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Before 1995, the term of a U.S. utility patent was 17 years from the day the patent issued.  In 1994, the federal statutes were changed to make the patent term 20 years from the effective filing date of the patent application.  This change was part of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act and was intended to make U.S. patents comparable to foreign patents, which, in most countries, expire 20 years from their filing dates.

However, in order to address the problem of delays caused by the Patent and Trademark Office during the prosecution of a patent, Congress enacted statutes providing for the addition of specific numbers of days to a patent’s term.  See 35 U.S.C. section 154(b).
Continue Reading When Does A Patent Expire? Ask the Federal Circuit!

The federal patent laws provide for an award of attorneys’ fees to the prevailing party in exceptional patent infringement cases.  35 U.S.C. §285.  An exceptional case is determined based on the totality of the circumstances.  A case can be exceptional due to a substantive legal position taken by a party or a party’s unreasonable litigation tactics.  Courts can and will award attorneys’ fees to a prevailing defendant if the plaintiff was not justified in filing a patent infringement suit in the first place by failing to conduct a proper investigation of infringement before filing suit.
Continue Reading Do Your Homework Before Suing for Patent Infringement!

One of the requirements for obtaining a patent is the written description requirement – the specification must include a written description of the invention. 35 U.S.C §112(a).  This requirement means that the specification must fully disclose what the invention is.  The purpose of the written description requirement is to demonstrate to persons skilled in the…

In Continental Circuits LLC v. Intel Corp. et al., case number 18-1076, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, in a precedential opinion, recently clarified the rules for the incorporation of a limitation from a patent’s specifications into the claims during claim construction.  In the case, Continental sued Intel Corp.; its supplier,…