112 and the Zone of Uncertainty

by Mark St. Amour on October 23rd, 2019
In consolidated cases Niazi Licensing Corp. v. Boston Scientific Corp. and Niazi Licensing Corp. v. St. Jude Medical S.C. Inc. the district court found U.S. Patent 6,638,268 (“the ‘268 patent”) to be invalid under 35 U.S.C.… Read More

Means-Plus-Function Claim Construction of “Customization Module” Results in Indefinite Finding

by Mark St. Amour on August 30th, 2019
In William Grecia v. Samsung Electronics (Fed. Cir. 2019) the Federal Circuit affirmed a finding of invalidity for U.S. Patent 8,533,860 (the ‘860 patent) under 35 U.S.C. § 112, ¶2 (indefinite). The invalidly determination for… Read More

Markman Ruling Finds Preamble Limiting, Claim Term Indefinite

by Bryan Hart on May 9th, 2019
The Southern District of Texas issued an interesting Markman ruling in ConocoPhillips v. In-Depth Geophysical. While the court construed most of the claim terms in ConocoPhillips’s favor, In-Depth managed to secure rulings that… Read More

Using Claim Construction to Import Limitations

by Mark St. Amour on February 21st, 2019
In Continental Circuits LLC v. Intel Corp. No. 2018-1076 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 8, 2019) the Federal Circuit determined the district court erred in its claim construction and explained the high bar that must be met to import limitations… Read More

Patent Drafting Tip: Take Care with Open-Ended Descriptions

by Charles Bieneman on June 7th, 2018
Be careful with the conventional wisdom that tells a patent drafter to use permissive, open-ended language when describing features of an invention.  Like me, you may have been taught to avoid “patent obscenities” like “inv… Read More

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