International sportswear company Nike filed a lawsuit against a Los Angeles-based manufacturer alleged to have produced thousands of inauthentic Nike® Dunk®-inspired sneakers.
RAYTHEON TECHNOLOGIES V GENERAL ELECTRIC
Before Lourie, Chen, and Hughes.
Summary: Unrebutted evidence of non-enablement is sufficient to overcome an invalidity challenge based on a standalone §103 reference.
As of 2021, more than twice the number of data breaches are now being reported than 6 years ago and three times the number of data breaches that occurred in 2010. While credit cards and social security numbers are perennial favorites, cybercrime has begun to favor the theft of electronic medical records (EMR) as sources of revenue. With banks and major financial institutions starting to wise up and tighten their electronic security, cybercriminals have begun to target vulnerable healthcare institutions with a particular focus on the records of children, elderly people, and the deceased.
APPLE, INC. v. QUALCOMM, INC.
Before Moore, Reyna, and Hughes. Appeal from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
Summary: Apple lacked standing to appeal an IPR decision upholding patents it licenses from Qualcomm, despite Apple’s royalty payments for a portfolio including the patents at issue and the possibility that Qualcomm could assert those patents against Apple after the license expires.
WI-LAN INC. v. SHARP ELECTRONICS CORPORATION
Before Dyk, Taranto, and Stoll. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Delaware.
Summary: Source code evidence found to be inadmissible hearsay with no exception to save it.
Before the United States Supreme Court (Opinion by Justice Breyer) on Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Summary: Where use of copyrighted computer code is inherently bound together with uncopyrightable ideas and new creative expression, it may be fair use to copy that which is needed to reimplement a user interface for others to make use of their accrued talents.
IN RE: BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY
Before Prost, Lourie, and Reyna. Appeal from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
Summary: The specific combination of purely mathematical steps in a claim are not inventive enough to transform patent ineligible mathematical algorithms and mental processes.
On February 26, 2021, Judge James Donato of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted final approval of a proposed $650 million settlement in a biometric privacy class action lawsuit brought against Facebook. In re Facebook Biometric Information Privacy Litigation, Case No. 3:15-cv-03747-JD, Dkt. No. 537 (N.D. Cal. Feb. 26, 2021). The long-running litigation began in 2015, when class members alleged that Facebook collected and stored digital scans of their faces without prior notice or consent in violation of Sections 15(a) and 15(b) of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA” or “the Act”), 740 Ill. Comp. Stat. 14/1 et seq. (2008).
MYLAN LABS. LTD. v. JANSSEN PHARMACEUTICA, N.V.
Before Newman, Moore, and Stoll. Appeal from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
Summary: The Federal Circuit lacks jurisdiction over appeals from decisions denying institution of an IPR. However, the Federal Circuit has jurisdiction over mandamus petitions challenging decisions denying institution, but mandamus relief is an extraordinary remedy.
DEPUY SYNTHES PRODUCTS, INC. v. VETERINARY ORTHOPEDIC IMPLANT, INC.
Before Prost, Clevenger, and Dyk. Appeal from the Middle District of Florida.
Summary: Internal efforts to maintain confidentiality are not enough to establish a confidential relationship with a third party and to warrant denying the public’s right to access information on a public docket.
