Posts in Litigation

On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a precedential decision in Versata Software, LLC v. Ford Motor Co. reversing the Eastern District of Michigan’s ruling on judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) reducing Versata’s unjust enrichment damages to $0 after holding that the district court erred in precluding such damages from being awarded by a jury. The Federal Circuit also reinstated the jury verdict’s full award on Versata’s breach of contract claim after finding that the jury properly relied on a damages basis established via the parties’ licensing history, and affirmed the district court’s denial of JMOL to Ford on the knowledge required for trade secret liability.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) issued two decisions Friday in Pictometry International Corporation v. Roofr Inc., affirming separate Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) final written decisions that held all claims of two Pictometry International Corporation patents unpatentable for obviousness over combinations of prior art.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) issued a decision today in Samesurf, Inc. v. Intuit Inc., affirming a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) final written decision finding all claims of Samesurf’s patent directed to synchronized web browsing sessions unpatentable for obviousness. The decision was authored by Circuit Judge Stark and joined by Circuit Judges Dyk and Chen, who held that the Board correctly construed the central disputed claim term.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) today issued a precedential opinion authored by Judge Chen that clarified its case law on statutory versus constitutional standing analyses. The decision ultimately reversed and remanded a district court ruling that had dismissed a plaintiff’s patent infringement suit for lack of constitutional standing.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) issued a decision today in Recor Medical, Inc. v. Medtronic Ireland Manufacturing Unlimited Co., reversing a ruling from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California and holding that Medtronic Ireland Manufacturing Unlimited Co. retained sufficient exclusionary rights to satisfy Article III constitutional standing, even after licensing certain patent rights to an affiliated entity. The ruling came after a precedential opinion issued today on the same topic.

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an order list showing that the nation’s highest court had denied a series of petitions for writ of certiorari filed by major pharmaceutical developers to challenge the Medicare negotiation program established by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The Supreme Court also denied cert to an appeal of Section 101 patent-eligibility issues from a Federal Circuit ruling involving mobile banking technology, as well as a pro se cert appealing copyright and intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED) against Disney.

On May 15, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) issued a precedential ruling in mCom IP, LLC v. City National Bank of Florida affirming the Southern District of Florida’s dismissal of patent owner mCom IP’s complaint after finding the asserted patent claims obvious on the same grounds as related patent claims invalidated at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). However, the Federal Circuit found that the district court improperly concluded that the case was exceptional, leading the appellate court to reverse the attorney’s fee award and attorney sanctions after finding the plaintiff did not develop evidence of frivolous litigation conduct.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) issued a precedential decision today affirming a district court ruling that Mylan Pharmaceuticals’ generic hypertension drug did not literally infringe Actelion Pharmaceuticals’ U.S. patents for its own hypertension drug, Veletri®. The CAFC also affirmed the district court’s holding that Actelion had not proven and was barred from asserting infringement by an equivalent.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) issued a decision today affirming the dismissal of a pro se lawsuit brought by three inventors who contested the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) refusal to grant them reduced filing fees. The CAFC found that the inventors failed to adequately plead Article III standing, as their own representations to the USPTO undermined any claim of ownership in the disputed application.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) on Monday affirmed a district court decision awarding attorney fees and costs to Nextremity Solutions, Inc. for an infringement suit brought against it by Extremity Medical, LLC, but denying attorney fees and costs for the successful parallel inter partes review proceeding (IPR) Nextremity pursued. The opinion was authored by Judge Lourie.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) issued a precedential decision today in Bissell, Inc. v. International Trade Commission, affirming a final determination of the International Trade Commission (ITC) that found no import violation by redesigned vacuum products. The CAFC affirmed the ITC’s refusal to grant an exclusion order and also agreed that the Commission properly determined that Bissel’s products satisfied the technical prong of the domestic industry requirement.

The U.S. Supreme Court has been asked to grant certiorari to resolve whether the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) permits an unjust enrichment award without any showing of actual loss resulting from the defendant’s misappropriation of trade secrets. The defendant in Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. v. Computer Sciences Corp. has petitioned for certiorari, arguing that actual loss is a prerequisite for an unjust enrichment award. The petition challenges a Fifth Circuit decision affirming a $56 million unjust enrichment award and a $112 million punitive award in favor of Computer Sciences Corp. (“CSC”), measured by the costs Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) avoided through its trade secret theft rather than by any proven actual loss to CSC.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued a published opinion in Malone v. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office affirming the Eastern District of Virginia’s grant of summary judgment to the USPTO after finding that the agency properly withheld documents sought by US Inventor’s Josh Malone pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request related to administrative patent judge (APJ) paneling at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). The Fourth Circuit found that decision drafts circulated to nonpanel APJs were subject to FOIA’s exemption for predecisional and deliberative documents and were not unprotected ex parte communications.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) issued a decision today in TJTM Technologies, LLC v. Google LLC, affirming the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California’s dismissal of a patent infringement lawsuit and holding that the asserted patent claims are directed to patent-ineligible subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101. The nonprecedential decision was authored by Judge Chen and joined by Judges Dyk and Stark.

A person recently approached me at church with excitement regarding a software process he developed. His company was so pleased with the result that it is filing a patent, listing him as the inventor. This person knew that I had some kind of patent backstory, so he asked for my thoughts. My name is Jeffrey A. Killian, and I am the patent applicant in the Federal Circuit Court case # 2021 -2113 (In Re: Killian). I took no pleasure in telling my  friend at church that his patent application will be rejected. Plus, the official notice will have my precedential case quoted all over his rejection. With friends at church like me, who needs enemies?