United States: Federal Circuit Patent Updates - November 2017

November 1, 2017 2:08 PM

Moore, J. Reversing finding of nonobviousness and holding claims invalid as obvious. "[T]he district court clearly erred in finding a skilled artisan would not have been motivated to use the claim elements." "The motivation to combine inquiry is not limited to what products are forthcoming or currently available on the market. Particularly given the lengthy FDA approval process, the pharmaceutical industry is no exception. Any motivation, 'whether articulated in the references themselves or supported by evidence of the knowledge of skilled artisan, is sufficient'." "[T]he teaching away inquiry does not focus on whether a person of ordinary skill in the art would have merely favored one disclosed option over another disclosed option. In assessing whether prior art teaches away, that 'better alternatives exist in the prior art does not mean that an inferior combination is inapt for obviousness purposes'."

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November 1, 2017 10:23 AM

Reyna, J. Affirming finding that claims were invalid as directed to patent ineligible subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101. "[T]he claims [which "generally relate to a system for streaming audio/visual data over a communications system like the internet"] are directed to abstract ideas and contain no additional elements that transform the nature of the claims into a patent-eligible application of the abstract ideas."

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