Gibbons Law Alert

Gibbons Law Alert

Author: Gibbons P.C.

While the PTO Director has Discretion to Institute an IPR, the Board Must Review All Petitioned Claims Upon Institution

by

Posted in Patent / USPTO

On April 25, 2018

The U.S. Supreme Court in SAS Institute v. Iancu held that when the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB or “the Board”) institutes an inter partes review (IPR), it must decide the patentability of all claims challenged in the original petition. Here, in a case with wide-reaching implications, the questions centered on the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Director’s discretion and subsequent control of an IPR. In the underlying case, SAS filed a petition for IPR alleging that all 16 claims of a particular patent were unpatentable. The Board instituted review on nine of the challenged claims and denied review on the rest, eventually finding eight of the instituted claims unpatentable in a final written decision. The Federal Circuit rejected SAS’s argument on appeal that 35 U. S. C. §318(a) required that the Board decide the patentability of all 16 claims challenged in the petition. The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 opinion authored by Justice Gorsuch, reversed the Federal Circuit, striking down partial IPR decisions. The Supreme Court held that the plain text of §318(a) conclusively answers the question presented. The section directs that “[i]f an inter partes review is instituted and not dismissed under this chapter, the [Board] shall issue a final written decision with respect to the patentability of any patent claim...

Howard Geneslaw to Speak at NJSBA Webinar

by

Posted in Real Estate

On April 19, 2018

Howard D. Geneslaw, a Director in the Gibbons Real Property Department, will participate in an upcoming webinar entitled “Advanced Topics in Land Use IV: Zoning and Planning Boards.” The webinar is presented by the New Jersey State Bar Association (NJSBA) and co-sponsored by the NJSBA Land Use Law Section and will be held on April 25 from 12:00 – 1:40 p.m. This is the fourth webinar in the NJSBA’s ongoing series featuring discussions about a variety of current zoning trends. Mr. Geneslaw’s topic is “Case Law Developments in Bad Faith Objections to Land Use Applications – Has the Judicial Tide Turned on Objections Asserted by Business Competitors?” In addition to Mr. Geneslaw, panelists will include Richard S. Schkolnick, Esq. (moderator), Brown Moskowitz & Kallen, PC; Gary S. Forshner, Esq., Greenbaum Rowe Smith & Davis, LLP; Donna M. Jennings, Esq., Wilentz Goldman & Spitzer, PA; Kenneth A. Porro, Esq., Chasan Lamparello Mallon & Cappuzzo, PC; and William C. Sullivan Jr., Esq., Scarinci & Hollenbeck. For a detailed agenda or to register, click here.

The USPTO Under Recently Appointed Director Andrei Iancu Will Promote Innovation and Increase Reliability in Issued Patents

by

Posted in Patent / USPTO

On April 18, 2018

Speaking to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on April 11, 2018, recently sworn-in USPTO Director Andrei Iancu gave an impassioned speech about his vision for the patent system. Director Iancu outlined challenges facing the USPTO and goals the agency aspires to achieve, focusing on two main objectives: (1) creating a new pro-innovation, pro-IP dialogue, and (2) increasing the reliability of the USPTO granting patents. Stakeholders should take note of the Director’s objectives and should anticipate policy changes that further strengthen the patent system. Creating a new pro-innovation, pro-IP dialogue One thing is clear from Director Iancu’s remarks: the USPTO under his leadership will strive to help the inventor and incentivize innovation. Consistent with this goal, the USPTO will “create a new narrative that defines the patent system by the brilliance of inventors, the excitement of invention, and the incredible benefits they bring to society.” “And it is these benefits,” Director Iancu continued, “that must drive our patent policies.” Much of the narrative of the patent system in recent memory has focused on curbing abuses of non-practicing entities sometimes referred to as “patent trolls.” And Director Iancu’s remarks suggest that the USPTO will actively try to change that narrative. Iancu explained that errors and abuse should be “identified and swiftly eliminated,” but on the whole, the...

Method of Measuring Body Temperature Hits the Mark Under Alice Analysis

by

Posted in Intellectual Property

On April 13, 2018

In Exergen Corp. v. Kaz USA, the Federal Circuit held that patents directed to a “body temperature detector” and related methods were eligible under § 101. The patents at issue disclose a body temperature detector that calculates a person’s core temperature by detecting the temperature of the forehead directly above the superficial temporal artery, and applying a constant coefficient to the skin and ambient temperature readings. After the jury found the claims infringed and not invalid, the district court denied judgment as a matter of law that the claims were directed to ineligible subject matter. The Federal Circuit affirmed the § 101 holding. Under the Alice test, the court first determines whether the claims are directed to a patent-ineligible abstract idea. If so, the court then examines the elements of the claims to determine whether the combination contains an inventive concept sufficient to transform the claimed abstract idea into a patent-eligible application. Unsurprisingly, the Federal Circuit found the claims abstract at step one. The parties, however, disputed whether the additional claimed steps “beyond calculating the temperature” added an inventive concept sufficient to confer patent eligibility. As an initial matter, the Federal Circuit gave “clear error deference” to the district court’s conclusions that the claimed elements were not well-understood, routine, or conventional. Something is not well-understood,...

Ninth Circuit Holds Salary History Does Not Justify Wage Differences Between Male and Female Employees

by

Posted in Discrimination

On April 11, 2018

In a precedential en banc opinion, Rizo v. Yovino, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit determined that an employee’s prior salary cannot justify a wage differential between male and female employees under the Equal Pay Act. Significantly, this decision overrules established prior Ninth Circuit precedent that an employee’s prior salary constitutes a “factor other than sex” under the Act upon which a wage differential may be based. Background The Plaintiff, Aileen Rizo, was hired by the Fresno County Office of Education in 2009 as a math consultant. At the time of her hire, her starting salary was determined in accordance with Fresno’s standard operating policy which provided that the salary for all new hires would be set by adding five percent to their previous salary. In or about 2012, Rizo learned that male colleagues who were hired after her were earning more than she. In 2014, Rizo filed a lawsuit against Jim Yovino in his official capacity as the Superintendent of the Fresno County Office of Education alleging violations of the Equal Pay Act, Title VII, and California law. At the District Court, Fresno admitted that it paid Rizo less than her male colleagues for the same work, but argued that the pay differential was permissible based on the Equal Pay Act’s...

Supreme Court Holds FLSA Overtime Exemptions Not to be Construed Narrowly

by

Posted in Wage and Hour

On April 10, 2018

On April 2, 2018, in Encino Motorcars, LLC, v. Navarro, the Supreme Court held that auto service advisors – those who “interact with customers and sell them services for their vehicles” – are exempt from the overtime pay requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“the FLSA”). The Court’s decision will certainly affect auto service advisors, but its impact will not be limited to the auto dealership industry. The crux of the Court’s decision centered around Section 13(b)(10)(A) of the FLSA, which states that “any salesman, partsman, or mechanic primarily engaged in selling or servicing automobiles” is exempt from the FLSA overtime requirement. In a 5-4 decision, the majority found that a service advisor is “obviously a salesman” under the ordinary meaning of salesman, given that a salesman sells goods or services and service advisors “sell [customers] services for their vehicles.” The Court also found that service advisors are “primarily engaged in . . . servicing automobiles” due to their integral involvement in the servicing process. Thus, the Court held that sales advisors are exempt from the FLSA overtime pay requirement under Section 13(b)(10)(A). Significantly, in reaching its conclusion, the majority departed from the Supreme Court’s longstanding principle that FLSA exemptions should be narrowly construed against employers, and, instead, held that the exemptions should be...

Not So Fast: Another Court Limits Use of Reissue

by

Posted in Patent

On April 5, 2018

Barco, N.V. & Barco, Inc. v. Eizo Corp. & Eizo Inc., aff’d, Barco, N.V. & Barco, Inc. v. Eizo Corp. & Eizo Inc., Appeal No. 2017-2086 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 3, 2018) is the latest federal district court decision analyzing the rule against recapture under 35 U.S.C. § 251. The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit summarily affirmed the lower court’s decision under Rule 36. As patent applicants are increasingly using the reissue process to try to remove limitations relied upon to distinguish prior art during an original prosecution – in many instances to broaden claim scope to cover a competitor’s product – Barco follows a judicial trend of courts stamping down on this abuse of the reissue statute. Violation of the rule against recapture has been treated as a question of law reserved for the court as opposed to the jury. Courts analyzing the issue use a three step test: 1) whether, and in what respect, the reissue claims are broader in scope than the original patent claims; 2) whether the broader aspects of the reissue claims relate to subject matter surrendered in the original prosecution; and 3) whether the reissued claims were materially narrowed in other respects to avoid the recapture rule. Pannu v. Storz Instr., 258 F.3d 1366, 1371 (Fed. Cir. 2001)....

SDNY Expands Interpretation of “Possession, Custody, or Control” – Orders Adverse Inference Against Company for Spoliation of Text Messages by Non-Party, Independent Contractor on Personal Phone

by

Posted in General Litigation

On April 2, 2018

In Van Zant, Inc. v. Pyle, et al., 270 F. Supp. 3d 656 (S.D.N.Y. 2017), the Southern District of New York ordered an adverse inference against Los Angeles-based Cleopatra Entertainment LLC (“Cleopatra”), based on the conduct of its independent contractor and non-party to the case, Jared Cohn (“Cohn”). Cohn had been hired by Cleopatra to write and direct a motion picture about the 1977 plane crash that killed two members of the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. During the film’s production, Cleopatra and Cohn enlisted the aid of Lynyrd Skynyrd drummer Artimus Pyle (“Pyle”), who, along with other surviving band members (and the estates of deceased members), was party to a 1988 Consent Order that set limits on the permissible use of the Lynyrd Skynyrd name; the likenesses, names, and biographical material of its members; the band’s history; and related items. The Consent Order also detailed the respective parties’ rights to royalties from Lynyrd Skynyrd music, merchandise, and other proceeds, and prohibited the parties from “implicitly or through inaction authoriz[ing] the violation of the terms [of the agreement] by any third party.” Pyle initially did not make Cleopatra aware of the Consent Order, but plaintiffs (also parties to the 1988 Consent Order) sent Cleopatra a copy, along with a cease and desist letter, after learning...

New Jersey Legislature Passes Sweeping Pay Equity Legislation

by

Posted in Discrimination

On March 27, 2018

Yesterday, the New Jersey Senate and Assembly passed comprehensive pay equity legislation. The legislation passed both houses with significant bi-partisan support and it is expected that Governor Murphy will soon sign the legislation into law. Once in effect, the legislation, which amends the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (“the LAD”), will be the most wide-ranging pay equity law in the United States. Significantly, unlike most pay equity laws passed in recent years by other states which target unlawful pay discrimination of women, the New Jersey law will prohibit pay discrimination of employees in any protected class. Specifically, the legislation makes it an unlawful employment practice to discriminate against a member of any protected class by compensating the employee at a lesser rate of pay, benefits, or other forms of compensation than an employee who is not a member of the protected class for “substantially similar work.” The “substantially similar” standard, which diverges from the “equal work” standard of the federal Equal Pay Act, mirrors the California Fair Pay Act. Moreover, the legislation provides that comparisons of wage rates shall be based on wage rates in all of an employer’s operations or facilities regardless of where located. An employer will be permitted to pay a different rate to an employee if it can show that the...

Third Circuit Awards $10 Million to Plaintiff on Summary Judgment in Recent RICO Case

by

Posted in General Litigation

On March 19, 2018

The Third Circuit recently affirmed a summary judgment in favor of a plaintiff for more than $10 million in damages on federal and state RICO claims. In the process, the court shed light on what evidence shows an “intent to defraud a financial institution” as required to establish bank fraud. In Liberty Bell Bank v. Rogers, et al., a bank sued an individual and entities he owned and controlled, alleging, among other things, violations of the federal and New Jersey RICO statutes. The bank alleged that the defendants developed a scheme through which they fraudulently obtained loans from the bank and further defrauded it by making payments on the loans using a check-kiting scheme. On a motion for summary judgment – in response to which the individual pro se defendant failed to file a responsive statement of material facts, thereby enabling the court to deem certain facts admitted – the district court entered summary judgment in favor of the bank, holding the defendants jointly and severally liable to the bank for more than $10 million, plus attorneys’ fees and costs. The defendants appealed, and the Third Circuit affirmed. In particular, the court affirmed the district court’s finding that defendants had committed the predicate crime of bank fraud, which makes it an offense to execute, or...

Connect:

About Gibbons

With 200 attorneys, Gibbons is a leading law firm in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Washington, DC, and Florida, ranked among the nation’s top 200 by The American Lawyer. More…

Subscribe

Archived Blog Posts

Categories