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The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court’s decision to dismiss a first-filed declaratory judgment complaint, finding that equitable considerations warranted departure from the first-to-file rule. Communications Test Design, Inc. v. Contec, LLC, Case No. 19-1672 (Fed. Cir. Mar. 13, 2020) (O’Malley, J.).
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The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a jury verdict of infringement of a design patent on grounds that purported appellate issues had not been properly presented to the trial court. Hafco Foundry and Machine Co., Inc. v. GMS Mine Repair and Maintenance, Inc., Case No. 18-1904 (Fed. Cir. Mar. 16, 2020) (per curiam) (Newman, J., concurring in part, dissenting in part).
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The en banc US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit declined to review its October 2019 panel decision holding the appointment of administrative patent judges (APJs) at the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) unconstitutional because APJs are appointed as if they are “inferior officers” but vested with authority that is reserved for Senate-confirmed “principal officers” under the Constitution’s Appointments Clause. Arthrex, Inc. v. Smith & Nephew, Inc., Case No. 18-2140 (Fed. Cir. Mar. 23, 2020) (per curiam) (Moore, J., joined by O’Malley, Reyna and Chen, JJ., concurring) (Dyk, J., joined by Newman, Wallach and Hughes, JJ., dissenting).
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The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a Notice clarifying its practice as to situations that will require additional information about whether a delay in seeking the revival of an abandoned application, acceptance of a delayed maintenance fee payment, or acceptance of a delayed priority or benefit claim was unintentional. 85 FED. REG. 12222 (Mar. 2, 2020).
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The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) obviousness decision, finding the decision was infected by an erroneous claim construction that failed to consider the purpose of the claimed invention. Kaken Pharmaceutical Co., LTD v. Iancu, Case No. 18-2232 (Fed. Cir. Mar. 13 2020)(Taranto, J.).

Kaken owns a patent claiming a method for topically treating fungal infections in nails. Fungal infections of the nail plate and nail bed are notoriously difficult to treat because topical treatments cannot penetrate the thick keratin in the nail plate. The patent describes an effective topical treatment with an antifungal, KP-103, having good permeability, retention capacity and activity in the nail plate. The patent specification notes that topical treatments known in the prior art were largely ineffective at penetrating the nail plate and treating onychomycosis.

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The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the district court’s finding that the patents-in-suit were unenforceable due to inequitable conduct because of a failure to disclose information related to an offer for sale of the claimed invention made more than one year prior to the critical date. GS Cleantech Corp v Adkins Energy LLC, Case Nos. 16-2231, 17-1838; GS Cleantech Corp. et al. v. Big River Resources Galva, LLC et al., Case No. 17-1832 (Fed Cir. March 2, 2020) (Wallach, J.)
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Applying the US Supreme Court’s Alice v. CLS framework, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) finding patent claims directed to data management and processing systems for merely storing advertising data were not patent eligible under 35 U.S.C. §101. Customedia Techs., LLC v. Dish Network Corp., Case No.18-2239 (Fed. Cir. Mar. 6, 2020) (Moore, J.)
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In an 8–4 decision, the en banc US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a per curiam order upholding its earlier panel decision finding a claim using the transitional phrase “consisting essentially of” to be indefinite because of inconsistences in the manner in which the patent specification explained the meaning of “better drying time” in connection with use of the claimed formulation. The Court denied plaintiff’s petition for panel rehearing and for rehearing en banc. HZNP Fin. Ltd. v. Actavis Labs. UT, Inc., Case No. 17-2149 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 25, 2020) (per curiam) (Lourie, J, joined by Newman, O’Malley and Stoll, JJ, dissenting). Judge Newman also dissented in the original panel decision.…
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The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed that patented articles must be marked in order for the patentee to recover pre-notification or pre-complaint damages. Arctic Cat Inc. v. Bombardier Recreational Products Inc., Case No. 19-1080 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 19, 2020) (Lourie, J).

In 2002, Arctic Cat entered into a licensing agreement with Honda for patents related to personal watercraft. The license agreement contained no provisions requiring Honda, as a licensee, to mark all licensed products with the applicable patent numbers. Honda began selling unmarked watercraft, and Arctic Cat made no attempt to ensure that the products were marked. Approximately a decade later, Honda stopped selling the unmarked products.

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