In the spring of 2018, a district court invalidated a patent claiming methods of manufacturing a pickup truck drive shaft for failure to recite patent-eligible subject matter. Industry stakeholders, scholars, and legal commenters were more than a little incredulous, since methods of manufacturing such tangible objects have long been patentable in the United States. In due course, the Federal Circuit (in a 2-1 decision) drew even more exasperation when it affirmed the district court’s holding. If the ensuing stream of bewildered blog posts, amicus briefs, and statements by public officials are anything to go by, many viewed the case as another high water mark in our uniquely American Section 101 jurisprudence…. Then, enter the July 31, 2020 re-written majority opinion in American Axle. Rather than allow the case to go to the full court for consideration, the majority decided to edit some of the troubling language from the original panel opinion.
Litigation
- How Patent Owners Should Be Rethinking Venue Selection and Case Strategy in a World Without Waco
- Amicus Brief Backing Inventor’s Eligibility Petition to SCOTUS Says 101 Exceptions Constitute ‘Judicial Legislation’
- Miami Beware: Patent Clouds Are Quickly Approaching the Sunshine State
- CAFC Affirms Water Heater Infringement Ruling Based on District Court Claim Construction
- CAFC Upholds PTAB’s Finding that Samsung Failed to Prove Magnetic Stripe Emulator Claims Obvious
Recent Posts
- The Copyright Claims Board: A Venue for Pursuing Actual or Statutory Damages Impacting Both Registered and Unregistered Works
- IP Goes Pop! – Intellectual Property and a ‘Wacky’ Professor – Brands and Inventions in the Springfield Universe, Part II
- How Patent Owners Should Be Rethinking Venue Selection and Case Strategy in a World Without Waco
- Amicus Brief Backing Inventor’s Eligibility Petition to SCOTUS Says 101 Exceptions Constitute ‘Judicial Legislation’
- Other Barks & Bites for Friday, August 12: Canada to Add Resale Royalties to Copyright Law, Fifth Circuit Affirms Exclusion of Evidence in ‘Call of Duty’ Copyright Suit, and Ninth Circuit Rejects Trademark Appeal in Yoga Pants Case