On Monday of last week, the Supreme Court of the United States granted a writ of certiorari to review the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit’s decision in RiseandShine Corporation v. PepsiCo, Inc. At the center of the case: whether trademark strength is a question of fact in a likelihood-of-confusion analysis under 15
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Trademark Law Is Not a Drag
By Adam Baker
As drag has risen in pop culture, trademark law has become an unlikely topic of conversation. Most recently, on May 27, Pattie Gonia, an internet-famous drag queen and environmental activist, urged her more than 1.8 million social-media followers to ask Patagonia to drop its lawsuit.
Patagonia is a California-based company that makes climbing apparel and…
One Question Too Few: A Win on Eligibility Undone by the Verdict Form
In Ollnova Technologies Ltd. v. ecobee Technologies ULC, the Federal Circuit handed Ollnova a string of doctrinal wins — three of its four patents cleared the patent eligibility hurdle under 35 U.S.C. § 101 — only to throw out the entire $11.5 million verdict over a single defect in the verdict form. This decision…
6 Questions to Ask Before Filing an IPR Petition
By Adam Baker
On October 17, 2025, USPTO Director John Squires issued a memorandum announcing that he would be sole decision-maker for institution of inter partes review (IPR) and post-grant review (PGR) proceedings. In this same memo, Squires stated those decisions would be determined “based on discretionary considerations.” In the time since, Squires has used a series of…
Hikma v. Amarin and a Clarified Standard for Induced Patent Infringement Under 35 U.S.C. § 271(b)
In Hikma Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. v. Amarin Pharma, Inc. (June 4, 2026), a unanimous Supreme Court has further clarified what it takes to plead — and ultimately prove — that a defendant induced another party to infringe a patent, setting a high bar for induced infringement claims. While the case arose in the context of…
Affirmed But Not Over: The Federal Circuit Sends an Unexplained “Unexceptional” Ruling Back to the Field
On June 2, 2026, the Federal Circuit issued a precedential decision in AGI SureTrack LLC v. Farmers Edge Inc. that delivered a split result — and a reminder that winning a patent case is not the same thing as collecting fees for it. The panel (Judge Haldane Robert Mayer, writing, joined by Chief Judge Kimberly…
Pharmaceutical Patent Written Description and Enablement Headaches? The Federal Circuit Clarifies a Cure
Determining the amount of disclosure sufficient to satisfy the written description and enablement requirements of 35 U.S.C. § 112(a) can be difficult, especially in the fields of biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and other unpredictable arts. In a recent precedential decision from the Federal Circuit (Teva Pharms. Int’l GmbH v. Eli Lilly & Co.), the appellate…
Wrong Is Not Weak: The Federal Circuit Reins In Fee Shifting After IPR
In mCom IP, LLC v. City National Bank of Florida, the Federal Circuit reversed an award of attorneys’ fees under 35 U.S.C. § 285 against the patent owner and sanctions under 28 U.S.C. § 1927 against its counsel, holding that neither the patent owner’s decision to litigate patent claims surviving inter partes review (IPR)…
A Bitter pH-ill to Swallow: Federal Circuit Affirms Mylan’s Win Over Actelion’s Epoprostenol Drug Patents
Last week in Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd. v. Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc., the Federal Circuit delivered generic drug maker Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc. with a notable victory when it affirmed the district court’s judgment that it does not infringe Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd.’s patents covering the active ingredient in the pulmonary arterial hypertension drug Veletri®. In particular, the appellate…
Bissell Mops Up at the ITC, But Tineco’s Redesign Stays Dry: Lessons on Claim Scope, Expert Testimony, and Appellate Strategy
Earlier this week in Bissell, Inc. v. International Trade Commission, the Federal Circuit affirmed the ITC’s determination that Tineco’s original wet/dry surface cleaning devices infringed Bissell’s patents and were properly subject to a limited exclusion order. But Tineco managed to stay one step ahead of the ban by redesigning its products after the investigation…