23andMe v. Ancestry: Court Finds ‘Finding Relatives in a Database’ Patent to Be Patent-Ineligible Subject Matter Posted on October 22, 2018 23andMe, Inc. v. Ancestry.com DNA, LLC, Ancestry.com Operations Inc., Ancestry.com LLC, No. 18-cv-02791-EMC (N.D. Cal. Sept. 23, 2018), motion to dismiss hosted by PacerMonitor.  With the rapid rise in popularity and availability of direct-to-consumer personal DNA testing, the landscape of service providers has swiftly expanded as the underlying technology has become increasingly accessible. As a result of this industry’s growth...
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Nobel Biocare Services AG v. Instradent USA, Inc: Federal Circuit Holds Dental Implant Patent Invalid Posted on October 17, 2018 Opinion hosted by Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. On September 13, 2018, the Federal Circuit held that six of Nobel’s claims within U.S. Patent 8,714,977 ("the ‘977 patent") were invalid as anticipated under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b). The decision affirmed that of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board after an inter partes review (IPR). The ‘977 patent was...
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Echavarria v. Facebook: Class Action Complaint Seeks Damages for the Massive Facebook Data Breach Posted on October 15, 2018 Class Action Complaint, Carla Echavarria and Derrick Walker v. Facebook, Inc., No. 5:18-cv-05982 (N.D. Cal. Sept. 28, 2018), complaint hosted by SCRIBD. On September 28, Facebook announced it had discovered a security breach three days earlier that had affected 50 million users. According to Facebook’s press release, the hackers capitalized on three different bugs in the “View As” feature to steal...
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University of California v. Broad Institute: Court Affirms Broad’s Patent on Complex Cell Gene-Editing Tool Posted on October 10, 2018 Regents of the Univ. of Cal. v. Broad Inst., No. 2017-1907 (Fed. Cir. Sep. 10. 2018), opinion hosted by Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. In 2012, researchers from the University of California, University of Vienna, and Emmanuelle Charpentier (collectively, “UC”) published their use of CRISPR-Cas9 to precisely cut the DNA of prokaryotes (single-celled organisms without distinct nuclei). Shortly...
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Is Your Smart Thermostat Safe from Hackers? California’s New Internet-of-Things Cybersecurity Law Seeks to Address the Issue Posted on October 08, 2018 California Senate Bill 327, 2018 Cal. Stats. ch. 886 bill hosted by California Legislative Information. On September 28, 2018, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law Senate Bill 327 (“SB 327”), the first Internet-of-Things (“IoT”) cybersecurity bill on the books in any state. The new law will require manufacturers to equip Internet-connected devices —such as cellphones, home assistants, and other...
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Sportvision, Inc. et al v. MLB Advanced Media L.P.: MLB Accused of Stealing More Than Just Bases Posted on April 30, 2018 Complaint, Sportvision, Inc et al. v. MLB Advanced Media L.P., No. 1:18-cv-03025 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 5, 2018), complaint hosted by SCRIBD. On April 5, 2018, Sportvision and its parent company, SportsMEDIA Technology (“SMT”), threw their first pitch in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York—and it looks like this game may well go into extra innings. When SMT acquired...
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Flash Digest – News in Brief Posted on April 26, 2018 Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments for South Dakota v. Wayfair On Tuesday, April 17, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments for South Dakota v. Wayfair, No. 17-494, 2018 U.S. LEXIS 2211 (2018), a case that could result in mandatory state and local sales tax for online purchases. South Dakota passed Senate Bill 106 in 2016 that required online retailers to...
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People v. Buza: California Supreme Court Reverses Appellate Judgement Against Collecting DNA Samples through Buccal Swab Posted on April 25, 2018 People v. Buza, No. S223698 (February 18, 2015), California Supreme Court Opinion via Stanford Law School Supreme Court of California Resources. In 2004, California voters passed Proposition 69 (the “DNA Act”), which required law enforcement officials to collect DNA samples, through buccal swab, from all persons who are arrested for or convicted of felony offenses in the state. Earlier this month...
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Uber Reaches Expanded Data Privacy Settlement with FTC Posted on April 24, 2018 On April 12, 2018, Uber reached an expanded settlement agreement with the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) over charges of misrepresentation of data privacy practices. The 2018 settlement is yet another round in Uber’s data privacy-related fisticuffs with the FTC, the administrative agency tasked with regulating business practices to protect consumer interests. In 2017, the FTC charged Uber with misleading consumers...
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Federal Circuit Flash Digest – In re Brandt: Prima Facie Obviousness Found From Prior Art Disclosure of Similar, Though Non-Overlapping, Numeric Range Posted on April 19, 2018 In re: Brandt, No. 2016-2601, 2018 WL 1473869 (Fed. Cir. Mar. 27, 2018). The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's (“Board”) decision, which had upheld an examiner’s obviousness rejection of Gregory A. Brandt, John B. Letts, and Firestone Building Products Company LLC’s ("Brandt") patent application claims related to construction board for...
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