It is hard for me to believe that the US Supreme Court is hearing the case of Jack Daniels vs Bad Spaniels. For those who don’t know, Jack Daniels is a form of Whiskey.  VIP Products makes and sells a squeaking dog toy known as “bad spaniels.” The setup here is a humorous parody, but JD is not laughing.

Jack Daniels sent a cease-and-desist letter to VIP who then filed a declaratory judgment action in Arizona. The district court sided with JD on both TM infringement and dilution and issued an injunction to stop ongoing sales and distribution.  (The excrementory references in Bad Spaniel also led to tarnishment conclusions).  On appeal though, the 9th Circuit identified the toy as an “expressive work” entitled to speech protections under the First Amendment of the US Constitution and ordered the lower court to apply an enhanced infringement analysis stemming from Rogers v. Grimaldi, 875 F.2d 994 (1989).  Under Rogers, the court needs to consider the expressive relevance of the accused work and whether it is “explicitly” misleading.  With regard to dilution, the appellate court found that the dog toy was not actually making commercial use of the JD mark.  Although the toy was being sold in commerce, the JD mimicry was for humourous speech purposes rather than simply commercial.

The Supreme Court granted certiorari and the briefing is ongoing.  Typically, the most important amicus brief in a private case is that filed by the U.S. Government.  Here, the USPTO and DOJ joined together to file a brief strongly supporting the mark holder — writing that the 9th Circuit decision “is egregiously wrong.” The Gov’t is particularly concerned that a funny joke will be an excuse to allow infringement.  Although humorous parody should be a factor in the likelihood-of-confusion analysis, the Gov’t argues that it should not be a determinative “get-out-of-the-Lanham-Act free card.”  On the dilution side, the Gov’t argues that Congress expressly set the rules, including a defense that the accused use is not being used as a mark.  The Gov’t argues here that the Ninth Circuit ignored that provision and instead created its own non-statutory rule regarding the commercial nature of the humor being used.

The Government’s basic argument here is that free speech concerns are properly incorporated into the infringement analysis and should not be given a separate overlay.  The result then is a holistic balancing of speech interests against the misleading nature of a product.  “The Ninth Circuit’s reasoning means that virtually any humorous pirating of a trademark will be “expressive” and thus qualify for heightened First Amendment protection, no matter how misleading.”

The briefing also highlights some concerning uses of marks to sell marijuana products, such as the Oreo knock-off below.  These don’t really seem humorous, but who am I to know?

Read the Gov’t Brief here.  One note, in the case, the appellate court did not expressly consider Bad Spaniels under a more traditional parody test.  The Gov’t suggested vacatur and remand to the 9th Circuit to reconsider on those grounds.

Guest Post by Jordan Duenckel.  Jordan is a second-year law student at the University of Missouri, head of our IP student association, and a registered patent agent. 

The Federal Circuit released its opinion in Personalized Media Communications, LLC, Vs. Apple Inc., Docket No. 2021-2275 on January 20, 2023, in a dispute involving an alleged pattern of inappropriate conduct during patent prosecution. In a split decision, the Federal Circuit ruled that the district court did not abuse its discretion in declaring a patent unenforceable based on prosecution laches.

Apple FairPlay uses digital rights management (DRM) to limit user access. Specifically, FairPlay encrypts data and uses “decryption keys” to control decryption. As an additional added layer of security, Apple further encrypted these decryption keys and this further encryption is the basis for the patent infringement suit brought by Personalized Media Communications, LLC (PMC) based on PMC’s U.S. Patent No. 8,191, (the “’091 patent”). The jury reached a unanimous verdict and awarded $308 million to PMC for infringement of claims 13-16. Despite the favorable verdict on infringement, the district court eventually sided with Apple by holding the ‘091 patent unenforceable based on the equitable affirmative defense of prosecution laches. Prosecution laches requires proving two elements:

1. The patentee’s delay in prosecution must be unreasonable and inexcusable under the totality of circumstances; and
2. The accused infringer must have suffered prejudice attributable to the delay.

Hyatt v. Hirshfeld, 998 F.3d 1347, 1359–62 (Fed. Cir. 2021).

PMC’s applications were pending for 16 years before the claims were presented for examination.  During that process, PMC filed several thousands of claims.  PMC’s application was one of the few pre-GATT applications still pending at the USPTO, having been filed on the June 7, 1995, deadline.  The legal result is that the patent term extends 17 years from its 2012 issuance date (34 years from the filing date). But, the district court concluded that equity could not maintain the result because PMCs delays were unreasonable and inexcusable.

PMC raised a number of justifications on appeal, perhaps most interesting is that PMC’s prosecution strategy was in line with the “Consolidation Agreement” it made with the PTO. The agreement was part of the USPTO’s efforts to move out these old cases.  According to the procedure, where PMC was to designate “A” applications and “B” applications, with the PTO prioritizing “A” applications. Rejected claims would transfer to the corresponding “B” application and prosecution of “B” applications was stayed until the corresponding “A” application issued. This A to B process, in effect, allows PMC to delay the examination of applications and allows two chances for examination without paying a continuing examination fee.

On appeal, the majority, written by Judge Reyna and signed by Judge Chen, did not see this scheme as an excuse, but rather as further evidence of PMC’s inexcusable behavior in the prosecution process. In dissent, Judge Stark suggested that Apple had failed to show prejudice attributable to PMC’s delay.

Typically, an accused infringer can show prejudice based upon investment or use of “the claimed technology during the period of delay.” The majority concluded that Apple necessarily invested in FairPlay during the delay since it launched the product in 2003. The dissent focuses on the timeframe of the PMC’s conduct, finding that it was PMC’s pre-2000 conduct that was unreasonable while the post-2000 conduct involved more routine aspects of patent prosecution’s back-and-forth nature.   But, Apple did not prove that it was prejudiced by the pre-2000 conduct.

My thoughts: Prosecution laches is a remedy meant to address abuse of the patent system and necessarily must be flexible to meet ever-changing strategic conduct. PMC employed a business strategy deliberately aimed at creating a labyrinth of patent protection extending beyond the statutory twenty years, directly stating that the goal was patent coverage extending 30 to 50 years.  Further, PMC was unable to provide a legitimate purpose for the delays that aligns with the general goals of patent protection.

To me, the prejudice suffered by Apple is clear. At the time that Apple was developing FairPlay, they were unable to know the full scope of PMC’s patent protection. The chronological line drawing that the dissent favors ignores the practical effects of PMC’s ongoing deliberate business strategy.  Although the unreasonable acts may have taken place prior to 2000, the impact of those actions continued well beyond. The attempt to distinguish post-2000 activities as prejudicial or not in isolation avoids the totality of the circumstances that equitable remedies like prosecution laches are meant to address.

by Dennis Crouch

Apple Inc. v. Zipit Wireless, Inc., 2022 WL 18108215 (PTO Dir., Dec. 21, 2022)

Back in December, Director Vidal issued an important director review decision holding an IPR challenger must prove that the challenged claims are invalid, even if the patentee raises no defense.  The PTAB appears to have incorrectly treated the situation as more of a default judgment even though the patentee had not expressly abandoned.

Apple filed three IPR petitions against each of two Zipit patents.  The PTAB instituted IPR proceedings in all six.  At that point, Zipit filed patent owner responses in two of the cases, but not in the other four cases.  In its final written decision, the PTAB did not consider the merits of the case, but simply concluded that the patent owner had “abandoned the contest” and treated their lack of opposition as a “request for adverse judgment under 37 C.F.R. § 42.73(b).”

In a sua sponte review of the record, Dir. Vidal noted that Counsel had not expressly abandoned the case, and during the hearing stated that judgment for Apple is appropriate “if the Board determines that they have met their burden of proof with respect to those claims.”  Vidal concluded that “Patent Owner’s non-opposition was contingent on the Board determining that Petitioner met its burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that the challenged claims are unpatentable.” As such, the Board must consider the evidence presented by Apple and determine whether it meets the statutory burden of providing “unpatentability by a preponderance of the evidence.” 35 U.S.C. 316(e).

Read it here: https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/IPR2021-01124_20221221_p14_20230104_.pdf

by Dennis Crouch

Novartis Pharms v. HEC Pharm (Supreme Court 2023)

Some drug treatments perform better if the patient starts with a loading dosage before shifting to the regular daily amount. But, loading dosages can be risky because of the high dosage and because of the greater likelihood of mistakes.  Novartis was able to configure a multiple sclerosis treatment plan without the loading dosage.  Its claims require the administration of fingolimod “at a daily dosage of 0.5 mg, absent an immediately preceding loading dose regimen.” US Patent No. 9,187,405. The problem for Novartis is that its original priority application filings did not say anything positive or negative about a loading dosage, and the court eventually rejected the priority claims and thus invalidated the patent claims.

Novartis almost walked away a winner.  In the ANDA litigation, Judge Jordan (D.Del.) found the claims valid and infringed by HEC. On appeal Federal Circuit Judge O’Malley penned the majority opinion affirming the Novartis win. Judge Linn sided with O’Malley, with Chief Judge Moore in dissent.

But then an odd sequence of events occurred: (1) in February 2022, HEC filed a petition for panel rehearing; (2) but before the panel could rule on the motion, Judge O’Malley retired.  (3) At that point, Judge Hughes was added to the panel; and (4) Judge Hughes sided with Chief Judge Moore’s position.  The modified panel then issued a new opinion with Judge Moore’s prior dissent effectively becoming the majority, and Judge Linn now writing in dissent.  What made this more surprising was that the Federal Circuit had not provided any indication of Judge Hughes’ substitution.

Novartis petition for certiorari addresses both the procedural judicial shell game and the substantive written description question. Questions presented:

1. Whether 28 U.S.C. § 46 and principles of sound judicial administration preclude a court of appeals from adding a new judge to form a new panel and redecide a case after an original three-judge panel has already decided the case and entered its judgment.

2. Whether 35 U.S.C. § 112 should be interpreted consistent with its plain text as requiring that a patent specification contain a “written description of the invention” in a form that need only be understandable to “any person skilled in the art,” or whether the court of appeals properly read in a heightened requirement that allows it to deem the specification inadequate on de novo review and displaces the perspective of a person skilled in the art.

Novartis Petition for Cert 2023.   The Supreme Court will decide the Amgen enablement case later this term, but recently denied certiorari in the written description case of Juno v. Kite.

My thoughts: I think that Chief Judge Moore probably has the best argument on the merits of the written description question.  If you are going to claim some particular element of the invention (and use it to overcome the prior art), that element should be introduced at some level in the original specification.  But, written description is a question-of-fact, what that means is that the appellate court cannot simply substitute its decision in place of that of the district court. Rather, the district court’s finding of facts should be affirmed barring some clear error or abuse of discretion. The case is close enough here that I would not find a clear error by the district court judge.  The panel switch also smells very bad to me.

Pundits will tell you that the use  of top Supreme Court counsel helps get the court’s attention. That bonus is probably mostly because of their skill at framing the case, but their reputation within the Court probably also plays a role.  In this case though Novartis appears to go overboard and included a host of top Supreme Court counsel, including Deanne Maynard (MoFo), Willy Jay (Goodwin Procter), and Thomas Hungar (Gibsun Dunn), all of whom have successfully argued numerous cases before the Court.

by Dennis Crouch

The Supreme Court has added a fourth case to its list of potentials for 2023: Apple Inc., v. California Institute of Technology, Docket No. 22-203.  The case is extremely important for our patent system because it could define key aspects of the interplay between inter partes review (IPR) proceedings and parallel district court litigation.

IPR Estoppel Provision: In traditional patent infringement litigation, accused infringers almost always raise invalidity defenses — arguing that the patent fails to satisfy the conditions of patentability set forth in the Patent Act.  For the past decade, IPRs have offered an additional powerful tool to challenge validity.  As the IPR system was being developed, patent holders were concerned about repeat harassment and argued that patent challengers should be required to choose their battleground: either the PTAB or Court, not both.   Aspects of the eventual compromise are codified in the estoppel provision of 35 U.S.C. 315(e)(2).  The statute becomes effective once an IPR reaches a final written decision as to some claim in the challenged patent. At that point, the IPR petitioner is prohibited from asserting in court that any challenged claim is “invalid on any ground that the petitioner raised or reasonably could have raised during that inter partes review.”  Id.  The question in the case is statutory interpretation – what did Congress mean by “could have raised during that inter partes review”?

Apple lost its IPR against CalTech’s patent and subsequently attempted to maintain further obviousness arguments in the parallel infringement litigation. The district and appellate courts applied 315(e)(2) estoppel to prohibit those additional obviousness arguments — concluding that Apple reasonably could have raised them in its initial IPR petition.  Apple’s appeal to the Supreme Court argues that the Federal Circuit misconstrued the statute. Apple’s argument hinges on three key points:

1. The statutory estoppel applies only to grounds that could have been raised “during” the IPR;
2. The IPR begins only at the point where the PTAB grants the petition to institute an IPR; and
3. Once the IPR is instituted, the petitioner is barred from raising new grounds (except for rebuttal-type issues).

The Federal Circuit’s error (according to Apple) is that the court found that estoppel applies to any ground that could have been raised in the petition. But, the petition is pre-IPR and thus not “during” the IPR as the statute requires.  The petition for writ of certiorari asks the following question:

Whether the Federal Circuit erroneously extended IPR estoppel under 35 U.S.C. § 315(e)(2) to all grounds that reasonably could have been raised in the petition filed before an inter partes review is instituted, even though the text of the statute applies estoppel only to grounds that “reasonably could have [been] raised during that inter partes review.”

Petition.

What’s the news: The Supreme Court has issued a CVSG – Call for the Views of the Solicitor General – in the case.  What this means is that at least four justices think that case has potential but that they would like to hear the Biden Administration’s views on whether this is an appropriate vehicle. The SG’s office is already working on three other briefs. Two focus on eligibility (Interactive Wearables & Tropp), and the other addresses the PTO-FDA interaction involving skinny-label infringement (Teva v. GSK).

My view on the estoppel issue:

1. Point for CalTech: The Federal Circuit’s solution here is the better policy.  Parties should not be given repeated affirmative opportunities to attempt invalidation of the same patent claims. Rather, the process should follow the general use-it-or-lose-it rule of litigation that forces parties to bring their best arguments to the table and see if they are good enough.  Here, Apple made a strategic decision to bring certain arguments to the PTAB — most likely because they were the best arguments.  It doesn’t help anyone to now let them bring on the third-string as a measure of patent invalidity.
2. Point for Apple: A pure textual reading of the statute favors Apple. If the IPR does not start until initiated, “during” the IPR would not include any petition-stage actions.
3. Match for CalTech: Apple’s reading removes essentially all meaning from the “reasonably could have raised” provision since petitioners basically cannot add any new grounds once the petition is granted. The statute’s purpose though was to prevent abusive and serial patent challenges.

I always hope that the Supreme Court takes patent cases because of both the drama and potential for meaningful and positive reform.  Likewise, I hope that the court takes this case, but then affirms.

by Dennis Crouch

Over the past several months, the USPTO and FDA have been collaborating with the purpose of promoting competition and lower drug prices in the US.   This week (Jan 19), the USPTO is holding a 7-hour joint listening session hosted by USPTO Director Kathy Vidal and FDA Commissioner Robert Califf.  [Register and see the Agenda here]

The session has three key substantive areas:

1. The extent and impact of pharmaceutical and biotech companies acting in a two-faced manner: Arguing to the USPTO that their treatments represent major changes from what was previously done (and thus patentable); while simultaneously arguing to the FDA that then later arguing that these same treatments are quite similar to what is already on the market (and thus safe for use).
2. The extent that pharmaceutical and biotech companies are improperly gaming the patent system and then using those games to justify strong protections under Hatch-Waxman and the BPCIA.
3. How can the Orange Book process be improved to protect innovation while simultaneously improving competition?  Prof. Jay Thomas’s remarks here are on point: “Despite their [extraordinary] impact, Orange Book patent listings receive no FDA oversight.”  PTO-P-2022-0037-0010.

The thrust of this entire gambit from the administration level is to reduce drug prices.  But, once we drop down to the PTO/FDA level, the close industry relationship suggests to me that agency officials will be keenly aware of the potential negative impacts of any action on pharma innovation.

The key leadoff speaker is Hastings Law Professor Robin Feldman whose work argues that the system is broken in myriad ways.  George Mason Prof. Adam Mossoff will provide a high-level counterargument, and several others will talk through complications. In particular, I always learn a lot hearing from Corey Salsberg (Novartis), Sean Tu (WVU), and Jay Thomas (G-Town)

While this is a joint event, both agencies (along with several other federal agencies) are also operating unilaterally to address the high cost of healthcare in America.  In particular, the FTC/DOJ are using antitrust tools to push against monopoly-level pricing even for drug products whose use is protected by patents.

Although no direct action items are expected to come out of this event,  I see all of this as quite a big deal as the various players work to establish their narrative.

by Dennis Crouch

A continuing trend in American law is the rise of Trade Secrecy as a powerful form of intellectual property.

The FTC and Biden Administration have called for eliminating employee non-compete agreements, which will strengthen the hard push for trade secrecy.  Most trade secret claims involve former employees moving to competitors.  If contracts limiting those transitions are unenforceable, more weight will almost certainly fall on trade secrecy rights.

Recently, President Biden also signed into law the Protecting American Intellectual Property Act of 2022.  Despite its broad name, the new law focuses entirely on international trade secrecy issues.  In particular, the law authorizes the US President to place sanctions on foreign entities that engage or benefit from “significant theft of trade secrets of United States persons.”   The law has a two-step approach: (1) the President must provide Congress with a report of violators; and (2) the President must then put sanctions on the violators (with the exception that sanctions can be waived if in the national interest).  Potential sanctions include blocking and prohibiting “all transactions in all property and interests in property of the entity.”

The new law is set to Sunset in 7 years and so will not be codified within the United States Code (USC).  However, the law does rely upon the DTSA definition of trade secret found in 18 U.S.C. 1839:

[T]he term “trade secret” means all forms and types of financial, business, scientific, technical, economic, or engineering information, including patterns, plans, compilations, program devices, formulas, designs, prototypes, methods, techniques, processes, procedures, programs, or codes, whether tangible or intangible, and whether or how stored, compiled, or memorialized physically, electronically, graphically, photographically, or in writing if— (A) the owner thereof has taken reasonable measures to keep such information secret; and (B) the information derives independent economic value, actual or potential, from not being generally known to, and not being readily ascertainable through proper means by, another person who can obtain economic value from the disclosure or use of the information.

Under Federal Law, the theft of trade secrets held by US persons for the purpose of taking information out of the US is also a felony. See, Economic Espionage Act.

But, for the most part the practice of trade secrecy law is radically different than that of patent law.  I’m wondering the extent that patent attorneys are engaging in the transition.

Most of the action in the House of Representatives begins in committees and subcommittees.  Over the past several terms, patent law legislation and USPTO oversight have primarily been handled by the Judiciary Committee, and particularly the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet, with the subcommittee chair often driving the discussion and proposals.

As Republicans take charge in the House, the new Speaker (along with the Judiciary Chair) will need to also name an IP Subcommittee chair.  There are two leading candidates:

• Rep. Darrell Issa, a Republican from San Diego, California; and
• Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican from Northern Kentucky.

Both Issa and Massie are non-traditional judiciary committee members as neither are attorneys.  However, each has lots of experience in electronics and creating products, and with patents.  Issa asks great questions and is a powerful agency watchdog.  But, Massie is the one that truly believes in patents as an element of a strong libertarian property rights system.  In recent days, USInventor has been lobbying against Rep. Issa and has indicated to me that it would strongly support Rep. Massie.

I remember first hearing Rep. Issa’s voice on vehicle alarm systems back in the early 1990s saying: “protected by Viper, stand back.”  But, it is Massie’s patents that are particularly cool, most of which focus on haptic feedback mechanisms.

• https://patents.google.com/?inventor=Thomas+H+Massie

The following comes from my 2022 Civil Procedure I Exam. – Dennis

Introduction: Dryson makes a “hair wand” that styles as it dries.  The company also owns a design patent covering the product. In 2021, three different competitors started selling similar products. Dryson is considering suing them all together in a single lawsuit to be filed W.D. Tex. Federal Court. The action would allege both (1) Federal Patent Infringement; and (2) Unfair Competition (based upon Texas state law).  One note, Dryson’s attorneys believes that it has a good claim of Patent Infringement against all three parties, but the Unfair Competition claim would only be filed against two of the defendants.

1. Do the rules permit Dryson to file a single lawsuit that includes all these parties/claims? (Is Dryson required to bring them all together in one action?)

More facts for next question: Dryson filed the action as noted above. One of the defendants (Amaxon) sells the accused product, but does not actually manufacture the product.  Rather, Amaxon sells a product manufactured by Revloon. As part of their deal, Revloon agreed to indemnify Amaxon for any losses if the product turns out to be infringing on intellectual property owned by a third party.

2. The rules of Civil Procedure provide different ways that Revloon could become part of the lawsuit. Identify them and explain how it would work.

More facts for next couple of questions: When Amaxon first started selling the Revloon product, the company conducted a “freedom-to-operate” search.  To this end, Amaxon hired an attorney (Crunch) to opine on whether the knock-off version infringed anyone’s intellectual property rights. Crunch hired a technical expert to search through patent office records. The technical expert created a Technical Report showing several patents and trademarks that were implicated. Crunch then used that Technical Report to draft an Opinion Letter stating that: “Amaxon is infringing Dryson’s IP rights.” Despite the opinion letter, Amaxon decided that the profits were too lucrative and decided to keep selling the product. All of this occurred before Dyson sued or threatened to sue.

Later, during litigation, Dryson submitted a request to Amaxon seeking discovery of documents held by Amaxon that relate to Dryson’s intellectual property.  Amaxon identified  the Technical Report and Opinion Letter as responsive, and added them to its Privilege Log. But, Amaxon indicated that it would not disclose their contents to Dryson.  Dryson is interested in the documents because proof of willful infringement can lead to treble damages.

3. After attempting to negotiate to resolve the discovery dispute, Dryson filed a motion to compel – seeking an order requiring Amaxon to turn-over the two documents. How should the Judge rule?  

4. Assume that the court granted the motion to compel and ordered Amaxon to provide the requested documents. Can Amaxon appeal that order?

5. The case is headed to trial. What information would help you know whether the court will hold a bench trial or a jury trial (explain)?

More facts for next question: Dryson’s product has a problem.  It burns hair. Russell Brand is one of the people injured. Brand is a famous and wealthy comedian.  Although he is English, the incident happened on a trip to Missouri and so he filed suit in St. Louis Federal Court.  Rather than suing just for himself, Brand filed a class-action on behalf of all people whose hair had been burned within the State of Missouri (but excluding anyone whose skin was burned).  The case seeks both an injunction (stop selling harmful products) and monetary damages for hair loss.  Brand’s attorney is a leading class-action litigator and Brand has promised to pay all legal fees from his considerable wealth in pursuit of justice.

6. Should the court certify the class?

The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a total of 359,000 patents in 2022, including 323,000 utility patents. This marks the third consecutive year of decline in the number of issued patents. The 2022 figures show a 1% decrease from the previous year and a 9% decrease from the record-high numbers seen in 2019, as depicted in the chart below.