“Configured To” Can Configure You Right Out of a Patent
Why Inventors Should Care About the Blue Buffalo Decision If you’re an inventor thinking about filing a patent, here’s a recent Federal Circuit decision you should care about—In re Blue…
The Denials Will Continue Until Morale Improves
IPR Denials Are Now Standard After the recently appointed USPTO Director John Squires took the helm, IPR denials have been the standard. This of course isn’t appealing to those that…
How the USPTO Solved AI Inventorship by Looking the Other Way
The Federal Circuit Clarifies: Only Humans Can Be Inventors For a while there, it looked like we had some rules.Back in 2022, the Federal Circuit decided Thaler v. Vidal and…
Why IPR Decisions Don’t Preclude District Court Litigation
An Illustration from Life of Issue Preclusion The kids are fighting over something and bring it to me to resolve. I don’t really want to get involved in whatever they’re…
Summary of Causam Enterprises, Inc. v. International Trade Commission (Fed. Cir. Oct. 15, 2025)
Wow, the Federal Circuit seriously narrowed the scope of some patent assignments. Continuation-in-Part Applications Not Covered in Assignments The Federal Circuit held that a 2007 patent assignment did not cover…
Discovery Gamesmanship Backfires: A Lesson in Playing Fast and Loose
The ol’ “Switcheroo”: One Argument in Discovery, the Opposite in Trial Every so often, the Federal Circuit hands down a decision that’s less about patents and more about human nature.…
March-In Madness: Harvard, Bayh-Dole, and the Trump Administration
When politicians get involved in patent law, things usually get messy — and the latest spat between the Trump Administration and Harvard over the Bayh-Dole Act is no exception. What…
Secrets, Secrets Are No Longer Hard to Keep (in Court)
Previously, courts required trade secret plaintiffs to identify their trade secrets with particularity. That requirement applied before defendants had to respond to discovery. In practice, however, this rule created a…
Doctrine of Equivalents
What Is the Doctrine of Equivalents in U.S. Patent Law? The Doctrine of Equivalents is a legal principle in U.S. patent law that allows a court to find infringement even when…
From Brain Scans to Rain Scans: How Tumor-Detecting AI Is Predicting the Weather
In a twist that sounds like science fiction, researchers in Xi’an, China have taken artificial intelligence designed to find tumors in brain scans and taught it to forecast the weather…
When “Close Enough” Isn’t Good Enough: Colibri v. Medtronic and the Push–Pull of Patent Law
The Doctrine of Equivalents: When Literal Infringement Isn’t Required Patent law has its own version of “close enough,” called the Doctrine of Equivalents (DOE). It says that even if a…
The Trump-Lutnick Patent Tax: Turning the USPTO into the IRS
A Patent System Idea So Bad You Check the Calendar Every so often, Washington cooks up an idea so far outside good patent policy that you have to check the…
How One Supreme Court Decision Sparked an Era of “Efficient Infringement” — and What Might Be Changing
Nearly two decades ago, the Supreme Court’s decision in eBay v. MercExchange quietly reshaped the patent landscape — and not necessarily for the better. The ruling rejected the idea that winning a patent…
When a Patent Case Is Really a Personhood Case
The DABUS Litigation Is a Personhood Fight Disguised as a Patent Fight Dr. Stephen Thaler has lost another case trying to have his DABUS AI system recognized as a patent…
Enablement and Prior Art: What Agilent v. Synthego Teaches Us About the Limits of Patent Protection
Enablement Depends on Context In patent law, “enablement” is critical. However, the required detail varies depending on your goal—getting a patent or invalidating one.This distinction became clear in Agilent Technologies…
Jazz Loses the Tune: Courts Strike a Sour Note on System Patents
Federal Circuit Draws New Limits on Injunctions and Orange Book Listings In a decision likely to affect the pharmaceutical industry, the Federal Circuit ruled in Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Avadel…
What Did Those Claims Consist Of?
This is a very weird case interpreting “consisting of”. The Federal Circuit recently affirmed a ruling of non-infringement in Azurity Pharmaceuticals v. Alkem Laboratories. Azurity had sued Alkem for allegedly…
Patent Like You Mean It, But Also Show the Structure
What Is Means-Plus-Function Claiming? Means-plus-function claiming is a way of writing a patent that describes what something does, not how it does it. For example, describing a machine that opens…
Who Gets Credit When AI Invents? A Look at the History—and Future—of Inventorship
For centuries, governments have tried to encourage innovation by offering inventors something valuable in return: ownership. The earliest forms of state-recognized intellectual property—like patents—were meant to reward people for coming…
The Impact of Third-Party Litigation Funding on Patent Disputes
A Patent’s Value Means Little Without the Means to Defend It Valuing a patent isn’t simple. Methods like the cost, market, and income approaches are commonly used. But even a…
Generic Drug Label Doesn’t Induce Patent Infringement Just by Listing Optional Refrigeration
Generic Drug Labels and Inducement to Patent Infringement In the ever-evolving world of pharmaceutical patent law, a recent Federal Circuit decision offers guidance on when a generic drug label may…
Federal Circuit to AI Innovators: Generic Machine Learning Isn’t Enough for a Patent
In a closely watched decision, the Federal Circuit delivered a clear message. Simply applying machine learning to a new domain is not enough. Unless the ML itself improves, the invention…
Federal Circuit Clarifies Limits on Prosecution Disclaimer Across Patent Families
Federal Circuit Limits Cross-Family Prosecution Disclaimer In Maquet Cardiovascular LLC v. Abiomed Inc., the Federal Circuit clarified prosecution history disclaimer across related patents. The court vacated a district court judgment…
The Harsh Reality of § 101 Appeals: Why Fighting a Rejection at the PTAB Is an Uphill Battle
PTAB § 101 Affirmance Rates Continue to Climb For inventors and patent practitioners, securing a patent has always been challenging. Overcoming a § 101 rejection is even harder. The latest…
Federal Circuit Reverses ITC Decision, Strengthening Patent Eligibility for Composition Claims
The Federal Circuit has issued a significant ruling in US Synthetic Corp. v. Int’l Trade Comm’n. It reversed the ITC’s controversial decision that had invalidated composition of matter claims as…
Federal Preemption and Fast-Tracked Dismissals: Lessons from BearBox LLC v. Lancium LLC
Overview of BearBox LLC v. Lancium LLC Plaintiffs often prefer federal courts because cases typically move faster than in state courts. But speed can work against weaker claims. That happened…
Divided Infringement
Understanding System and Method Claims System claims describe the overall arrangement and interaction of different components within a system. They protect the “what” and “how they work together” of an…
New FishFAQ video: The Patent Process Overview
We have recently added another video to our FishFAQ video series on patents. This one covers a basic overview of the U.S. patent process. You can find the entire FishFAQ video…
New FishFAQ video: The History of Patents
We have recently added another video to our FishFAQ video series on patents. This one covers a brief history and development of patents. You can find the entire FishFAQ video playlist…
New FishFAQ video: Patent Families
We have uploaded a new FishFAQ™ video to YouTube. This video covers how various related patent applications can make up what is called a 'patent family'. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmH0jhpBwP8&t=8s