IP Law Daily, WORTH NOTING—Other IP law developments, (Jun 27, 2025)

By WK Editorial Staff

A periodic roundup of other items of interest to the Intellectual Property community.

PATENT—Fed. Cir.: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has denied a petition for writ of mandamus filed by Qualcomm, and joined by Apple, seeking an order mandating transfer of a patent infringement suit filed by Red Rock Analytics, LLC from the Western District of Texas to the Northern District of California. The Federal Circuit did not find that the district court clearly abused its discretion in denying the transfer. The district court found that events giving rise to this patent infringement suit occurred in both forums, and both have potential witnesses with material and relevant information. Apple and Samsung also failed to show that any of the potential witnesses were unwilling to testify (In re Qualcomm Inc., No. 25-123 (Fed. Cir. June 24, 2025)).

PATENT—Fed. Cir.: A pro se inventor failed to show that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board erred in affirming an examiner’s rejection of all claims of his patent application as either indefinite or anticipated. Substantial evidence supported the Board’s determinations. The indefinite claims contained two limitations that were contradictory; and language in the specification could not be used to resolve the contradiction. Regarding anticipation, the inventor failed to adequately support his argument that the claims of a prior art reference was not enabled(In re Shafovaloff, No. 24-1035 (Fed. Cir. Jun. 27, 2025)).

PATENT—PTAB: USPTO Acting Director Coke Morgan Stewart has vacated two Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions (here and here) granting institution of review of two parallel petitions for inter partes review (IPR) filed by Crowdstrike challenging claims 1-21 of GoSecure’s U.S. Patent No. 9,954,872. Crowdstrike’s petitions advanced two different claim constructions of the claim term “association” and asserted eight different grounds with significant overlap. In its request for Director Review, GoSecure argued that by filing two petitions, Crowdstrike impermissibly expanded the allowed word count and the Board abused its discretion by shifting the burden of persuasion on to the patent owner. Under these circumstances, “the Board should have construed the claim term and instituted review of, at most, one of the petitions,” the Director said. The Director noted that the Board’s Consolidated Trial Practice Guide explains that “one petition should be sufficient to challenge the claims of a patent in most situations” and “multiple petitions by a petitioner are not necessary in the vast majority of cases.” The cases were remanded for the Board to institute at most one petition. The Director’s decision was designated as “informative” on June 26. (Crowdstrike, Inc. v. GoSecure, Inc., Nos. IPR2025-00068 and IPR2025-00070 (P.T.A.B. Jun. 25, 2025)).

COPYRIGHT NEWS: Darrell Issa (R-Cal.), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence, along with Rep. Deborah Ross (D-N.C.), have reintroduced legislation to protect and allow public access to codes and technical standards. H.R. 4072, the Protecting and Enhancing Public Access to Codes Act (Pro Codes Act), would allow that standards development organizations (SDOs) to retain copyrights in standards that are incorporated by reference into law, so long as the standard is made “publicly accessible” online. While the bill is supported by some SDOs, public interest groups, such as Public Knowledge, oppose the legislation.

COPYRIGHT NEWS: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC) announced the release of a report on the role copyright plays in fueling creativity, supporting high-quality jobs, and driving global competitiveness through creative sectors. The report, titled “Unlocking Creativity: A Study of the Socioeconomic Benefits of Copyright,” highlights the contributions of copyright industries and gives policy recommendations designed to foster growth and innovation in this sector. According to the report, copyright-intensive industries in the U.S. contribute up to 7.8% of GDP, which translates to $1.8 trillion in economic activity each year, and they employ more than 16 million hardworking Americans. From a global perspective, the copyright sector is worth $12 trillion and employs roughly 50 million people worldwide.

PATENT NEWS: The U.S. Supreme Court on June 23 asked for the views of the United States in a Hatch- Waxman case challenging a Federal Circuit decision on induced infringement. The petition was filed by Hikma Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. and Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC seeking review of the Federal Circuits’ reinstatement of Amarin Pharma, Inc.'s induced infringement claims. Hikma argues that the ruling undermines the Hatch-Waxman Act's Section viii carve-out provision by allowing inducement claims even when a generic manufacturer has entirely removed the patented use from its FDA-approved label. The petition, which was filed on February 15, 2025, presents questions regarding the scope of 35 U.S.C. § 271(b) and whether a manufacturer can be held liable based solely on references to a branded drug's market and generic substitution practices (Hikma Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. v. Amarin Pharma, Inc., Dkt. No. 24-889 (U.S. Jun. 23, 2025)).

USPTO TRADEMARK NEWS: The USPTO announced that it has issued a precedential sanctions order against foreign filing firm Stelcore Management Services, LLC for improperly entering signatures in trademark submissions. “The order terminates trademark application proceedings in which respondents improperly entered the applicant and attorney signatures and provided false signatory information as well as false attorney information,” the USPTO said.

Attorneys: Michael Hawes (Baker Botts LLP) for Qualcomm Inc. Leslie Payne (Heim Payne & Chorush LLP) for Red Rock Analytics, LLC. Robert McBride, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, for Coke Morgan Stewart Paul R. Hart (Erise IP, P.A.) for CrowdStrike, Inc. S. Giri Pathmanaban (Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP) and Raghav Bajaj (Latham & Watkins LLP) for GoSecure, Inc. Charles Bennett Klein (Winston & Strawn LLP) for Hikma Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. and Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC. Michael R. Huston (Perkins Coie LLP) for Amarin Pharma, Inc.

Companies: Qualcomm Inc.; Red Rock Analytics, LLC; CrowdStrike, Inc.; GoSecure, Inc.; Hikma Pharmaceuticals USA Inc.; Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC; Amarin Pharma, Inc.

News: Copyright Patent Trademark TechnologyInternet FedCirNews USPTO