Successful brands from the United States, and particularly those branded by U.S. celebrities, are often received with similar enthusiasm in other parts of the world. Recently, YEEZY shoes designed by Kanye West made their much anticipated debut to sneaker-heads in China. These consumers were delighted when a physical YEEZY store opened in Wenzhou. There was one problem – all the shoes in the store appeared to be knockoffs, replicas, or complete counterfeits of the genuine YEEZY products.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) quietly increased the examiners’ arsenal by slipping a new rejection into the latest revision of the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (“MPEP”) released last month. One of the changes made in this revision is the addition of a new “improper Markush grouping” section, MPEP § 706.03(y), which authorizes patent examiners to reject a claim on the basis that it contains an improper listing of alternative elements.
Before Newman, Wallach, and Chen. Appeal from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board
Summary: The Federal Circuit upheld the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s claim construction in an inter partes reexamination, where the Board applied the broadest reasonable interpretation standard and the Board did not depart from a prior Federal Circuit construction.
Before Moore, Schall, and O’Malley. Appeal from the Northern District of Illinois.
Summary: A plaintiff need not prove its case of patent infringement at the pleading stage. To the extent a defendant disputes the pleaded allegations or claim scope, these inquiries are not suitable for resolution on a motion to dismiss.
Xeris Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Xeris”) recently announced successful completion of both adult and pediatric clinical studies for its glucagon rescue pen.
Medical imaging isotopes are used to diagnose various diseases, such as cancer and coronary artery disease, and to evaluate brain, lung, kidney, and liver function. According to an U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) press release, the most widely used medical imaging isotope, Technetium-99m (Tc-99m), is used in over 80% of the United States’ nuclear medical imaging procedures.
The FDA recently cleared Prescient Surgical’s CleanCisionTM Wound Retraction and Protection System (CleanCisionTM), a retractable device designed to prevent surgical site infection.
Throughout the past year, substantial investment continued to pour into digital health and personalized medicine. Personalized medicine involves the discovery of particular
genetic variations that contribute to human illness, and those that contribute to patients’ responses to treatments.
The Food and Drug Administration recently announced approval of the RadioGenix™ System, a technetium 99m (Tc-99m) generator. The RadioGenix™ System is developed by NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes, LLC, a nuclear medicine technology company.
The FDA has recently approved Embrace, a smart watch designed to monitor epileptic patients for seizures, according to a press release. According to the press release, the device uses machine learning to monitor patients for dangerous seizures, including grand mal or generalized tonic-clonic seizures.
