Last Month at the Federal Circuit
Last Month at the Federal Circuit

February 2014

Patent App[eals]® includes PDFs of all patent-related Federal Circuit decisions dating back to 2001. A user can search on keywords, judges, dates of decisions, lower court from which the case was appealed, case name, case number, and whether or not a case was heard en banc. In addition, cases summarized in Last Month at the Federal Circuit newsletter also include the Finnegan case summary.

Prosecution History Estoppel Applies to Design Patents

[Appealed from M.D. Fla., Judge Antoon, II]

An Accused Device Must Perform the Claim Limitation of the Asserted Patent Without Modification to Infringe

[Appealed from N.D. Cal., Senior Judge Whyte]

Examiners May Rely on Incomplete Prior Art References to Establish Obviousness

[Appealed from Board]

Prior Art Machine Merely Capable of Performing Claimed Functionality Insufficient to Render Claims Obvious Where Narrow Definition of “Adapted to” Was Used

[Appealed from Board]


Abbreviations  
ALJ Administrative Law Judge
ANDA Abbreviated New Drug Application
APA Administrative Procedures Act
APJ Administrative Patent Judge
Board Patent Trial and Appeal Board (formerly the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences)
Commissioner Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks
CIP Continuation-in-Part
DJ Declaratory Judgment
DOE Doctrine of Equivalents
FDA Food and Drug Administration
IDS Information Disclosure Statement
ITC International Trade Commission
JMOL Judgment as a Matter of Law
MPEP Manual of Patent Examining Procedure
NDA New Drug Application
PCT Patent Cooperation Treaty
PTO United States Patent and Trademark Office
SJ Summary Judgment
TTAB Trademark Trial and Appeal Board
Finnegan
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