717 Madison Place

One of the interesting aspects of the federal judiciary is that Article III judges sometimes sit by designation in courts other than their home court. From the Federal Circuit, Judge Dyk has sat by designation with the First Circuit on a regular basis. The Federal Circuit used to invite judges from other courts to sit by designation; but, it has not done so much recently. Quite frankly, that has been a good move. The court has its own challenges without having to deal with additional voices, who are likely less familiar with the vagaries of patent law. Plus, it avoids any uncomfortable conversations about the Federal Circuit’s patent eligibility jurisprudence.

You can see some of the First Circuit opinions that Judge Dyk has been a part of in recent years at this [Link]. In a cursory search, I did not come across any Rule 36 Judgments in this list.

Judge Cunningham was confirmed by the Senate more than a year ago. It is interesting how limited an opportunity she has been given by her colleagues to write any patent opinions. The court issues so many Rule 36 opinions that Judge Cunningham has only had a chance to author a handful of patent/trademark opinions herself. By my count, these are the only three patent/trademark “opinions” that she has authored — although this list includes some “orders” of the court relating to patent cases:

So, we continue to play wait-and-see as to which direction Judge Cunningham will lean, if at all.

Judge Nina Wang was confirmed by the Senate last week as Colorado’s newest US District Court judge. Judge Wang has a good deal of patent law experience and has taught patent litigation and trial advocacy at the University of Colorado Law School. Here’s a link to an earlier post: [Link]. Here is an announcement: [Link].

It will be interesting to see if the US District Court for Colorado experiences an uptick in patent lawsuit filings.

We are finally starting to get some insight into the behind the scenes operation (meddling?) in the management of PTAB panels. The Government Accountability Office has released a report with respect to the operation of the PTAB. One of the important facts revealed by the report is that: “the majority of judges (75 percent) surveyed by GAO responded that the oversight practiced by U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) directors and PTAB management has affected their independence, with nearly a quarter citing a large effect on independence.”

Also, “the majority of judges GAO surveyed reported they experienced pressure to adhere to management comments and to change or modify an aspect of their decision for an America Invents Act (AIA) trial on challenges to the validity of issued patents.”

The public always assumes that there is transparency in the operation of the PTAB. But, what do we really know about the machinery at work behind the scenes? PTAB judges must meet certain technical and legal requirements to serve as PTAB judges, with the assumption that they are the ones making decisions on a particular case. What do we know of the technical and legal CV’s of the behind-the-scenes people requesting changes in opinions?

The GAO report is available here: [Link].

Update: 7/21/22, 12:45 MDT

by Bill Vobach

The US Solicitor General’s office has filed its brief in American Axle v. Neapco. The SG recommends that the Supreme Court grant certiorari in the case and asserts that the Federal Circuit was wrong in this decision.

You can listen to the oral argument at the Federal Circuit here:

You can review the Federal Circuit’s original opinion here: [Link].

You can review the Federal Circuit’s modified opinion here: [Link].

You can review then-district-court-judge Stark’s opinion here: [Link].

Update 5/30/22:

Some interesting quotes from Judge Moore’s dissents in the original opinion and the updated opinion:

Update 5/31/22:

Having recently attended a CLE about Alice and Electric Power Group, these bears try to scratch off the accompanying funk:

The oral argument of the day is an old one from the Ninth Circuit, Cetacean Community v. Bush, 386 F.3d 1169 (9th Cir. 2004). The case concerns whether Congress has the authority to grant animals standing to sue.

You can listen to the oral argument here:

One of the questions asked was how do animals give their consent for attorneys to represent them in court?

The Federal Circuit defers to the law of the regional circuits on matters of procedural law that do not implicate issues of patent law. Midwest Indus., Inc. v. Karavan Trailers, Inc., 175 F.3d 1356, 1359, 50 USPQ2d 1672, 1675 (Fed.Cir. 1999) (en banc in relevant part).

The quote for the day comes from Judge Newman’s dissent in In re Schreiber:

I posted previously that the Supreme Court was construing a “use” based statute in LeDure v. Union Pacific Railroad Company.  The Court announced this week that the Justices split 4-4 on the decision with Justice Barrett taking no part in the decision.

The oral argument of the day is from the Federal Circuit’s decision in the design patent case In re Surgisil, 14 F.4th 1380 (Fed. Cir. 2021).

The Federal Circuit opinion is available here: [Link].

——————————————————————————————

If you were trying to recall the claim language in In re Schreiber (popcorn dispenser vs. oil can spout)– a utility patent case, rather than a design patent case — here is a link to that §102 anticipation case: [Link].

I ran across this article about the canons of claim construction. It is from back in 2005 and pre-Phillips; but, I thought it was pretty interesting. District court judges would probably enjoy it: [Link].

Under the statute it is the claims of the patent which define the invention. See White v. Dunbar, 119 U.S. 47, 51, 52; McClain v. Ortmayer, 141 U.S. 419, 423-425; The Paper Bag Patent Case, 210 U.S. 405, 419; Smith v. Snow, ante, p. 11. And each claim must stand or fall, as itself sufficiently defining invention, independently of the others. See Carlton v. Bokee, 17 Wall. 463, 472; Russell v. Place, 94 U.S. 606, 609; Leeds & Catlin Co.v. Victor Talking Machine Co., 213 U.S. 301, 319; Symington Co. v. National Malleable Castings Co., 250 U.S. 383, 385; Smith v. Snow, supra; Walker on Patents, § 220, 6th ed. 

 Altoona Publix Theatres, Inc. v. American Tri-Ergon Corp., 294 U.S. 477, 487, 55 S.Ct. 455, 459, 79 L.Ed. 1005 (1935)(emphasis added).

Independent and dependent claims must if possible be interpreted to be consistent with each other . . . .

POWER PROBE GROUP, INC. v. INNOVA ELECTRONICS CORPORATION, 2021-2354 (Fed. Cir. April 12, 2022)(Judge Lourie writing for the court).

I thought it was interesting that the Supreme Court is entertaining a statutory construction case for a statute that centers around the construction of “use.” The case is LeDure v. Union Pacific Railroad Company. The Court heard oral argument this morning and the audio recording is available here:

As you may recall, 35 U.S.C. §271(a) has a “use” provision:

(a)Except as otherwise provided in this title, whoever without authority makes, uses, offers to sell, or sells any patented invention, within the United States or imports into the United States any patented invention during the term of the patent therefor, infringes the patent.

35 U.S.C. §271(a)

Some of the Federal Circuit’s recent “use” cases are:

Georgetown Rail Equipment Co. v. HOLLAND LP, 867 F.3d 1229 (Fed. Cir. 2017).

Intellectual Ventures I v. Motorola Mobility, 870 F.3d 1320 (Fed. Cir. 2017).

Centillion Data Systems, LLC v. Qwest Communications Int’l, Inc., 631 F.3d 1279 (Fed. Cir. 2011).

GRECIA v. McDONALD’S CORPORATION, No. 2017-1672 (Fed. Cir. Mar. 6, 2018).

SYNCHRONOSS TECHNOLOGIES, INC v. DROPBOX, INC., No. 2019-2196 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 12, 2021).

From a cursory review of the briefs in LeDure, however, it does not appear that any citations/references were made to patent law.

I believe this is Judge O’Malley’s last week on the Federal Circuit. It is truly sad to see her retire. I hope some of the bigger blogs will reflect on her service on the court. Some comments from her former clerks would be particularly interesting to read. I’m sure they could salute her service better than most. At her Senate confirmation hearing, you might recall that her former district court clerks showed up in droves to support her Federal Circuit nomination.

Here’s one sound bite that I have always liked from Judge O’Malley (“BRI still has an ‘R’ in it”):