IP Attorneys Author Article on Obviousness Defense Post-KSR Decision

This article, co-authored by managing associate Christina Von der Ahe, discusses the implications of the U.S. Supreme Court's KSR decision on patent claims. An excerpt from the article is included below.

"The U.S. Supreme Court's KSR decision adopted an "expansive and flexible approach" for determining whether a patent is obvious and thus invalid. Patent claims that would have been found nonobvious pre-KSR may now be vulnerable to attack.

However, proving obviousness still requires providing meaningful reasons for modifying or combining the prior art to arrive at the patented invention. Likewise, a patentee who seeks to defend validity by showing secondary considerations of nonobviousness must present a well-developed and logical argument and show a nexus with the patented invention."