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Use of general knowledge in IPR petitions will no longer work

On July 31, 2025, the US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) issued a memo clarifying the requirements under 37 C.F.R. § 42.104(b)(4) for inter partes review (IPR) petitions. The memo emphasizes that petitioners must clearly identify where each element of the challenged claims is found in the prior art patents or printed publications relied upon.

Historically, the Patent Trial & Appeal Board permitted petitioners to rely on applicant admitted prior art (AAPA), expert testimony, common sense, and other forms of general knowledge to fill in missing claim limitations. However, the new guidance states that such general knowledge, including AAPA, can no longer be used to supply missing claim elements. If an IPR petition relies on general knowledge to bridge gaps in the prior art, the Board will now deny institution.

The memo clarifies that § 104(b)(4) does not limit the use of general knowledge to support a motivation to combine or to demonstrate the knowledge of a person of ordinary skill in the art. However, § 104(b)(4) may be narrower than 35 U.S.C. § 311(b). Just weeks before the memo was issued, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s decision in Shockwave Medical. v. Cardiovascular Systems held that AAPA can be used to supply missing claim limitations without violating § 311(b), highlighting a potential tension between the rule and judicial interpretation.

The PTO’s new requirements will apply to all IPR petitions filed on or after September 1, 2025.

Practice note: To meet the threshold for institution, IPR petitioners should ensure that each claim element is explicitly mapped to prior art patents or printed publications. Reliance on general knowledge to fill in missing elements will no longer be sufficient.




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Claim construction misstep undoes injunction

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit vacated and remanded a preliminary injunction (PI), finding that the district court improperly construed a claim term based on references cited in a provisional application but omitted from the asserted patents. FMC Corp. v. Sharda USA, LLC, Case No. 224-2335 (Fed. Cir. Aug. 21, 2025) (Moore, Chen, Barnett, JJ.)

FMC owns two patents claiming priority to a provisional application concerning insecticides and miticides compositions. The patents specifically cover formulations comprising bifenthrin and a cyano-pyrethroid. Sharda currently markets an insecticide product known as Winner, which contains both bifenthrin and a cyano-pyrethroid.

FMC sued Sharda for patent infringement on its two patents and sought a temporary restraining order (TRO) and a PI. The district court denied both motions but issued a claim construction for the term “composition.” Instead of applying the term’s plain and ordinary meaning, the district court interpreted “composition” narrowly to mean “stable compositions, rather than the well-known unstable compositions that produce ineffective results as discussed throughout the prosecution history.” In reaching this construction, the district court relied on statements made in the provisional application and disclosures found in a separate, non-asserted FMC patent that claimed priority to the same provisional application. However, these disclosures were absent from the asserted patents themselves, appearing only in the provisional application and the non-asserted patent.

FMC renewed its motion for a TRO, which the district court granted and later converted into a PI. In issuing the PI, the district court again relied on its narrow construction of the term “composition” as a key point in rejecting Sharda’s invalidity defenses. Sharda appealed.

Sharda argued that the district court erred in both its construction of “composition” and its determination that Sharda failed to raise a substantial question regarding the patents’ validity. The Federal Circuit first addressed Sharda’s challenge to the district court’s construction of the term “composition,” which had been limited to stable compositions based on disclosures in the provisional application and a non-asserted patent. The Court acknowledged that while the provisional application contained multiple references to “stability,” all such references were deliberately removed from the common specification of the two asserted patents. As a result, the specifications of the asserted patents did not simply carry forward the language of the provisional application but instead reflected a substantive evolution.

Citing its 2024 decision in DDR Holdings, LLC v. Priceline.com LLC, the Federal Circuit emphasized that such omissions are legally significant. The Court concluded that a person of ordinary skill in the art, considering the deliberate removal of all references to stability, would not interpret the term “composition” as limited to stable formulations. Because FMC chose to revise the asserted patents’ written descriptions to exclude any mention of stability, the district court erred in importing a stability limitation from the provisional application and non-asserted patent into the claims. Accordingly, the Federal Circuit held that the district court improperly grafted a “stability” requirement onto the term “composition.”

The Federal Circuit also found fault with the district court’s [...]

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Collateral estoppel remains inapplicable to unchallenged IPR claims

Returning to its decision in Kroy IP, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit denied a petition for panel rehearing and rehearing en banc, leaving undisturbed its prior opinion that collateral estoppel does not apply to the assertion of claims from a patent, even when other patentably indistinct claims from that patent have been found unpatentable in inter partes review (IPR) proceedings before the Patent Trial & Appeal Board. Kroy IP Holdings, LLC v. Groupon, Inc., Case No. 23-1359 (Fed. Cir. Aug. 1, 2025) (per curiam) (Moore, J., concurring) (Dyk, J., dissenting).

Kroy sued Groupon for patent infringement, and Groupon subsequently filed two IPR petitions. The Board ultimately found 21 of the asserted claims unpatentable. Kroy amended its complaint to remove those 21 claims and proceed only with claims that were not at issue in the IPR proceedings. Groupon moved to dismiss the complaint, arguing that Kroy was collaterally estopped from asserting the remaining claims because of the Board’s prior IPR rulings finding other patentably indistinct claims unpatentable. The district court agreed with Groupon, finding that the remaining asserted claims were not materially different from the unpatentable claims in terms of validity and granted the motion to dismiss with prejudice. Kroy appealed.

The Federal Circuit held that a Board determination finding certain patent claims unpatentable under the preponderance of the evidence standard did not collaterally estop Kroy from asserting other unreviewed claims of the same patent in district court litigation against Groupon. Groupon subsequently petitioned for panel rehearing and rehearing en banc, both of which the Federal Circuit denied per curiam.

Chief Judge Moore, joined by Judge Stoll, concurred in the decision. In her concurring opinion, Judge Moore explained that collateral estoppel does not apply where differing standards of proof exist (namely, the preponderance of evidence standard used by the Board versus the clear and convincing evidence standard applied in district courts) because this difference can materially affect a patent’s validity determination. She emphasized that collateral estoppel should apply consistently in patent cases and cautioned against deviating from the established collateral estoppel standards. Judge Moore also noted that policy concerns are mitigated by the ability to file a second IPR petition, because the Board is likely to grant review where a petition raises a substantially similar question of invalidity.

Judge Dyk, joined by Judge Hughes, dissented from the decision. The dissent advocated departing from the traditional burden-of-proof rule applicable in the collateral estoppel context to avoid duplicative litigation regarding patent validity. The dissent argued that the majority opinion conflicted with the Federal Circuit’s 2018 opinion in XY, LLC v. Trans Ova Genetics, which held that collateral estoppel extends between Board decisions and district court proceedings in pending or co-pending actions. According to the dissent, the majority’s approach permits repeated litigation of the validity of patent claims previously found unpatentable in IPR proceedings affirmed on appeal. The dissent expressed concern that applying collateral estoppel in this manner would enable patentees to evade the preclusive effect of adverse IPR [...]

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Dim damages methods can doom bright ideas

In a mixed ruling on evidentiary exclusions and damages methodology, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed in part, reversed in part, vacated in part, and remanded a district court’s decision that excluded patent validity evidence and granted judgment as a matter of law (JMOL). The Federal Circuit found that the district court erred in blocking the defendant’s invalidity case and directed it to reassess the reliability of the damages expert’s testimony under Rule 702. Jiaxing Super Lighting Co., Ltd. v. CH Lighting Technology Co., Ltd., Case No. 23-1715 (Fed. Cir. July 28, 2025) (Dyk, Chen, Hughes, JJ.)

Jiaxing Super Lighting and its affiliate Obert (collectively, Super Lighting) sued CH Lighting over three patents related to LED tube lamps – two covering structural designs and one addressing electrical safety. CH Lighting admitted infringement but argued that the structural patents were invalid under the America Invents Act’s (AIA) on-sale bar. The district court excluded key evidence, found the remaining expert testimony insufficient, and granted JMOL in Super Lighting’s favor. A jury later found CH Lighting liable and awarded damages, which the district court doubled. CH Lighting’s motions for a new trial and renewed JMOL were denied. CH appealed.

CH Lighting contended that certain 2014 LED tubes met all claim limitations and triggered the on-sale bar. The Federal Circuit disagreed, affirming the district court’s finding that CH Lighting’s expert lacked a proper foundation, having offered no concrete evidence or personal knowledge of the alleged sales. However, the Court found error in the exclusion of two key evidentiary items: testimony authenticating sales documents and an internal presentation showing competitor products predating the patents. The district court excluded the documents for lack of authentication and barred the presentation because of its connection to a dropped inequitable conduct claim, later reasoning that the products shown differed in wattage. The Federal Circuit rejected both rationales, explaining that the relevant inquiry focused on whether the products disclosed patented features, not their wattage. The Federal Circuit deemed these exclusions an abuse of discretion, warranting a retrial on validity.

The Federal Circuit separately upheld the jury’s findings on a different patent where the jury found the patent not invalid for anticipation and infringed. CH Lighting had argued that a prior art reference anticipated the asserted claims and that the accused chips could not infringe if the reference did not. The Court found, based on the conflicting testimony of the parties’ expert witnesses, that the jury was free to credit one expert over the other and therefore had substantial evidence supporting the jury’s no invalidity verdict. Similarly, the parties’ experts presented conflicting evidence on infringement and that Jiaxing’s expert’s theory was not necessarily inconsistent with the validity ruling. The Court thus affirmed the findings of validity and infringement.

Turning to damages, the Federal Circuit emphasized that expert testimony must be based on reliable methodology and sufficient factual grounding, reinforcing standards articulated in the recent EcoFactor, Inc. v. Google en banc decision. Because the jury [...]

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Federal Circuit lacks jurisdiction over award that doesn’t raise issue of patent law

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit determined that it lacked appellate jurisdiction over a district court judgment confirming an arbitration award stemming from a dispute over royalties paid under patent license and supply agreements. The Court concluded that the petition did not “necessarily raise” a substantial issue of patent law. Acorda Therapeutics Inc. v. Alkermes PLC, Case No. 2023-2374 (Fed. Cir. July 25, 2025) (Taranto, Hughes, Stark, JJ.)

Acorda Therapeutics, the developer of Ampyra®, a treatment for multiple sclerosis, licensed a patent from Alkermes covering Ampyra’s active ingredient. In exchange, Acorda paid running royalties and sourced the active ingredient directly from Alkermes. Although the patent expired in July 2018, Acorda continued making royalty payments for two years without formal protest.

In July 2020, Acorda challenged the ongoing payments and initiated arbitration. Acorda sought a declaration that the licensing royalty provision was unenforceable after the patent’s expiration and sought recovery of royalties paid after July 2018, invoking unjust enrichment. The arbitration tribunal agreed that the royalty provision was unenforceable after the patent’s expiration. However, it limited Acorda’s recovery to payments made under formal written protest, which only started in July 2020. This ruling relied on a state law principle that payments made with full knowledge of the facts, even if under a mistake of law, are not recoverable unless accompanied by written protest.

Acorda filed suit in federal district court under the Federal Arbitration Act, invoking diversity jurisdiction. It sought confirmation of the tribunal’s findings, except for the denial of recoupment of more than $65 million in unprotested payments made between 2018 and 2020. Acorda argued that the tribunal’s refusal to allow full recoupment constituted “manifest disregard” of the law and offered two alternative theories: the tribunal improperly applied state law in derogation of federal patent law, and the award effectively enforced an illegal licensing agreement. The district court upheld the tribunal’s award. Acorda appealed.

The Federal Circuit declined to reach the merits and instead examined its jurisdiction. Under the “well-pleaded complaint” rule, the Federal Circuit’s jurisdiction applies only if patent law creates the cause of action or the plaintiff’s right to relief necessarily depends on resolving a substantial question of patent law.In its 1988 decision in Christianson v. Colt Industries and 2013 decision in Gunn v. Minton, the Supreme Court made clear that situations falling within the “special and small” second category (where right to relief necessarily depends on resolution of a substantial question of patent law) are “extremely rare.”

Here, Acorda’s complaint did not assert a patent cause of action. The request to confirm the arbitration award could be resolved without judicial interpretation of patent law. The Federal Circuit also noted that even the modification request, although it was premised on the award’s finding of unenforceability, presented two alternative arguments, only one of which involved patent law. Because the district court could have ruled for Acorda without addressing patent law, the Federal Circuit concluded that patent law was not “necessarily raised.” As a result, the Federal [...]

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Game over: Prior interference doesn’t preclude IPR proceeding

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a Patent Trial & Appeal Board unpatentability determination during an inter partes review (IPR) proceeding, concluding that the Board’s decision to not apply interference estoppel fell within the general rule of unreviewability. IGT v. Zynga Inc., Case No. 23-2262 (Fed. Cir. July 22, 2025) (Prost, Reyna, Taranto, JJ.)

IGT owns an expired patent that addresses the need for gaming machines, such as slot machines and video poker machines, to securely communicate over a public network. The patent was issued in January 2007 from an application filed in April 2002 and published in August 2002. Zynga filed a patent application on August 21, 2003, that included claims copied from IGT’s published application.

In March 2010, the US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) Board of Patent Appeals & Interferences (predecessor of the Patent Trial & Appeal Board, which Congress created in 2011) declared an interference proceeding between Zynga’s application and IGT’s patent. During the interference proceeding, Zynga argued IGT’s patent was obvious over three pieces of prior art. IGT argued that Zynga lacked standing because the claims in Zynga’s application were unpatentable for a lack of written description. The Board granted IGT’s motion for judgment on the “threshold issue” that Zynga’s application lacked adequate written description support, terminated the interference with a judgment against Zynga, and dismissed the motion that the claims were unpatentable as moot.

In April 2021, IGT sued Zynga alleging infringement of six patents, including the patent that was subject to the interference proceeding. Zynga filed an IPR petition for that patent, asserting obviousness based on new prior art. In its preliminary response, IGT argued that the Board should deny institution based on interference estoppel under 37 C.F.R. § 41.127(a)(1) because Zynga could have raised the newly asserted art in the interference proceeding. The Board rejected IGT’s interference estoppel arguments because:

  • The interference was terminated based on the “threshold issue” of lack of written description and therefore the Board did not analyze or decide any issues of unpatentability.
  • It would be unfair to estop Zynga, and to the extent that estoppel applied, the Board waived its application under 37 C.F.R. § 42.5(b).

IGT requested rehearing and precedential opinion panel review, arguing that interference estoppel barred institution. The PTO Director affirmed the Board’s decision, stating that interference estoppel under § 41.127 did not apply because IPR proceedings are governed by 37 C.F.R. pt. 42, which does not incorporate Part 41 or its estoppel provisions. The PTO Director also noted that the Board’s termination was based on a threshold issue. The Board proceeded with the review and ultimately concluded that all the challenged claims were unpatentable as obvious. IGT appealed.

IGT argued that the Board and PTO Director erred in ruling that interference estoppel did not bar the petition and challenged the Board’s holding that the claims would have been obvious over the newly asserted prior art.

The Federal Circuit concluded that the interference estoppel determination fell within the [...]

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Don’t get too comfy: Prosecution disclaimer also applies to design patents

Concluding that the principles of prosecution history disclaimer apply to design patents, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed a district court’s denial of judgment as a matter of law and entry of a jury verdict that found liability for design patent infringement. Top Brand, LLC v. Cozy Comfort Company, LLC, Case No. 24-2191 (Fed. Cir. July 17, 2025) (Dyk, Reyna, Stark, JJ.)

Top Brand and Cozy Comfort compete in the market for oversized hooded sweatshirts. Cozy Comfort owns a design patent directed to “the ornamental design for an enlarged over-garment with an elevated marsupial pocket.” It accused Top Brand of infringing the patent through its sale of certain hooded sweatshirts and wearable blankets. In response, Top Brand filed a declaratory judgment action seeking findings of noninfringement and invalidity. Cozy Comfort counterclaimed for design patent and trademark infringement.

During prosecution, Cozy Comfort overcame an anticipation rejection by distinguishing the prior art under the ordinary observer test, pointing to specific features such as the shape and placement of the marsupial pocket and the bottom hem line. Top Brand argued that these statements constituted a clear disclaimer of claim scope, and that the accused products fell within the surrendered subject matter.

The district court disagreed, instructing the jury to compare the accused products to the design as claimed (without considering any prosecution disclaimer). The jury found infringement, and the court entered judgment accordingly, denying Top Brand’s motion for judgment as a matter of law. Top Brand appealed.

Top Brand argued that the district court erred by failing to apply prosecution history disclaimer, asserting that the accused design was within the scope of the subject matter Cozy Comfort had disclaimed. Cozy Comfort responded that the disclaimer doctrine does not apply to design patents and, even if it did, Cozy Comfort’s prosecution statements were not sufficiently clear to constitute a disclaimer.

The Federal Circuit disagreed, concluding that prosecution history disclaimer applies to design patents. The Court reasoned that allowing patentees to recapture disclaimed subject matter in litigation would undermine the integrity of the patent system. The Court emphasized that Cozy Comfort’s statements during prosecution clearly surrendered the identified features as supporting a finding of overall similarity. Because the accused design incorporated those surrendered features, the Court concluded that no reasonable jury could find infringement.

Accordingly, the Federal Circuit reversed the district court’s denial of judgment as a matter of law and vacated the jury’s verdict.




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Valve turned: Prosecution history estoppel applies to closely related claims

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed a jury’s infringement finding, concluding it was precluded by prosecution history estoppel. Colibri Heart Valve LLC v. Medtronic CoreValve LLC, Case No. 23-2153 (Fed. Cir. July 18, 2025) (Taranto, Hughes, Stoll, JJ.)

Colibri Heart Valve sued Medtronic CoreValve for infringing a patent covering a method of implanting an artificial heart valve. At trial, the district court denied Medtronic’s motion for judgment as a matter of law, allowing the jury to consider Colibri’s infringement theory under the doctrine of equivalents. The jury found in Colibri’s favor. Medtronic appealed.

The Federal Circuit reversed, finding that Colibri was estopped from asserting its equivalents theory. During prosecution, Colibri had canceled a claim that explicitly recited “retracting the movable sheath.” The asserted claim, while using different language, involved a similar concept: “pressing against the pusher member with a force that moves the pusher member outward from the moveable sheath.” The Court concluded that a skilled artisan would recognize these limitations as equivalent in light of basic physics.

Citing the Supreme Court’s 2002 Festo v. Shoketsu decision, the Federal Circuit emphasized that prosecution history estoppel can arise not only from formal amendments but also from the cancellation of closely related claims. Here, the cancellation of one claim effectively narrowed the scope of the remaining claims, triggering estoppel.

Accordingly, the Federal Circuit reversed the district court’s denial of judgment of noninfringement.




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Applicant-admitted prior art may inform but can’t be basis for IPR challenges

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit clarified that while applicant-admitted prior art (AAPA) may be cited as evidence of general background knowledge in inter partes review (IPR) proceedings, it cannot serve as the basis for an IPR ground. The Court also confirmed that the petitioner had Article III standing to cross-appeal based on concrete plans for future activity. Shockwave Medical, Inc. v. Cardiovascular Systems, Inc., Case No. 23-1864 (Fed. Cir. July 14, 2025) (Lourie, Dyk, Cunningham, JJ.)

Shockwave Medical owns a patent directed to treating atherosclerosis using a balloon catheter in combination with shockwaves generated by electrodes and a pulse generator. The patent specification acknowledged that “over-the-wire angioplasty balloon catheters” were well known in the art. Cardiovascular Systems, Inc. (CSI) filed an IPR petition asserting that it would have been obvious to modify a European patent application with the angioplasty balloon catheter disclosed in the AAPA.

The Patent Trial & Appeal Board found all but one claim unpatentable as obvious, relying on the AAPA solely as evidence of background knowledge. Both parties appealed.

Shockwave challenged the Board’s reliance on the AAPA, arguing that 35 U.S.C. § 311(b) prohibits using AAPA as a basis for an IPR petition. The Federal Circuit disagreed, reaffirming its prior decisions in Qualcomm I and Qualcomm II. In Qualcomm I, the Court explained that AAPA cannot be the basis of a ground in an IPR petition but can be evidence of background knowledge. In Qualcomm II, the Court found that the Board erred in determining that the use of AAPA was proper when the petitioner expressly included AAPA in one of its grounds. Relying on these decisions, the Court explained that while AAPA cannot form the basis of a ground in an IPR petition, it may be used to demonstrate the general knowledge of a person of ordinary skill in the art and to supply missing claim limitations.

Shockwave pointed to a table in the Board’s final written decision listing AAPA under “reference(s)/basis” as evidence that the Board improperly relied on AAPA as a ground. The Federal Circuit rejected this argument, distinguishing Qualcomm II and emphasizing that the petitioner, not the Board, defines the grounds for review. Because CSI did not rely on AAPA as a ground, its use was permissible.

CSI cross-appealed the Board’s finding that one claim was not obvious. Shockwave challenged CSI’s standing, but the Federal Circuit found that CSI had Article III standing because it had concrete plans to begin clinical trials and because of Shockwave’s public statements suggesting it would assert the patent. The Court concluded that these facts created a substantial risk of future infringement.

On the merits, the Federal Circuit agreed with CSI that the Board erred by failing to consider the prior art as a whole. The Court reiterated that the obviousness inquiry requires evaluating the combined teachings of the prior art, not individual references in isolation. Finding no evidence to support the Board’s conclusion, the Court reversed the Board’s decision as to the remaining [...]

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Appeal is too late to raise percolating claim construction dispute

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court’s finding of noninfringement, concluding that the patent owner had improperly raised a claim construction issue for the first time on appeal – an argument not preserved at the district court level. Egenera, Inc. v. Cisco Systems, Inc., Case No. 23-1428 (Fed. Cir. July 7, 2025) (Prost, Taranto, Stark, JJ.)

Egenera owns a patent that enhances traditional server systems by enabling a one-time physical setup followed by flexible virtual reconfiguration. The company alleged that Cisco infringed specific claims of the patent.

During claim construction, the parties disputed the interpretation of two terms: “computer processor/processor” and “emulate Ethernet functionality over the internal communication network.” The district court adopted the ordinary meaning of “computer processor,” which excluded Cisco’s unified computing system from its scope. Regarding the term “emulate,” the district court considered whether it implied an absence from the internal communication network but made no further determinations as the parties did not explicitly raise a dispute regarding the remainder of the claim term. Based on its construction of “computer processor/processor,” the district court granted Cisco’s motion for summary judgment on certain claims. Later, at trial, a jury found no infringement of other asserted claims. Egenera moved for judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) or alternatively for a new trial, both of which the district court denied. Egenera appealed the post-trial rulings and the earlier summary judgment ruling.

The Federal Circuit affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment. It concluded that the record lacked sufficient evidence to show that Cisco’s system “emulated” Ethernet functionality as required by the asserted claims. The Court emphasized that Egenera’s argument focused narrowly on the construction of the term “emulate,” rather than on the evidentiary record. Moreover, neither party clearly indicated that the dispute centered on unresolved claim construction rather than factual issues. The Court noted that it will not address claim construction on appeal where the issue was not preserved in the district court and was inadequately presented on appeal. As a result, the Court confined its analysis to the sufficiency of the evidence and upheld the district court’s finding of noninfringement.

The Federal Circuit also affirmed the district court’s denial of JMOL. The Court emphasized that it needed to address only one of Cisco’s proposed noninfringement grounds to determine whether substantial evidence supported the jury’s verdict. It concluded that the jury had a sufficient evidentiary basis to find that Egenera failed to prove infringement.

Finally, the Federal Circuit upheld the district court’s denial of Egenera’s motion for a new trial. It rejected all of Egenera’s arguments, which alleged errors related to jury selection, jury instructions, expert testimony, closing arguments, and a verdict contrary to the weight of the evidence.




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