Cecilia Choy, Ph.D.
Subscribe to Cecilia Choy, Ph.D.'s PostsCecilia Choy, Ph.D., focuses her practice on intellectual property matters and is a certified patent agent. Read Cecilia Choy's full bio.
ITU Applicants Beware: Federal Courts Have Jurisdiction Over Pending Trademark Applications
By Cecilia Choy, Ph.D. on Apr 11, 2024
Posted In Trademarks
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed in part a district court’s ruling in a trademark dispute, upholding its decision to invalidate trademark applications. The Ninth Circuit held that district courts have jurisdiction to alter or cancel trademark applications in an action properly brought under 15 U.S.C. § 1119, and that in...
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Scattered Disclosures May Not Lead to Inference of Fraud in FCA Claim
By Cecilia Choy, Ph.D. on Feb 1, 2024
Posted In Patents
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit denied a petition for panel rehearing and rehearing en banc and issued an amended opinion that reversed a district court’s decision regarding the False Claims Act’s (FCA) public disclosure bar. Silbersher v. Valeant Pharm. Int’l, Inc., Case No. 20-16176 (9th Cir. Aug. 3, 2023; amended Jan....
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A Matter of Style: No Need to Select “Primary” Reference in Obviousness Challenge
By Cecilia Choy, Ph.D. on Oct 19, 2023
Posted In Patents
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed an obviousness decision by the Patent Trial & Appeal Board, explaining that nothing requires a petitioner to identify a prior art reference as a “primary reference” in an obviousness challenge. Schwendimann v. Neenah, Inc., Case Nos. 22-1333; -1334; -1427; -1432 (Fed. Cir. Oct. 6, 2023)...
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Pre-Enforcement Commercialization Isn’t “Impossible” Basis for Personal Jurisdiction of Nonresident Defendant
By Cecilia Choy, Ph.D. on Sep 28, 2023
Posted In Trademarks
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed a district court’s dismissal of trademark declaratory judgment claims, finding that pre-enforcement commercialization activities can be used to establish personal jurisdiction. Impossible Foods Inc. v. Impossible X LLC, Case No. 21-16977 (9th Cir. Sept. 12, 2023) (Lucero, Bress, JJ.) (VanDyke, J., dissenting). Impossible Foods is...
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Tune to the Right Channel: Disclosure Lacking Fraud Information Isn’t an FCA Qui Tam Bar
By Cecilia Choy, Ph.D. on Aug 17, 2023
Posted In Patents
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed a district court’s decision to dismiss a qui tam action brought under the False Claims Act (FCA) after analyzing the public disclosure bar channels. The case required the Ninth Circuit to examine Congress’s 2010 amendments to the FCA public disclosure bar to determine whether the...
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Speculative Injury from Rulemaking Petition Denial Doesn’t Confer Standing
By Cecilia Choy, Ph.D. on Jul 20, 2023
Posted In America Invents Act, Patents
The US District Court for the District of Columbia affirmed the dismissal of a case alleging that the US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) by denying the plaintiffs’ rulemaking petition. The district court found that the plaintiffs’ alleged injury was too speculative to confer Article III standing. US Inventor,...
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Personal Jurisdiction? Selling Products via Interactive Website Will Do It
By Cecilia Choy, Ph.D. on Jul 13, 2023
Posted In Trademarks
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed and remanded a district court’s dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction, deciding that the sale of a product via an interactive website provides sufficient “minimum contacts” to support jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant in a state where the defendant causes the product to be delivered....
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Neither Narrow Proposed Claim Construction nor Work Product Claim Justify Withholding Material Factual Information
By Cecilia Choy, Ph.D. on Jun 1, 2023
Posted In Patents
The Patent Trial & Appeal Board of the US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) canceled all challenged claims across five patents because the patent owner failed to meet its duty of candor by selectively and improperly withholding material information that was inconsistent with its patentability arguments. Spectrum Solutions, LLC v. Longhorn Vaccines & Diagnostics, LLC,...
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A Maze-Like Path and Laundry List Don’t Provide Written Description
By Cecilia Choy, Ph.D. on Mar 16, 2023
Posted In Patents
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a Patent Trial & Appeal Board (Board) decision that there was insufficient written description in the asserted priority applications to support a genus claim because of a lack of ipsis verbis disclosure and insufficient blaze marks. The Court concluded that the priority applications did not...
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No Standing to Invalidate Trademark without Threat of Infringement Suit
By Cecilia Choy, Ph.D. on Feb 23, 2023
Posted In Trademarks
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit concluded that when a party obtains a declaratory relief finding that it does not infringe a trademark, it no longer has Article III standing to pursue invalidation of the mark. San Diego County Credit Union v. Citizens Equity First Credit Union, Case Nos. 21-55642; -55662; -56095;...
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