On March 16, the United States Patent & Trademark Office (“USPTO”) announced that ‘extraordinary’ circumstances for relief at the USPTO would officially include the effects of COVID-19 “coronavirus”. On March 27, the USPTO announced its further relief response with deadline extensions as authorized by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) executed […] The close of the first quarter of 2020 means new patent filings totals from across the U.S., with the PTAB and the District of Delaware leading the way at 333 and 174 filings respectively. However, it was the Western District of Texas (WDTX) that made the biggest leap, continuing its surge since Judge Alan Albright […] The United States Patent & Trademark Office (“USPTO”) has announced its relief response and deadlines extensions relating to the current COVID-19 “coronavirus” as authorized by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) executed March 27. In the release, USPTO Director Andrei Iancu explained the steps being taken by the USPTO: “Inventors and […] The Federal Circuit has denied the request for rehearing on their Arthrex decision from this past fall. As Maier and Maier’s own Steven Kunin describes here, this rejection sets up a probable grant of certiorari on the issue from the Supreme Court. “The split among the judges provides a roadmap for a probable Supreme Court […] On March 2, 2020, the USPTO published a new notice in the Federal Register clarifying their practice regarding unintentional delay. “The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is 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 […] On February 21, 2020, the Federal Circuit remanded Ironworks Patents LLC v. Samsung Elecs. Co. back to the Northern District of California due to its flawed claim construction below. The panel of judges found the term ‘camera unit’ to have been misinterpreted to require a battery and external interface device over the specification and convention […] On February 4, 2020, the Federal Circuit issued a precedential decision in Samsung Electronics America, Inc. v. Prisua Engineering Corp.. The decision remanded an inter partes review (IPR) proceeding to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) for review of claims under the proposed novelty and obviousness grounds, despite the fact that the Board had […] 2020 has started off with a bang as a jury in the Central District of California returned a verdict finding for CalTech on five counts of infringement against both Apple and Broadcom. The suit centered around Broadcom Wi-Fi components that had been used in a variety of products resulting in awards of $270,241,171 from Broadcom […] Next month is the 15th Annual Advanced Patent Law Institute at the USPTO, and Maier and Maier’s own Stephen G. Kunin is set to moderate the Thursday morning session focused on Section 101: High Tech v. Life Sciences. Per the program description: ‘The U.S. patent statutes apply equally to all patent applications, but the application […] Final briefing from Appellant Arthrex, Inc., Appellees Arthrocare Corp. and Smith & Nephew, Inc., and the Intervening United States Government was filed January 17, 2020 on the request for en banc rehearing. The decision at issue centered on the constitutionality of the appointment process for the PTAB Administrative Patent Judges (APJs) and whether PTAB proceedings […]