by John Evans, Ph.D. | Jun 29, 2021 | Design Patents, PTAB News
By John Evans and Callan Foran* These days, we generally think about inter partes review as a first option to challenge patentability. Rightly so. But don’t forget about ex parte reexamination (“XPR”). Even in the IPR era, patent challengers are still successfully...
by John Evans, Ph.D. | Apr 29, 2021 | Design Patents, PTAB News
By John Evans and Hannah Mehrle – On April 15, 2021, the PTAB issued a Final Written Decision in the LKQ Corp. case finding a design patent claiming a vehicle fender panel unpatentable as obvious. IPR2020-00064, Paper No. 39 (Apr. 15, 2021). The obviousness...
by John Evans, Ph.D. | Sep 22, 2020 | Prior Art Issues
By Nate Andrews and John Evans – Deciding who invented patents can be “one of muddiest concepts in the muddy metaphysics of the patent law.” Mueller Brass Co. v. Reading Industries, Inc., 352 F. Supp. 1357, 1372 (E.D. Pa. 1972). But identifying who contributed...
by John Evans, Ph.D. | Aug 10, 2020 | Claim Construction, Design Patents
By Clarissa Sullivan and John Evans The Patent Trial and Appeal Board recently designated as informative its decision instituting post-grant review and addressing the issues of design patent functionality in Sattler Tech Corp. v. Humancentric Ventures, LLC. No....
by John Evans, Ph.D. | Apr 27, 2020 | Design Patents, Other News
By Kerry Barrett and John Evans – Last October, the Federal Circuit reversed the PTAB’s decision that a challenged design patent was not obvious. Campbell Soup Co. v. Gamon Plus, Inc., 939 F.3d 1335 (Fed. Cir. 2019). We wrote about how the court applied a more...
