The Technology & Information Law Blog
Analysis by Charles Gideon Korrell
·
The Federal Circuit’s decision in Merck Serono S.A. v. Hopewell Pharma Ventures, Inc., Nos. 2025-1210, -1211 (Fed. Cir. Oct. 30, 2025), delivers a clarifying—and unforgiving—interpretation of what it means for prior art to be “by another” under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. § 102. The opinion reinforces a long-standing but often underappreciated principle: unless the inventive entity…
·
The Federal Circuit’s decision in Aortic Innovations LLC v. Edwards Lifesciences Corp., No. 2024-1145 (Fed. Cir. Oct. 27, 2025), offers a crisp and cautionary reminder of how easily careful prose in a patent specification can harden into claim-limiting lexicography. The case sits at the intersection of claim construction doctrine and drafting practice, and it reinforces…
·
On October 22, 2025, the Federal Circuit issued a mixed but consequential decision in Centripetal Networks, LLC v. Palo Alto Networks, Inc., vacating the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s final written decision and remanding for further proceedings. While the court firmly rejected Centripetal’s sweeping recusal and due process challenges, it nonetheless concluded that the Board…
·
On October 17, 2025, the Federal Circuit issued a detailed and consequential opinion in Barrette Outdoor Living, Inc. v. Fortress Iron, LP, affirming a judgment of non-infringement while also affirming the district court’s rejection of indefiniteness challenges. The case provides a clear reminder that arguments made during prosecution of a later-filed continuation application can narrow…
·
On October 15, 2025, the Federal Circuit issued a precedential opinion in IQE PLC v. Newport Fab, LLC d/b/a Jazz Semiconductor et al., addressing two questions that rarely intersect so directly: (1) whether denials of California anti-SLAPP motions are immediately appealable in cases within the Federal Circuit’s exclusive jurisdiction, and (2) how California’s anti-SLAPP framework…
·
On October 15, 2025, the Federal Circuit vacated and remanded a summary judgment of invalidity in Inland Diamond Products Co. v. Cherry Optical Inc., No. 24-1106, holding that the district court improperly applied issue preclusion based on prior PTAB inter partes review decisions. The ruling reinforces a principle the court has been developing with increasing…
·
The Federal Circuit’s October 15, 2025 decision in Brita LP v. International Trade Commission delivers a clear warning to patentees who rely on broad, functionally defined genus claims without commensurate disclosure. Affirming the ITC, the court held that claims covering any gravity-fed water filter media achieving a particular performance metric failed both the written description…
·
On the same day the Federal Circuit dismissed Causam’s ITC appeal as moot, it issued the companion decision that explains why the appeal became moot in the first place. In Causam Enterprises, Inc. v. ecobee Technologies ULC, No. 24-1958 (Fed. Cir. Oct. 15, 2025), the court affirmed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s final written…
·
On October 15, 2025, the Federal Circuit issued a decision in Causam Enterprises, Inc. v. International Trade Commission, No. 23-1769, that delivers a curious combination of vindication and defeat. On the one hand, the court held that Causam did, in fact, own the asserted patent and therefore satisfied Article III standing to pursue its appeal.…
·
The Federal Circuit’s decision in US Inventor, Inc. v. United States Patent and Trademark Office, No. 2024-1396 (Fed. Cir. Oct. 3, 2025), reinforces a familiar but increasingly consequential theme in administrative patent law: access to judicial review turns first, and often last, on Article III standing. Even when a dispute implicates the scope of the…