Steve Saunders

is a partner and co-chair of Nutter’s Intellectual Property Department. Drawing on his experience in high-tech and medical devices, Steve advises clients of all sizes, from emerging companies to multinational corporations, on IP portfolio development, strategy, and evaluation, patent preparation and prosecution, product clearance, inter partes reviews (IPRs), litigation management, reexamination, and licensing.

For more information or to contact Steve, please visit his Firm Profile Page.

Recent Articles by

Federal Circuit Issues Precedential Decisions On Who Can Petition for and Who Can Be Subject to Inter Partes Review

Late last week, the Federal Circuit issued Power Integrations, Inc. v. Semiconductor Components Indus., LLC and Regents of the Univ. of Minnesota v. LSI Corp. These two precedential decisions bring further clarity to who is subject to the time bar for filing petitions for inter partes review (IPR) and whether sovereign immunity protects patents from being subject to IPR challenges. The key takeaways are: (1) Consider the impact of mergers and acquisitions on IPR petitions, including those that have already been filed; and (2) Patents owned by states (including, state universities and research institutions) can be challenged in an IPR.

June 18, 2019

Ancora v HTC: Why You Should Draft Patents That Emphasize Technical Solutions

Last week, in Ancora Technologies v HTC America, the Federal Circuit reversed a lower court’s invalidity ruling under 35 USC §101 by concluding that Ancora’s claimed subject matter was concrete—not abstract—because it assigned specific functions to specific parts of a computer to improve computer security… This case is yet another in a string of post-Alice cases suggesting that patents should be drafted with an emphasis on the technical problem and technical solution delivered by the claims.

December 6, 2018

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