Fresh From the Bench: Latest Precedential Patent Cases

CASE OF THE WEEK

Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings v. Qiagen Sciences, LLC, Appeal No. 2023-2350 (Fed. Cir. Aug. 13, 2025)

In our Case of the Week, the Federal Circuit reversed a jury finding of infringement from the District of Delaware, holding that the jury’s findings and seven-figure damages award were not sufficiently backed by evidence.

Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings and affiliates sued Qiagen Sciences, LLC for infringement of Patent Nos. 10,017,810 and 10,450,597. After a five-day trial, the Delaware jury found that Qiagen willfully infringed the patents in suit, and that Qiagen failed to show that any of the claims at issue were invalid, awarding Laboratory Corporation roughly $4.7 million in damages. The District Court denied Qiagen’s motion for judgment as a matter of law after the jury’s damages finding. Qiagen appealed the denial of JMOL, on the basis that there was insufficient evidence to support the jury’s findings.

READ MORE

ALSO THIS WEEK

Powerblock Holdings, Inc. v. IFit, Inc., Appeal No. 2024-1177 (Fed. Cir. Aug. 11, 2025)

In an appeal from the partial dismissal of an infringement claim based on patent ineligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101, the Federal Circuit reversed.  At issue was PowerBlock’s U.S. Patent No. 7,578,771 directed to motorized adjustable dumbbells, most claims of which the district court had determined were directed to an abstract idea.  The Federal Circuit disagreed, explaining that claim 1 of the ’771 patent, while broad, “goes beyond claiming the broad concept of automating known technique and provides a sufficiently specific manner of performing automated weight stacking” (internal markings omitted).

READ MORE

Editors:

Nika Aldrich, IP Litigation Group Leader, Schwabe

Jason A. Wrubleski., Shareholder

Contributor:

Tyler Hall, Shareholder