Steuben Foods’ RDOE Argument: Compelling, But Not Compelling Enough
Steuben Foods, Inc. v. Shibuya Hoppmann Corp., 127 F.4th 348 (Fed. Cir. 2025)
In a recent decision, the Federal Circuit in Steuben Foods, Inc. v. Shibuya Hoppmann Corp. left the application of the reverse doctrine of equivalents hanging on by a thread. While the CAFC found Steuben’s RDOE arguments compelling, it ultimately held that resolving the RDOE issue was not necessary to determine that the district court’s judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) of noninfringement was improper.
Continue reading…
The Secret is Out: CAFC Declares Patent Applications as Prior Art Before Publication in Lynk Labs
Lynk Labs, Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., No. 2023-2346, 2025 WL 85559 (Fed. Cir. Jan. 14, 2025)
In Lynk Labs, Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the Federal Circuit affirmed a decision by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that found that a patent application filed before the priority date of Lynk Lab’s patent—but published after—could serve as prior art in an inter partes review (IPR).
Continue reading…
I Say Yes, You Say No: PTAB Articulates Different Standards for Determining Whether a Printed Publication Was Publicly Available
Ex parte Grillo-Lopez, Appeal No. 2018-006082 (Jan. 31, 2020)
On April 7, 2020, the PTAB designated its January decision in Ex parte Grillo-Lopez (“the Decision”) as precedential. In the Decision, the Board held that patent examination and IPR proceedings have different standards for establishing a prior art printed publication, with the petitioner in an IPR facing a higher burden of showing that a reference was publicly accessible. Having been designated as precedential, the Decision is now binding authority in all USPTO ex parte proceedings. Continue reading…
PTAB Determines That Medical Journal Article Qualifies as a Publicly Available Printed Publication
Grunenthal GmbH v. Antecip Bioventures II LLC, PGR2018-00092 (Feb. 25, 2020)
In a recent decision invalidating certain claims of a pain treatment patent, the PTAB held that a 2012 article published in the scientific journal Rheumatology was a publicly available printed publication that qualified as prior art.
Home Isn’t Where the Servers Are: Federal Circuit Holds that the Presence of Google Servers Does Not Establish Venue
In Re: Google LLC, Appeal No. 2019-126 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 13, 2020)
The Federal Circuit has ordered the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas to dismiss or transfer Super Interconnect Techs. LLC v. Google LLC, No. 2:18-CV-00463-JRG for lack of venue, because Google LLC, which contracted with internet service providers (ISPs) within the district to host its servers, had no employee or agent regularly conducting its business there.