In re WinGen, LLC, No. 2021-2322 (February 2, 2023) (nonprecedential); Patent Application No. 15/229,819

Key point(s):

• A public display of a plant invention, where the claimed genetics of the plant are not available to the public, is “accessible to the public” under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. § 102(b), when the use of plant invention is purely ornamental.
• Arguments not raised during appeal to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board may be forfeited on subsequent appeal to the Court of Appeals of the Federal Circuit.

Transtex, Inc. v. Vidal, No. 2020-1140 (February 3, 2023) (nonprecedential); Patent No. 7,942,471

Key point(s):

• Expert testimony is sufficient evidence to support a finding of motivation to combine two references where both references concerned with a similar technology, and a person of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized a benefit in combining the references.
• While a showing of motivation to combine references does not necessarily show reasonable expectation of success, in some cases, the evidence overlaps.