In a recent precedential decision, In re University of Miami, Serial No. 86616382 (T.T.A.B. June 6, 2017), the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (the “TTAB”) clarified the scope of the doctrine of trademark mutilation.
Previously, we reported the outcomes of remands from the Federal Circuit to the PTAB in IPR cases through 2016. [https://www.knobbe.com/news/2017/02/ipr-appeals-outcomes-fed-circ-remands-ptab-law360]. This note is an update to that report, surveying the outcomes and status of remands to the PTAB in the first half of 2017.
New York City took a step toward its goal of becoming a life sciences hub with a $5 million grant from the mayor’s office to BioLabs@NYULangone, a biotech incubator in Manhattan formed from a collaboration between BioLabs and New York University’s Langone Medical Center. The $5 million grant is part of the first tranche of funding from Mayor Bill Blasio’s LifeSci NYC program, a $500 million initiative to increase the number of life sciences startups in NYC.
In Ex Parte Hafner, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Patent Trial and Appeal Board (the “Board”) reversed the Examiner’s rejection that claims directed to an energy transaction plan were subject-matter ineligible. Ex parte Hafner et al., No. 2015-002200 (P.T.A.B. Jan. 31, 2017). This decision provides guidance for navigating the changing landscape of software patents in a post-Alice era.
In a non-precedential opinion, the Federal Circuit affirmed the district court’s ruling that the claims at issue in Easyweb Innovations, LLC. v. Twitter, Inc. (“Easyweb”) were directed to patent-ineligible subject matter. The parties agreed that claim 1, reproduced below, of the 7,685,247 patent represented the claims at issue.
On June 1, 2017, noted music and fashion photographer Danny Clinch filed suit in the Southern District of New York in connection with the use of two photographs of famed rapper Tupac Shukar (“Tupac”) on t-shirts. The defendants include clothing retailers, Urban Outfitters, Inc. and Forever 21, Inc., manufacturer Bioworld Merchandising, Inc., and licensors, Planet Productions LLC and Amaru/AWA Merchandising, Inc. (collectively “Defendants”).
The PTAB granted-in-part a patent owner’s motion to substitute claims based on evidence of secondary considerations of nonobviousness in Valeo North America, Inc. v. Schaeffler Technologies, AG & CO. KG, IPR2016-00502, Paper 37, (P.T.A.B. June 20, 2017).
Janssen Biotech Inc. and Celltrion Healthcare have taken the next step over Janssen’s blockbuster arthritis biologic medicine Remicade (infliximab) and Celltrion’s biosimilar, as required by the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (BPCIA) “Patent Dance.” Janssen, although arguing it to be unnecessary under the BPCIA, has defensively filed a subsequent suit[1] in Massachusetts federal court against Celltrion in order to avoid the possibility of being barred from recovering lost profit damages and limited to merely royalties. The suit is presided over by Judge Wolf.
On June 19, 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the use of the fluoroquinolone antibiotic, Baxdela® (delafloxacin), for the treatment of acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSI). Approval of Baxdela®, which is effective against resistant organisms such as MRSA, will provide physicians another tool to combat growing antibiotic resistance.
In a precedential opinion, the Federal Circuit affirmed the determination by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) in a covered business method review proceeding that the claims of U.S. Patent No. 6,950,807 for providing financing to a customer seeking to purchase a car were not patent eligible.
