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Bite (noun): more meaty news to sink your teeth into.
Bark (noun): peripheral noise worth your attention.
Want to have your doggie(s) featured in one of our future Barks & Bites Columns? Send All photos will be added to the IPWatchdog Dog Wall at IPWatchdog Studios and will be added to the queue of images we select from each week.[email protected]Michelle Delmonico’s German Shepherd – Chase
This week in Other Barks & Bites: the Federal Circuit affirms the invalidation of Recentive’s patent claims under Section 101 after finding them directed to generic applications of machine learning; the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s International IP Index shows improving IP environments in the Middle East as the UAE grants its first collective rights management license; the USPTO formally ends its pilot program for accelerating patent applications claiming climate change mitigation technologies; and EPO President Antonio Campinos submits written observations to the EPO’s Enlarged Board of Appeals regarding the rights of third-party interveners to maintain appeals of opposition proceedings after all other appellants withdraw.
Bites
CAFC Says Recentive Patents Claim Generic Machine Learning Technologies
– On Friday, April 18, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a precedential decision in Recentive Analytics, Inc. v. Fox Corp. affirming the District of Delaware’s determination that Recentive’s patent claims to machine learning techniques for generating network maps and schedules for television broadcasts and live events were directed to unpatentable subject matter under 35 U.S.C. The The Federal Circuit, applying the two-step Alice/Mayo patent eligibility framework, found that the patents are directed to the abstract idea of using a generic machine learning technique in a particular environment, with no inventive concent, over Recentive’s arguments that its patents claimed the unique application of machine learning to generate customized algorithms that can be used to create event schedules in real-time.Innovation Alliance Backs Stewart on New Discretionary Denial Procedure
– The Innovation Alliance on Thursday, April 17, sent a letter to U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Acting Director Coke Morgan Stewart expressing its support for the Office’s decision to rescind former USPTO Director Kathi Vidal’s 2022 memo, titled “Interim Procedure for Discretionary Denials in AIA Post-Grant Proceedings with Parallel District Court Litigation,” as well as Stewart’s announcement on March 26 that, going forward, the USPTO Director will exercise her discretion under 35 U.S.C. The The The The Innovaiton Alliance letter also urged Stewart to “preserve patent examiner staffing levels to ensure the U.S. patent system operates uninterrupted to issue high-quality patents.”Senate, House Science Committee Chairs Support Relocating NASA HQ to Texas
– On Wednesday, April 16, a bicameral coalition of lawmakers representing Texas, including Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee Chairman Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and House Science, Space, and Technology Committee Chairman Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX), sent a letter addressed to President Donald Trump urging the White House to consider relocating the headquarters of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) from Washington, D.C., to the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX, when the lease for NASA’s current DC office headquarters expires in 2028.USPTO Announces Creation of Working Group to Detect and Mitigate Fraud
– On Wednesday, April 16, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced that the agency had created a new task force called the Patent Fraud Detecting and Mitigation Working Group charged with focusing the agency’s efforts on identifying various threats to the U.S. patent system caused by the filing of “spurious” patent applications, falsified signatures, unauthorized representation before the USPTO and forms of misrepresentation in practice before the agency.EPO President Campinos Says Third-Party Interveners Can Continue Appeals Following Withdrawals
– On Tuesday, April 15, Antonio Campinos, the President of the European Patent Office (EPO), submitted written observations to the EPO’s Enlarged Board of Appeals finding that under the terms of the European Patent Convention (EPC), third-party interveners who join opposition proceedings at the appeals stage are able to maintain the appeal even if all other opponents withdraw from the appeal. Although EPC provisions on party status during the appeals phase indicate that third-party interveners only gain opponent status at the appeals stage, President Campinos, reconsidering previous case law on appellate intervention, found in part that the substantial legitimate interest of interveners to challenge patent rights that will likely be enforced against them provided a sufficient basis for such parties to continue opposition appeals after all other appellants withdraw.CAFC Affirms PTAB Invalidation Based on Actual Knowledge of Skilled Artisan on Sterile Solutions
– On Tuesday, April 15, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a precedential decision in Sage Products, LLC v. Stewart affirming final written decisions entered by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) invalidating all challenged claims from two Sage Products patents covering a sterilized chlorhexidine product in an applicator package for disinfecting skin. The The This year’s IP Index also flagged concerns stemming from efforts in the United States and the European Union to reduce drug prices in ways that would increase uncertainties faced by owners of pharmaceutical patent rights.Barks
USPTO Formally Ends Climate Change Mitigation Pilot Program – On Thursday, April 17, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced that the agency was formally terminating the Climate Change Mitigation Pilot Program, which the USPTO implemented to accelerate the examination of patent applications claiming climate change mitigation technologies before it was suspended on January 28 of this year.
Innovation Alliance Applauds USPTO Director Stewart’s Clarification to Discretionary Denials
– On Thursday, April 17, the Innovation Alliance sent a letter addressed to Acting USPTO Director Coke Morgan Stewart expressing gratefulness for her March memo clarifying Director oversight of discretionary denials of petitions at the PTAB for inter partes review (IPR) procedings to challenge the validity of patent rights, indicating that the memo provides necessary guidance to patent owners and PTAB petitioners alike.USPTO Reduces Time Between Issue Notification and Issue Date to Two Weeks
– On Tuesday, April 15, the USPTO announced that, thanks to modernization efforts underway at the nation’s patent granting agency, it has officially reduced the time from notifications that a patent will issue to the actual issue date to two weeks down from three weeks.EUIPO Announces Successful Cancellation of Fraudulent EUIPP.com Domain Name
– On Tuesday, April 15, the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) announced that it had recently obtained a favorable ruling by the Czech Arbitration Court to cancel the domain name EUIPP.com, which was registered by typosquatters and targeted as part of the EUIPO’s intensified efforts to address fraudulent activities as part of its Strategic Plan SP2030.USPTO Suspends Expedited Design Applications to Combat Fraudulent Requests
– On Monday, April 14, the USPTO announced that, effective Thursday, April 17, the agency would end expedited examinations of design applications as part of the USPTO’s efforts to address erroneous micro entity certifications as well as a 560% increase in requests for expedited design application examination in recent years, which has been fueled by a large number of fraudulent requests.APPLE JAZZ Mark Owner Gets Partial Win in Latest Stage of Case Against Apple –
On April 14, Charles Bertini scored a partial win against Apple in his long-running trademark dispute over the use of the “APPLE” trademark for educational and entertainment services. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California denied Apple’s motion to dismiss with respect to Bertini’s Second Amended Complaint on the issue of abandonment but granted the motion as to counts II-IV on the issue of fraud on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).EMRA Granted First-Ever Collective Management License Granted by UAE
– On Thursday, April 10, the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Ministry of Economy announced that the Middle Eastern nation’s first-ever collective management license for the collection and distribution of royalties to music creators has been granted to the Emirates Music Rights Association (EMRA).This Week on Wall Street
Netflix Posts 13% Quarterly Revenue Growth in First Earnings Report Without Subscriber Numbers – On Thursday, April 17, streaming media company Netflix reported earnings for the first quarter of 2025 showing that the company beat analyst expectations on revenue, which grew 13% over the quarter up to $10.54 billion. The quarterly earnings report was Netflix’s first that didn’t contain subscriber data as the media company shifts its reporting focus to revenue and other financial metrics.
Quarterly Earnings
– The following firms identified among the IPO’s Top 300 Patent Recipients for 2024 are announcing quarterly earnings next week (2023 rank in parentheses):Monday:
Nidec Corp. (171st); SAP SE (t-82nd); Xerox Holdings Corp. (t-196th)Tuesday:
- 3M Co. (117th); BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd. (14th); Boeing Co. (49th); General Electric Co. (37th); Halliburton Co. (63rd); Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (t-146th); United Microelectronics Corp. (153rd); Verizon Communications Inc. (122nd); ZTE Corp. (67th)Wednesday:
- AT&T Inc. (107th); Boston Scientific Corp. (t-69th); Caterpillar Inc. (97th); Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (t-233rd); Fanuc Corp. (t-281st); Fuji Electric Co. Ltd. (251st); Fujitsu Ltd. (144th); Hyundai Motor Co. (17th); International Business Machines (7th); STMicroelectronics N.V. (64th); TE Connectivity Ltd. (t-185th); Texas Instruments Inc. (41st); Textron Inc. (t-200th); Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (t-161st); AB Volvo (114th); Western Digital Corp. (t-60th); Whirlpool Corp. (t-176th)Thursday:
- Alphabet Inc. (8th); Denso Corp. (48th); Dow Inc. (124th); Hitachi, Ltd. (23rd); Intel Corp. (13th); Kyocera Corp. (57th); LG Corp. (2nd); Merck & Co. (271st); Nokia Corp. (47th); Procter & Gamble Co. (t-82nd); Sanofi S.A. (181st); TDK Corp. (94th)Friday:
- Charter Communications Inc. (t-244th); Samsung SDI Co., Ltd. (203rd); Signify N.V. (t-163rd)
