A magistrate judge in the Eastern District of Texas recommended in Network-1 Technologies, Inc. v. Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc. Case No. 6:11-cv-492 (E.D.Tex. September 25, 2017) that Hewlett-Packard (“HP”) should be estopped from asserting invalidity grounds that HP did not raise, but reasonably could have raised, during IPR proceedings.

The PTAB denied institution of Covered Business Method (CBM) Review, finding that the parties’ license agreement and covenant not to sue removed any “imminent” threat of an infringement suit. MasterCard International Inc., v. Alexam, Inc., CBM2017-00041, Paper 12 (P.T.A.B. September 21, 2017).

The PTAB’s Chief Administrative Patent Judge and Deputy Chief Administrative Patent Judge joined an expanded PTAB panel that adopted the seven NVIDIA factors and denied institution of the Petitioner’s follow-on petitions in General Plastic Industrial Co., Ltd., v. Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, IPR2016-01357, Paper 19 (P.T.A.B. September 6, 2017). The PTAB designated the decision as “Informative” on September 18, 2017.

According to Medtronic news release, the company recently received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. FDA and a CE mark from the E.U. for its StealthStation™ ENT surgical navigation system.  The system will assist surgeons performing procedures within the ear, nose, and throat (ENT) anatomy.

The FDA recently approved the marketing of the first-ever prescription digital therapeutic to be used in the treatment of substance use disorder (SUD).
 

A voluntary agreement (link in Dutch) was consummated by the Dutch Ministry of Health, industry, and hospitals. According to an Emergo blog post, under the terms of the agreement, the Netherlands will adopt the US Food and Drug Administration’s Unique Device Identification (UDI) system.

September 16, 2017 marked five years since the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) was created.  Some of the notable statistics and trends of the previous 5 years are shown here.

Kalytera Therapeutics, clinical-stage pharmaceutical company, recently announced plans for clinical trials focused on the treatment of Graft versus Host Disease using Cannabidiol (CBD), a compound found in cannabis.  This development highlights the expanse of continued research—and potential—of CBD-based medicines and methods of treatments being pursued by companies globally.

The recent district court ruling in INO Therapeutics LLC et al v. Praxair Distribution, Inc. et al employed the two-step analytical framework of Mayo/Alice to evaluate subject matter eligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101, and the court found U.S. Patent Nos. 8,795,741 (“’741 patent”), 8,282,966, 8,293,284, 8,431,163, and 8,846,112 (collectively, the “HF patents”) to be invalid.

Utility patents cover a new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter.  Design patents are much more common in the fashion industry since design patents protect the aesthetic features of a useful invention.