M & K HOLDINGS, INC. v. SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.

Before Moore, Bryson, and Chen. Appeal from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

Summary: Title-searchable publications shared on a prominent standards-setting organization’s website are printed publications. Board committed procedural error by adopting a theory of anticipation that could not be reconciled with petitioner’s theory of obviousness.

On November 30, 2020, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law New York Senate Bill S5959D, an amendment to New York’s right of publicity law to provide the 40 year post-mortem right of estates of deceased celebrities and performers to protect their likenesses and rights of publicity. When the new law goes into effect May 31, 2021, New York will join California, Tennessee, and 21 other states in recognizing a post-mortem right of publicity.

QUIKTRIP WEST, INC. V. WEIGEL STORES, INC.

Before Lourie, O’Malley, and Reyna. Appeal from the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.

Summary: When comparing marks under the Dupont factors, the Board may give less weight to shared terms that are highly suggestive if not descriptive. Further, a party’s willingness to alter its mark multiple times to prevent customer confusion demonstrates a lack of bad faith.

SIMO HOLDINGS INC. v. HONG KONG UCLOUDLINK NETWORK

Before O’Malley, Wallach, and Taranto. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Summary: A claim construction that excludes an embodiment disclosed in the specification is proper where the claim language and intrinsic evidence sufficiently indicate that the disclosed embodiment is not within the scope of the claim.

ABS GLOBAL, INC. V. CYTONOME/ST, LLC

Before Prost, Moore, and Stoll. Appeal from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

Summary: A patent owner may moot a petitioner’s appeal of an IPR final written decision of no unpatentability by declining to appeal a judgement of non-infringement in a litigation

As countries around the world begin administering COVID-19 vaccines, many institutions, both governmental and private, are considering the possibility of requiring proof of COVID-19 status to travel, work, and attend live-audience events. The International Air Transport Association (IATA), is one of many organizations developing a smartphone app that will allow travelers to display their COVID-19 status in airports. In the UK, VST Enterprises Limited has developed a similar app for sports attendance. These “digital health passports” may help society return to normal, but they also raise privacy concerns.

SIMIO, LLC V. FLEXSIM SOFTWARE PRODUCTS, INC.

Before Prost, Clevenger, and Stoll. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Utah.

Summary: A claim whose only inventive concept is the applications of an abstract idea using conventional and well-understood techniques is not sufficient to transform the claim into a patent-eligible idea.

GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY v. RAYTHEON TECHNOLOGIES CORP.

Before Lourie, Reyna, and Hughes. Appeal from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

Summary: A party has standing to appeal an adverse IPR decision if it has concrete plans for future activity that creates a substantial risk of future infringement.

Royal Philips NV acquired BioTelemetry, Inc. for $2.8 billion US dollars. Headquartered in Malvern, Pennsylvania, BioTelemetry provides cardiac diagnostics and monitoring tools that, according to the press release, are expected to add to Philips’ line of hospital-based patient monitoring solutions.

In July 2020 the Court of Justice the European Union’s (CJEU) Schrems II decision declared the EU-US Privacy Shield Protections inadequate for the protection of European data. On November 10, 2020, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) released “Recommendations 01/2020 on measures that supplement transfer tools to ensure compliance with the EU level of protection of personal data.” The recommendations provide a framework for data exporters to analyze the protections afforded to European Union residents’ person data and ensure that throughout the data lifecycle data receive the protection demanded by EU privacy law as embodied in the GDPR and other regulations.