’s copying of an application programming interface (“API”) was fair use under copyright law. The case involved Java SE, a computer program in the Java programming language. Oracle owns the copyright for…
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Categories: Copyright
Apple Claims Former Product Designer Stole Trade Secrets
April 23rd, 2021
Apple Inc. has sued a former product designer for the company, claiming that he stole Apple trade secrets in order to help his new employer and that he also leaked secrets to a reporter. The designer, Simon Lancaster, worked at Apple for more than te…
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Second Circuit Redefines the Concept of “Transformative” Fair Use under Copyright Law
April 21st, 2021
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has held that a series of Andy Warhol prints were not a “transformative” fair use of a photographer’s picture of the musical artist Prince and thus infringed the photographer’s copyright. The c…
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Categories: Copyright
