Courtney Seams

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Courtney Seams focuses her practice on intellectual property litigation matters. Read Courtney Seams's full bio.

Unified Front: No Forfeiture by Failing to Raise Argument in Request for Rehearing


By on Aug 8, 2024
Posted In Patents

Addressing forfeiture of issues on appeal and sufficiency of the asserted prior art, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a Patent Trial & Appeal Board obviousness finding, explaining that a party does not waive arguments on appeal by failing to include them in a request for rehearing. Voice Tech Corp. v....

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Prime Delivery: Amazon Program Now Offers Personal Jurisdiction to Patent Holders


By on May 16, 2024
Posted In Patents

Addressing the issue of personal jurisdiction in the context of a declaratory judgment case involving a program for resolving patent infringement claims, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit concluded that a patent owner has personal jurisdiction in the forum of an alleged infringer when it files a program claim against the alleged...

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Virtually Done: Computer Visualization Patents Are Ineligible for Protection


By on Apr 18, 2024
Posted In Patents

Addressing subject matter eligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the district court’s finding that patents related to computer visualizations of medical scans were patent ineligible. AI Visualize, Inc. v. Nuance Communications, Inc., Case No. 22-2019 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 4, 2024) (Moore, Reyna, Hughes, JJ.) AI...

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What’s Kühler Than Kühl? No Likelihood of Confusion


By on Sep 28, 2023
Posted In Trademarks

Addressing unfair competition claims under the Lanham Act, the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit concluded that no reasonable juror would confuse an alcohol distributer’s use of the word “kühl” with use of a similar mark by a clothing company. Alfwear, Inc. v. Mast-Jägermeister US, Inc., Case No. 21-4029 (Fed. Cir. Sept. 7,...

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Federal Circuit to Revisit Whether KSR Extends to Design Patents


By on Jul 13, 2023
Posted In Patents

Granting a petition for rehearing en banc, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decided to revisit the effect of the Supreme Court’s 2007 decision in KSR International v. Teleflex on design patents. LKQ Corporation v. GM Global Technology Operations, Case No. 21-2348 (Fed. Cir. June 30, 2023) (per curiam). The Federal Circuit...

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Absent Nexus Secondary Considerations Come in Second


By and on Jun 15, 2023
Posted In Patents

Addressing the nexus between a secondary consideration and the claimed invention in assessing obviousness, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed a Patent Trial & Appeal Board finding of nonobviousness because the Board erred in its nexus analysis regarding secondary considerations. Yita LLC v. MacNeil IP LLC, Case Nos. 22-1373; -1374 (Fed....

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Hanging Patentability on Written Description Cannot Be Truss-ted


By on May 4, 2023
Posted In Patents

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a Patent Trial & Appeal Board finding that the claims of a patent for a truss hanger were invalid for lack of written description because they claimed an undisclosed range despite the predictable nature of the technology. Columbia Insurance Company v. Simpson Strong-Tie Company Inc.,...

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Message Received: US Courts Are Appropriate, More Convenient Venue to Adjudicate US IP Disputes


By on Feb 23, 2023
Posted In Copyrights, Trade Secrets, Trademarks

Addressing personal jurisdiction and forum non conveniens in a software licensing dispute, the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld a district court’s exercise of personal jurisdiction over a Dutch entity and the court’s decision to not dismiss the case for forum non conveniens. dmarcian, Inc. v. dmarcian Europe BV, Case Nos. 21-1721;...

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KSR Does Not Extend to Design Patents (Yet)


By on Feb 9, 2023
Posted In Patents

Addressing the standard for obviousness of design patents, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, in a per curiam opinion, upheld the Patent Trial & Appeal Board’s finding that a challenged design patent was not obvious over the pre-KSR design patent obviousness test or anticipated. LKQ Corporation v. GM Global Technology Operations, Case...

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“Open Sesame” Without Translation Won’t Open Door to Trademark Registration


By on Feb 2, 2023
Posted In Trademarks

The Trademark Trial & Appeal Board (Board) addressed, for the first time, whether an applicant is required to submit an English translation for a word that is created by spelling out the pronunciation of Chinese characters using Latin characters. The Board concluded that the mark required an English translation and upheld the examining attorney’s refusal...

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