United States: Patent

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) issued a final written decision denying an inter partes review petition against FaceTec, Inc.'s facial recognition authentication patent, finding that the petitioner failed to demonstrate adequate motivation to combine prior art references. The decision centered on whether perspective distortion techniques could be used to verify three-dimensionality in facial authentication systems, with the PTAB determining that the cited prior art did not teach the claimed verific

Patent venue rules determine where companies can be sued for infringement, but remote work and modern technology have blurred the lines of what constitutes a "place of business." Courts now grapple with whether employee homes, data servers, retail kiosks, and third-party relationships create sufficient physical presence to establish proper venue under federal law.

A jury found that Abiomed's Impella intravascular pumps did not infringe Maquet's patent under the reverse doctrine of equivalents, despite meeting literal claim limitations, and determined the asserted patent claim was invalid for failing written description and enablement requirements. The case now awaits a judicial determination on whether assignor estoppel should preclude Abiomed from challenging the patent's validity.