District Court's Markman Ruling Has No Preclusive Effect On PTO Reexam
Client Alert | 1 min read | 08.24.07
The Federal Circuit, in In Re Trans Texas Holdings Corp., (No. 2006-1559, -1600, Aug. 22, 2007), affirms a Board's Reexamination decision that found that each of the claims of two related patents were invalid under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as obvious over the prior art. The Court rejects the appellant's argument that the Board should have given preclusive effect to a district court's Markman order, which had construed the claims in their favor in a prior litigation. The Court holds that issue preclusion is not warranted because the PTO was not a party to the earlier litigation, and as a result, did not have a "full and fair opportunity" to litigate the claim construction issues.
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Client Alert | 4 min read | 12.30.25
Are All Baby Products Related? TTAB Says “No”
The United States Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB or Board) recently issued a refreshed opinion in the trademark dispute Naterra International, Inc. v. Samah Bensalem, where Naterra International, Inc. petitioned the TTAB to cancel Samah Bensalem’s registration for the mark BABIES' MAGIC TEA based on its own BABY MAGIC mark. On remand from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the TTAB reconsidered an expert’s opinion about relatedness of goods based on the concept of “umbrella branding” and found that the goods are unrelated and therefore again denied the petition for cancellation.
Client Alert | 6 min read | 12.30.25
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FYI – GAO Finds Key Person “Available” Despite Accepting Employment with a Different Company
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More Than Math: How Desjardins Recognizes AI Innovations as Patent-Eligible Technology
