Judge Alsup wiped out a $32.5 million verdict by holding that Sonos's zone-scene patents were equitably unenforceable for prosecution laches—then the Federal Circuit reversed on prejudice. A roadmap to the limits of the continuation game.
The Federal Circuit refused patents on five expressed sequence tags whose only disclosed uses were generic research applications, sharpening the 'specific and substantial' utility standard for the genomics era.
The Federal Circuit held that an invention designed to fool consumers does not fail the utility requirement, retiring the long-dormant doctrine that deceptive or immoral inventions are unpatentable.
The Supreme Court held that a novel process for making a chemical with no known use fails the utility requirement, planting the doctrinal seed of 'substantial' utility that still governs the chemical and biotech arts.
