Whose Burden Is It?
WHDA Blogging Team | September 19, 2018
DuPont, Archer Daniels v. Synvina
September 17, 2018
Before Lourie, O’Malley and Chen. Opinion by Lourie, joined by O’Malley and Chen.
Summary:
DuPont and ADM filed an inter partes review petition against Synvina’s ‘921 patent that claims a method for making 2,5-furan dicarboxylic acid (FDCA), which is useful as bio-mass. The Board ultimately held that DuPont had failed to prove that the ‘921 patent was obvious over the prior art. On appeal, the CAFC reversed, finding that the Board had incorrectly failed to shift the burden of production, from DuPont to the patentee Synvina and had misapplied the standard for finding whether variables are result-effective.
The public use bar may not be triggered even if the invention is tested publicly prior to the critical date
Sung-Hoon Kim | September 14, 2018
Polara Engineering Inc. v. Campbell Company
July 10, 2018
Before Lourie, Dyk, and Hughes. Opinion by Lourie.
Summary:
The Federal Circuit affirmed the jury’s finding of experimental use that negates application of the public use bar by Polara because Polara’s activities were necessary to ensure that the invention would work for its intended purpose and Polara’s invention was “a life safety device” that the testing was “imperative.” The Federal Circuit found that while it is undisputed that Polara did not enter a confidentiality agreement, Polara maintained the secrecy of the invention. Finally, the Federal Circuit found that Polara was not commercially exploiting its invention during the test periods.
Tags: §102 > confidentiality agreement > critical date > experimental use > filing date > public use
A claimed rule feature may not be anticipated and/or rendered obvious merely because the rule is satisfied by chance in a reference
WHDA Blogging Team | August 29, 2018
In re Facebook
August 14, 2018
Before Prost, Moore, Stoll. Opinion by Prost.
Summary
The CAFC reversed and remanded a PTAB decision, which had affirmed an Examiner’s anticipation and obviousness rejection of a patent application for a method of arranging images contiguously in an array. The CAFC held that anticipation of Applicants’ claimed rule is not established by an example in a cited reference, which just happens to satisfy Applicants’ claimed rule, since said rule is not satisfied all of the time in the cited reference.
Standing to Appeal an Adverse IPR Decision to the CAFC
WHDA Blogging Team | August 16, 2018
JTEKT Corp. v. GKN Automotive Ltd.
August 3, 2018
Before Prost, Dyk and O’Malley. Opinion by Dyk.
Summary:
JTEKT Corporation (“JTEKT”) instituted an inter partes review (“IPR”) of the patentability of claims 1-7 of U.S. Patent No. 8,215,440 (“the ‘440 patent”), owned by GKN Automotive (“GKN”). The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“the Board”) issued an adverse decision regarding claims 2 and 3, holding that JTEKT did not show that claims 2 and 3 would have been obvious over the prior art of Teraoka in view of Watanabe. JTEKT appealed the adverse decision to the CAFC. The CAFC dismissed the appeal, finding that JTEKT lacks standing to appeal.
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