Supreme Court Rejects Patent Case Over Prior-Art Enablement

The US Supreme Court won’t take up an appeal from a patent owner highlighting a double standard for determining the validity of issued patents and determining the validity of earlier written inventions being used to challenge those patents.

Converter Manufacturing LLC’s patents were axed at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board after Tekni-Plex Inc., which CM had accused of infringement, successfully challenged their validity at the administrative tribunal. Under Section 112 of the Patent Act, a patent must teach a person with a certain level of skill how to make use of the claimed invention. Similarly, earlier patents or other ...