by Dennis Crouch

In a pair of nonprecedential decisions, the Federal Circuit affirmed three PTAB inter partes review decisions--finding BillJCo's patents unpatentable as obvious under 35 U.S.C. § 103. BillJCo, LLC v. Apple Inc., Nos. 23-2189 (Fed. Cir. May 16, 2025); and No. 23-2188 (Fed. Cir. May 16, 2025). The cases were both decided by the same three-judge panel, with Judge Stoll authoring one opinion and Judge Chen the other. In reading the cases, one key take-away is that the cases represent another example of the Federal Circuit's rigid approach to secondary considerations of non-obviousness. I recently highlighted this same phenomenon in discussing Purdue Pharma's pending petition for certiorari. See Dennis Crouch, The Federal Circuit's Rigid Approach to Secondary Considerations, Patently-O (May 5, 2025). The opinions also illustrate the court's approach to claim construction, particularly regarding interpreting a claim term to include a negative limitation. One case also relies upon a key prior art from now Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.

by Dennis Crouch

I just read Atrium Medical's SCOTUS petition -- asking the court help resolve a circuit split involving the the Brulotte & Kimble doctrines that bars collecting royalties after a patent expires, even if agreed-to by contract.

In 1964, the Supreme Court established in Brulotte v. Thys Co. that "a patentee's use of a royalty agreement that projects beyond the expiration date of the patent is unlawful per se." 379 U.S. 29 (1964). The Court reaffirmed this rule in 2015 in Kimble v. Marvel Entertainment, LLC, where it held that "a patent holder cannot charge royalties for the use of his invention after its patent term has expired." 576 U.S. 446 (2015). The Kimble Court explained that this rule should be "simplicity itself to apply." A court "need only ask whether a licensing agreement provides royalties for post-expiration use of a patent. If not, no problem; if so, no dice." Importantly, license agreements can properly extend beyond a patent's expiration date if the post-expiration royalties are payments for something else—such as unexpired patents, trade secrets, or know-how—rather than for the continued use of the expired patent. Despite this straightforward directive, the circuits have split on how to determine what royalties are actually "for."

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• 20250505150357574_050525_Atrium_Cert_appx

by Dennis Crouch

In an interesting decision affecting one of the most high-profile patent disputes in biotechnology, the Federal Circuit has partially vacated and remanded a PTAB decision that awarded priority of invention for CRISPR-Cas9 technology in eukaryotic cells to scientists at the Broad Institute. Regents of the University of California v. Broad Institute, Inc., Nos. 2022-1594, 2022-1653 (Fed. Cir. May 12, 2025). The court determined that the PTAB applied an incorrect legal standard for "conception," a fundamental concept in patent law's priority determination under the pre-America Invents Act first-to-invent system.

Understanding Conception Under Patent Law: The court reiterated the classic definition of conception as "the formation in the mind of the inventor, of a definite and permanent idea of the complete and operative invention, as it is hereafter to be applied in practice." Burroughs Wellcome Co. v. Barr Lab'ys, Inc., 40 F.3d 1223, 1228 (Fed. Cir. 1994). The court emphasized that "conception is complete only when the idea is so clearly defined in the inventor's mind that only ordinary skill would be necessary to reduce the invention to practice, without extensive research or experimentation."

However, conception is not complete invention -- something that also requires construction to practice, either actual or constructive. Notably, it is the process of reduction to practice that truly shows that the invention works.  Backtracking, this means that for conception "an inventor need not know that his invention will work for conception to be complete."

by Dennis Crouch

The copyright world experienced a major shift in May 2025 with the abrupt dismissal of Dr. Carla Hayden (Librarian of Congress), followed by the release of a landmark U.S. Copyright Office report on AI training that concluded many current industry practices likely do not qualify as fair use, and culminating in the firing of Shira Perlmutter (Register of Copyrights) just after the report's publication.  This drama  is not a resolution of the legal question, but rather seems to intensify and further politicize the debates over whether AI developers must seek permission and pay for the copyrighted works they use to train their systems.  As the report's opening paragraphs explain: "The stakes are high, and the consequences are often described in existential terms."

• Read the Report: Copyright-and-Artificial-Intelligence-Part-3-Generative-AI-Training-Report-Pre-Publication-Version

The report released last week in "pre-publication" form, titled "Copyright and Artificial Intelligence, Part 3: Generative AI Training," is the latest installment in the Copyright Office's attempt at comprehensive examination of AI's intersection with copyright law. AI training often requires uploading of entire copyrighted works into the systems, and so is easily categorized as prima facie copyright infringement -- absent a license or fair use excuse.  The 100+ page report offers a nuanced analysis, but ultimately suggests that in many situations the use will not be fair use.

The quick release of this report appears to have circumvented folks in leadership outside of the Office. Although it has not formal legal weight, courts are likely to consider its reasoning as persuasive authority as they decide the dozens of AI training copyright cases currently pending.

Update: Todd Blanche and Paul Perkins have been tapped by President Trump to be acting Librarian of Congress and Copyright Registrar, respectively.  Todd Blanche, recently appointed as Deputy Attorney General at DOJ has spent the past two decades litigating fraud and corruption issues, either as a prosecutor or for the defense.  Most recently, Blanche was defense attorney during a 2024 New York criminal trial, which resulted in Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts.  Perkins has been with DOJ since 2016, and is an Associate Deputy Attorney General. Perkins spouse, Hilary Perkins was tapped earlier this year to be chief counsel for the Food and Drug Administration. However, Senator Josh Hawley forced her removal with arguments that she was pro-abortion.