The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on June 13, 2019, vacated and remanded a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) decision which had invalidated Power Integrations’ Patent No. 6,212,079 (the ’079 patent) because the inter partes review (IPR) was time-barred under § 315(b).

The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on June 11, 2019, held that the word “capsule” is “merely descriptive” of cell phone cases and cannot be registered as a trademark. Uncommon, LLC v. Spigen, Inc., 7th Cir., No. 18-1917, 6/11/19.

A federal agency is not a "person" who may petition for post-issuance review under the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) of 2011, the Supreme Court held June 10, 2019. Return Mail Inc. v. United States Postal Service, U.S., No. 17-1594, 06/10/2019.

AIPLA President-Elect Barbara Fiacco presented the views of the Association at the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Intellectual Property's second of three hearings on “The State of Patent Eligibility in America.”