Scott McKeown

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Patent owners face a dilemma when they are involved in reexamination proceedings with concurrent patent litigation. They may become aware of potentially material information during litigation that is covered by a protective order. Yet they have a duty to the USPTO to disclose information known to be material regardless of the source of such information.…

MPEP § 1414.01 provides concise guidance regarding when a supplemental reissue oath or declaration is required and what it must contain. A supplemental oath/declaration is required in a reissue application where any “error” under 35 U.S.C. 251 has been corrected and the error was not identified in the original reissue oath/declaration. The supplemental reissue oath/declaration…

Ex parte reexamination appeals: For FY 09 ending September 30, 2009 the BPAI docketed 119 ex parte reexamination appeals; disposed of 96 and ended the fiscal year with 78 ex parte reexamination appeals in inventory. BPAI pendency was 5.9 months down 1.1 months in FY 08. The pendency from Notice of Appeal to decision was…

The Impact of the Pending Reexamination on i4i Limited Partnership v. Microsoft (E.D. Tx)

i4i filed suit against Microsoft back in March of 2007 in Texas for infringing U.S. Patent 5,787,449, relating to certain XML data structures.  Faced with an injunction at the conclusion of trial in August of 2009, Microsoft was granted an emergency…

In an earlier post, we commented on the case of Sigram Schindler Beteilungsgesellschaft mbH v. Kappos, No. 1:09-cv-935-TSE-IDD (E.D. Va.), which raised the issue of whether the USPTO’s interpretation of Public Law 107-273, section 13202(d), codified at 35 U.S.C. § 306, was proper.  The USPTO interprets 35 U.S.C. § 306 as prohibiting a patent owner in an ex parte reexamination from obtaining judicial review of a decision of the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (BPAI) by filing a civil suit against the USPTO in federal district court.  Under the USPTO interpretation, codified at 37 C.F.R. § 1.303 and discussed in MPEP § 2279, the patent owner may only seek judicial review in an ex parte reexamination filed on or after November 29, 1999, by appealing the decision of the BPAI to the Federal Circuit.  This is significant to patent owners because civil suit against the USPTO in district court results in de novo review of the BPAI decision and affords the patent owner an opportunity to take third party discovery.

On Friday, December 18, 2009, Judge T.S. Ellis, III, issued an opinion that
Continue Reading E.D. VA. Declines Sigram Schindler’s Bid to Revisit Options for Review of BPAI Decisions in Ex Parte Reexamination

On December 15, 2009 the USPTO issued a ‘Notice of Intent to Issue an Ex Parte Reexamination Certificate’ confirming the patentability of Merck’s billion dollar Singulair patent, U.S. 5,565,473.  This development effectively concludes the reexamination of the Singulair patent.  In initiating the reexamination, the USPTO issued a single nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting reexamination rejection.  Double patenting rejections relate to the ability of a Patent Holder to obtain multiple patents on obvious variations of a single invention.  This rejection, if maintained by the Office would not have invalidated the patent, but instead, could have potentially shortened the term of the Singulair patent.  However, the rejection was withdrawn by the USPTO.

The reexamination was initiated by a third party, Article One.  Article One claimed to have uncovered
Continue Reading Singulair Reexamination Advances to Favorable Conclusion

On October 30, 2009, in Ex parte Senju Metal Industry Co. the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (“BPAI”) affirmed a rejection of non-original patent claims in a reexamination proceeding directed to soldering flux for soldering elements. As a predicate to its decision, the BPAI explained the rationale behind application of the broadest reasonable interpretation…

The face of patent litigation in the U.S. has evolved greatly in the last 5 years with respect to patent reexamination. For patent litigators, throughout the U.S. and especially the Northern District of Illinois, the emergence of this now seemingly reliable strategic option is an important case management consideration. Indeed, if not adequately considered in…

If a patent owner has disclosed, but not claimed some embodiments of the invention, resort to the doctrine of equivalence to protect such unclaimed embodiments may be lost through the doctrine of prosecution history estoppel. Let’s assume, for sake of argument, that the patent application that led to the patent contained no claims to the…

The estoppel consequences of inter partes reexamination are set forth in 35 U.S.C. §§ 315(c) and 317(b) as well as the uncodified provision of § 4607 of P.L. 106-113.  This blog entry will focus on § 315(c).  A third party is estopped from asserting in litigation the “invalidity of any claim finally determined to be valid and patentable on any ground which the third-party requester raised or could have raised during the inter partes reexamination proceedings.” 35 U.S.C. § 315(c).  A few basic considerations can help an accused infringer minimize, if not eliminate, the negative effects of estoppel and still reap the benefits of inter partes reexamination.
Continue Reading IS THE ESTOPPEL EFFECT OF INTER PARTES REEXAMINATION A VALID DETERRENT TO FILING? (PART 1 OF 2)