Mr. Storms, an individual with significant experience with Bitcoin mining, is the founder and sole employee of BearBox LLC. Mr. McNamara and Dr. Cline co-founded Lancium in November 2017 with the intention of co-locating flexible datacenters (e.g., Bitcoin miners) at wind centers to exploit the highly variable power output of windfarms.Continue Reading No Credit Where It Isn’t Due: The Importance of Preemption and Inventorship in Patent Law
In Steuben Foods Inc. v. Shibuya Hoppmann Corporation, the Federal Circuit addressed the boundaries a district court may impose on experts by deeming their testimony wrong as a matter of law. Continue Reading Federal Circuit Addresses District Court Oversight of Expert Testimony on Infringement
This Federal Circuit opinion analyzes claim construction arguments and requests for remittitur in the context of preserving issues for appeal.Continue Reading The Importance of Preserving Issues for Appeal
This Federal Circuit Opinion analyzed collateral estoppel and the extent to which the non-provisional document would benefit from the provisional application’s priority date, as it relates to Pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. § 102(e).Continue Reading Is it Prior Art? Check the Provisional Application!
Qualcomm Incorporated v. Apple Inc., No. 23-1208 (Fed. Cir. 2025)—On April 23, 2025, the Federal Circuit reversed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s finding that claims of Qualcomm’s U.S. Patent No. 8,063,674 (“the ’674 Patent”) are unpatentable as being obvious over the prior art.Continue Reading Federal Circuit Provides Clarity on Use of Applicant Admitted Prior Art (“AAPA”) in IPRs
In a significant development for patent litigants, the Federal Circuit in Ingenico Inc. v. IOENGINE, LLC, affirmed an important limitation on the scope of IPR estoppel under 35 U.S.C. § 315(e)(2). Specifically, the court held that estoppel stemming from inter partes reviews (IPR) applies only to grounds based on patents and printed publications—not to patents or printed publications evidencing other grounds that could not have been raised during the IPR.Continue Reading A Line in the Sand: Federal Circuit Bounds IPR Estoppel in Ingenico v. IOENGINE
The Federal Circuit vacated and remanded the district court’s summary judgement of noninfringement, finding that the lower court had improperly construed the claim term “pull cord.” The district court had erroneously limited the term to a directly pulled cord that lacks a handle. The Federal Circuit determined that these restrictions were unsupported by the intrinsic evidence and directed the district court to apply the correct claim construction in accordance with the Federal Circuit’s guidance and redetermine infringement using the correct claim construction.Continue Reading Federal Circuit Vacates Summary Judgement: Limitations from Specifications Should Not Have Been Imported Into the Claims
We are excited to present the second edition of Sheppard Mullin’s “Year in Review” report, which provides a comprehensive summary of the key precedential Federal Circuit decisions related to patent law in 2024. Building on the success of our inaugural report covering 2023, we continue our commitment to keeping you informed with detailed analyses.Continue Reading 2024 Federal Circuit Case Summaries
This Federal Circuit Opinion[1] analyzes statutory estoppel under 35 U.S.C. § 315(e)(1) and examines offensive and defensive arguments related to § 103 obviousness. Continue Reading Don’t Get Lazy, Timely Complete Your Arguments
AliveCor, Inc. v. Apple, Inc., No. 23-1512 (Fed. Cir. 2025) – On March 7, 2025, the Federal Circuit affirmed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s inter partes review (“IPR”) decisions invalidating all claims of three AliveCor patents. Previously, the International Trade Commission (“ITC”) had found certain Apple Watch products infringe two of the three patents. Continue Reading You Snooze, You Lose: Federal Circuit Emphasized Once Again the Importance of Preserving Issues for Appellate Review