Patent Year in Review: Key Decisions, Trends, and Strategies

Description

Though the Supreme Court wields the biggest hammer in the U.S., in 2023 the Court continued to pass on granting petitions for certiorari dealing with subject matter eligibility. The Court did grant certiorari on another issue on enablement, and issued a decision particularly painful for some life sciences technology (Amgen v. Sanofi dealing with antibody claims).

The Federal Circuit issued several important decisions in fundamental aspects of patent law, including inventorship, induced infringement, negative claim limitations, anticipation, obviousness, and obviousness type double patenting and there is an important pending case on means plus function in pharmaceuticals. There were also several important opinions in PTAB appeals, including on petitioner estoppel, sua sponte rejections, applicant admitted prior art, inherent anticipation, and "by another" for purposes of 35 U.S.C. 102.

The year in review would not be complete without discussing several new guidances and notices published this past year, including guidance just published by the USPTO declaring that Amgen v. Sanofi changed nothing.

Listen as our authoritative panel of patent attorneys examines cases from the past year and discusses some of the critical developments, essential trends, and strategies.