Incorporation by reference by its entirety without further relevant citation to specific contents is insufficient to provide intrinsic record to trump the disclaimer in the specification
| September 4, 2013
SkinMedica, Inc. v. Histogen Inc. et al.
August 23, 2013
Panel: Rader, Clevenger, Prost. Opinion by Prost. Dissent by Rader.
Summary:
SkinMedica owns the ’494 patent. It filed a patent infringement suit against Histogen. During the prosecution, the inventors limited their claimed inventions to pharmaceutical compositions comprising cell culture medium conditioned by animal cells cultured in three-dimensions. The issue is whether the claimed term, “culturing … cells in three-dimensions,” covers the use of beads. The ordinary meaning of the claimed term, “culturing … cells in three-dimensions” would cover the use of beads. The court found that the inventors expressly defined the use of beads as culturing in two-dimensions. Also, the inventors avoided anticipatory prior art during prosecution by asserting that the conditioned medium produced by two-dimensional cultures was inferior and chemically distinct from the conditioned medium produced by three dimensional cultures. SkinMedica also argued that the ’494 specification incorporates Doyle by reference, which explains the use of beads. However, the court rejected this argument since specific reference to the relevant discussion is not made in the intrinsic record, which does not trump the disclaimer in the specification.
SkinMedica は494特許を所有しており、Histogen社を特許侵害で訴えた。494特許の審査段階において、出願人はクレーム発明を補正し、3次元培養に限定し た。争点は、クレーム発明がビーズの使用を含むかどうかである。クレーム用語である「細胞を3次元で培養する」の通常の意味は、ビーズの使用を含む。しか しながら、裁判所は、内部証拠から判断して、発明者が、ビーズの使用は2次元培養であることを明確に定義したと判断した。また、発明者は審査段階において 新規性拒絶をクリアするために2次元培養で製造した調整媒体は劣っており、3次元媒体で製造した調整媒体と化学的に区別できることを主張した、と判断し た。また、494特許は、ビーズの使用を説明した文献（Doyle）を明細書に引用していたが（incorporation by reference）、関連箇所を示す説明が何もないとして、SkinMedicaの主張を退けた。
Instruction from PTO on Software Composition Claims
| August 28, 2013
Ex parte Mewherter, 2012-007962 (PTAB, 2013)
The Patent Office rarely designates decisions of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board as being “precedential,” but when it does, practitioners take note. The Patent Office’s designation last week of Ex parte Mewherter, 2012-007692 as falling in that category will be of particular interest to those handling software patent applications.
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Disavowal of Claim Terms is a Stringent Hurdle to Overcome, which must be “Clear and Unmistakable” Disavowal to Limit the Scope of Claims
| August 14, 2013
Plantronics, Inc. v. Aliph, inc. and Aliphcom, Inc.
July 31, 2013
Panel: Rader, O’Malley and Wallach. Opinion by Wallach.
Summary
This is a patent infringement suit by Plantronics against Aliph. Plantronics is owner of US Patent 5,712,453 (‘453 patent) entitled, “Concha Headset Stabilizer.” This is a concha-type headset to anchor in a user’s ear for use in a telephone receiver.
The district court granted-in-part summary judgment for Aliph, for noninfringement and invalidity. After appeal, the Federal Circuit reversed-in-part, vacated in part and remanded for further proceedings. More specifically, the Federal Circuit reversed the summary judgment of noninfringement and invalidity. The discussion below will focus on the issue of noninfringement.
Tags: claim construction > drawings > prosecution history estoppel > restriction > species
Did the CAFC Extrapolate From the Teachings of the References to Reach the Conclusion of Obviousness?
| August 12, 2013
In re Adler
July 18, 2013
Panel: Prost, Reyna and Wallach. Opinion by Wallach
Summary
The Examiner rejected all of the pending claims under 35 U.S.C. §103 as obvious over several prior art references, including International Patent Publication WO 00/22975 (“Meron”) in view of Masaru Hirata et al., Study of New Prognostic Factors of Esophageal Variceal Rupture By Use of Image Processing With a Video Endoscope, 116 Surgery 8–16 (1994) (“Hirata”).
The Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (“the Board”) affirmed the Examiner’s rejection of all pending claims of U.S. Patent Application No. 10/097,096 (the ‘096 application) under 35 U.S.C. §103 as being obvious over a combination of prior art references. Adler appealed the Board’s decision to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC). The CAFC affirms holding that the Board did not err in rejecting the pending claims as obvious and did not rely on new grounds for rejection.
Amending to exclude a species via a negative limitation may violate the written description requirement
| August 7, 2013
In re Bimeda Research & Development Limited
July 25, 2013
Panel: Rader, Clevenger, Prost. Opinion by Clevenger. Concurrence by Rader.
Summary:
The court held a negative limitation to exclude a genus does not provide 112, first paragraph written description support to claim a negative limitation that excludes a species, which species was never mentioned in the application.
Tags: genus > negative limitation > species > written description
Improper NDA Defeats Trade Secrets and Overly Broad Patent Claims are Invalid
| July 29, 2013
Convolve v. Compaq Computer
July 1, 2013
Panel: Rader, Dyk and O’Malley. Opinion by O’Malley
Summary
Convolve, Inc. (“Convolve”) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (“MIT”) appeal the decision of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (“District Court”) granting summary judgment in favor of Compaq Computer Corp. (“Compaq”), Seagate Technology LLC. and Seagate Technology, Inc. (“Seagate”).
Convolve and MIT sued Compaq and Seagate in July 2000 for breach of contract; misappropriation of trade secrets listed in Amended Trade Secret Identification (ATSI); direct patent infringement; and inducement of patent infringement along with other complaints such as fraud; violation of California Business and Professions Code §17200 (“CA Unfair Competition”), etc.
In May 2006, the District Court disposed of all other charges from the suit except the breach of contract, misappropriation of trade secrets and patent infringement charges. The District Court later granted summary judgment in favor of Compaq and Seagate and dismissed the remaining charges. With regard to the trade secret charges, the District Court found that:
(1) some of Convolve’s trade secrets (ATSI 1B, 2A, 2C, 2E, and 3B-D) were covered under a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA), which Convolve failed to properly preserve according to the NDA procedures;
(2) some of Convolve’s trade secrets (ATSI 2A, 6B, and 7A) were public known or common knowledge in the industry, which were not entitled to protection;
(3) some of Convolve’s trade secrets were never used by the defendants (ATSI 2F and 7E); and
(4) because New York law does not extend trade secret protection to marketing concepts, some of the trade secrets alleged by Convolve are not recognized by the District Court.
With regard to the patent infringement charges, the District Court found that:
(1) out of the four models of products alleged by Convolve as infringing Patent’473, none read on the claims of the patent;
(2) Patent’635 was found invalid for being non-enabling based on the inventor’s testimony; and
(3) since no direct infringement was found, the claim for inducement of patent infringement must fail.
Taking all inference in favor of Convolve, the CAFC affirmed all counts of summary judgment with regard to the trade secret allegations, as well as the invalidity of Patent’635, but reversed the non-infringement decision about Patent’473.
Convolve （原告）与Compaq， Seagate（康柏电脑和希捷数码，被告）就原告开发的一些硬盘技术进行技术合作谈判，双方就谈判涉及内容签订了保密协议。但原告在向被告透露相关技术时没有严格按保密协定约定的程序处理涉密内容。后来改谈判未能达成一致，原告诉被告在谈判涉及的保密内容上侵犯商业机密及在另一些技术问题上专利侵权。一审结果，联邦区域法院裁定原告败诉。
上述法院均认定，尽管侵犯商业机密属于一个侵权法的范畴，然而在已签订合同中原被告双方均已同意以合同条款规定商业机密的范畴，故侵权法默认的商业机密标准不适用。因原告在履行保密协议过程中未遵循商定的处理程序，原告在此案中已丧失对该商业机密的索赔权。
另外， 关于专利侵权案，原告的专利在当年提出申请时对该发明的描述超过了发明人的当时可以实施实际该发明的范畴，故该专利被认定未能适当描述其实施方法因而无效。上述法院部分维持一审法院的判决。
Tags: enablement > NDA > non-disclosure agreement > trade secret
Unexpected result for combination therapy using two known drugs
| July 24, 2013
Novo Nordisk A/S v. Caraco Phamaceutical Laboratories, Ltd.
June 18, 2013
Panel: Newman, Dyk and Prost. Opinion by Prost. Dissent by Newman.
Summary:
A patent claims a combination therapy using two drugs. The patent was issued by overcoming prior art as an examiner recognized an unexpected result proved by an inventor’s declaration. In the district court, defendant presented new evidence challenging the validity of the patent. The evidence showed that one of the claimed drugs was well known to be used in the therapy, and another drug having similar mechanism as the other was also well known to be used in such combination therapy. Relying on the evidence, the district court hold that the patent was obvious because the evidence created a strong prima facie case of obviousness, and it was so strong that the patentee’s evidence showing certain superior effects did not overcome the prima facie obviousness. The majority agreed with the district court holding. Judge Newman dissented.
地裁は、2つの公知の薬物（repaglinideとmetformin）の併用による糖尿病治療方法の特許に関して予期せぬ効果は立証されなかったため無効であると判断した。連邦巡回区控訴裁判所（CAFC）はその特許無効判決を支持した。Metforminは同治療用として周知であり、repaglinideはmetforminとは異なる経路に作用するものとして糖尿病治療に利用されていた。先ず特許庁では、その併用は加算的な効果しかないとして審査官に拒絶されたが、出願人が追加実験データを提出することにより相乗効果が認められ特許になった。その後、侵害被疑者は地裁で新たな証拠を出した。それによるとrepaglinideと同じクラス（sulfonylureas）に属する同様の機能を有する化合物をmetforminと併用する療法が知られていた。他方、特許権者は、repaglinideはその文献に記載のsulfonylurea化合物とは異なること、特にmetforminとrepaglinideの併用はmetforminの単独使用と比較して空腹時血漿グルコースレベルを8倍も改善するという証拠を出した。しかしながら，地裁は侵害被疑者の証拠を採用し、特許無効の判決を出した。CAFCは、repaglinideとsulfonylurea類の併用が周知であり、ある種の相乗効果も報告されている点を強調し、地裁に同意し、特許権者の主張を退けた。特許権者の証拠によるとrepaglinide単独の特性から見て予想外な併用効果があることも示唆されるがCAFCは類似の併用療法が周知であるという全体的な方向性を見て、特許権者の具体的な反論を認めなかった。本件は、公知の薬物の併用はそれと類似の併用例が知られていると強い自明性の仮定が働き、特許権者はそれを克服するために相当に高いレベルの反証が要求されることを示す判決である。本件では、クレーム治療方法の商業的成功の証拠は不十分であるとして認められなかった。
なお、判事の一人（Newman）は、反対意見を述べている。化学的実験というものはある程度の予測、希望を持ってなされるものであり、そのような状況があるということで直ちに「自明な試み」として特許しないのはいかにも不合理であるといった趣旨である。特にrepaglinide自体は先行技術の化合物とは異なるにもかかわらず、repaglinideによる併用効果の発見は特許権者が公知の併用療法をさらに追求した結果にすぎないと示唆したことは、後知恵による判断であると非難した。
Tags: obvious to try > obviousness > unexpected results
Specific application of an abstract idea may be patent eligible
| June 26, 2013
Ultramercial, Inc. v. Hulu, LLC.
June 21, 2013
Panel: Rader, Lourie and O’Malley. Opinion by Rader. Concurrence by Lourie
Summary
Ultramercial, Inc. sued Hulu, LLC for infringement of U.S. Patent 7,346,545 (the ‘545 patent) directed to a method of monetizing and distributing copyrighted products over the Internet. The district court dismissed the patent suit by holding that the patent claims an abstract idea; therefore, it is not a process under 35 U.S.C. §101. In an earlier decision, the Federal Circuit reversed the district court’s holding and remanded. The Supreme Court of the United States vacated the earlier decision by the Federal Circuit. The Federal Circuit again holds that the patent does not claim an abstract idea because the claims are not drawn to a mathematical algorithm or a series of purely mental steps because the claims require, among other things, a particular method for collecting revenue from the distribution of media products over the Internet by way of controlled interaction with a consumer over an Internet website. Therefore, the Federal Circuit again reversed the district court’s holding and remanded for further proceeding.
Tags: §101 > abstract idea > mathematical formula > mental process > patent eligibility > patent eligible subject matter > process
How to claim triangle relationships among three elements to win broader claim construction
| June 19, 2013
Douglas Dynamics LLC v. Buyers Products Co.
May 21, 2013
Panel: Rader, Newman, and Mayer. Opinion by Rader. Dissent by Mayer.
Summary
Connection between two elements is relatively clear and does not cast heavy doubt. Adding another element allows possible variations in connections among three elements and requires deeper thoughts of a claim drafter. In this case, the CAFC reversed the district court’s narrower claim interpretation of “connected to” in light of its ordinary meaning and the usage in the specification. Judge Mayer dissented from the majority’s claim construction. Contexts of a claim are source for supporting specific claim interpretation. A functional limitation supported a favorable interpretation for patentee and saved a problematic structural limitation from a pitfall.
特許クレームは、3つの部品(フレーム)相互の接続関係を“connected to”という用語で定義した。クレームは、最初のフレームが3番目のフレームに直接接続されている態様だけに限定されるべきか、それとも2番目のフレームを介して間接的に接続されている態様も権利範囲に含まれるのかが争点となった。クレーム解釈の技法として、クレーム用語の通常の意味、明細書の実施形態の参酌に加えて、地裁およびCAFCともクレームの文脈に基づいて自身のクレーム解釈を正当化した。しかしながら、両者が認定した文脈には違いが存在する。地裁は構造的な限定に注目して解釈をし、CAFCは機能的な限定に鑑みて理由付けを行った。
Tags: claim construction > claim context > context > superfluous
Limitations describing how an apparatus is made can structurally limit the apparatus
| June 12, 2013
Regents of University of Minnesota v. AGA Medical Corp.
June 3, 2013
Panel: Rader, Wallach, Dyk. Opinion by Dyk.
Summary
Regents of University of Minnesota (“University”) sued AGA Medical for infringement of U.S. Patents 6,077,281 and 6,077,291 directed to medical devices called septal occluders. A claim at issue recites two disks having central membranes, the two disks being “affixed” to each other at the central membranes “to define a conjoint disk.” The accused product was a molded one-piece device. In the district court, the claim was construed as to require that the disks, before being affixed, exist separately as individual disks that are then attached to each other. Since the accused device was a single molded device and was not constructed from two separate disks, the district court entered summary judgment of non-infringement. The CAFC affirmed this construction and the summary judgment of non-infringement.
Another claim at issue was found to be anticipated. The University attempted to use prosecution disclaimer to narrow the claim and avoid anticipation. However, the court rejected the prosecution disclaimer because the prosecution disclaimer was from a parent application and applied to “materially” different claim language.
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