Hogan Lovells’ U.S. + German Patent Update reports on recent patent news and cases from Germany and the United States. The most recent update is available in English here. This update covers the following developments across the U.S. and Germany:
United States
- PTAB Has Discretion to Join Parties and New Issues in “Limited Circumstances” – Proppant Express Investments, LLC v. Oren Technologies, LLC (13 March 2019)
- PTAB Establishes New Precedent and Pilot Program for Motions to Amend – Lectrosonics, Inc. v. Zaxcom, Inc. (25 February 2019, Designated Precedential 7 March 2019)
- PTAB May Evaluate Validity of Proposed Substitute Claims on All Statutory Grounds – Amazon.com, Inc. v. Uniloc Luxembourg (18 January 2019, Designated Precedential 18 March 2019)
- Live Testimony Permissible at PTAB Oral Hearings in Limited Circumstances – K-40 Electronics, LLC v. Escort, Inc. (21 May 2014, Designated Precedential 18 March 2019) and DePuy Synthes Products, Inc. v. Medidea, LLC (23 January 2019, Designated Precedential 18 March 2019)
Germany
- Recall of Infringing Products Is Disproportionate Remedy If Future Patent Infringement Can Be Avoided by Design-Around, 15 U 43/15 (Higher Regional Court Düsseldorf) – “Heated Floor” (“Beheizbarer Boden”)
- German Federal Supreme Court on Validity of Transfer of Priority Rights, X ZR 14/17 (Federal Supreme Court) – Wireless Communication Network
- Higher Regional Court Düsseldorf on Entitlement of Co-Inventor to License Out Patent, I-15 U 2/17 (Higher Regional Court Düsseldorf) – Flammpunktprüfung
- Antibiotic Substance Not Patentable If Inevitably Obtained Through Process Suggested by Prior Art X ZR 110/16 (German Federal Supreme Court) – “Rifaximin α”
For more information, please click on the link with the detailed update, or contact partners Joe Raffetto or Steffen Steininger.