Sydney E. McDermott
How Close Are They? PTO Looking for “Significant Relationship” Between Sequential IPR Petitioners
By Sydney E. McDermott on May 9, 2024
Posted In Patents
Addressing the issue of whether to discretionally deny a petition for inter partes review (IPR) under the General Plastics factors when there is no “significant relationship” between the petitioners, the Director of the US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) vacated the Patent Trial & Appeal Board’s decision denying institution. Videndum Prod. Sol., Inc. v. Rotolight...
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Is Evidence of All Claimed Elements in Prior Art Enough? Not Without Motivation to Combine
By Sydney E. McDermott on Apr 4, 2024
Posted In Patents
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed a Patent Trial & Appeal Board obviousness decision, finding that disclosure in the prior art of all recited claim elements across multiple references, without more, does not establish obviousness unless there is evidence of a motivation to combine. Virtek Vision Int’l ULC v. Assembly Guidance...
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Same Product in Different Packaging May Constitute Separate Market for Antitrust Purposes
By Sydney E. McDermott on Mar 28, 2024
Posted In Antitrust, Patents
Addressing an issue of first impression, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit concluded that two medications that contain the same ingredients but are packaged in different forms constitute separate markets for purposes of assessing antitrust violations. Regeneron Pharm., Inc. v. Novartis Pharma AG, Case No. 22-0427 (2d Cir. Mar. 18, 2024) (Parker,...
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Stay in the Know: Informational Message Is Not a Source Identifier
By Sydney E. McDermott on Feb 1, 2024
Posted In Trademarks
Addressing whether the mark EVERYBODY VS. RACISM was registrable, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the Trademark Trial & Appeal Board’s final refusal to register the mark because it failed to function as a source identifier. In re: GO & Assoc., LLC, Case No. 22-1961 (Fed. Cir. Nov. 13, 2023) (nonprecedential)...
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