Flexuspine, Inc. v. Gobus Medical, Inc.

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Flexuspine sued Globus for infringement. Globus asserted noninfringement and invalidity. After Inter Partes Review and claim construction, the court dismissed several claims and counterclaims and granted Globus summary judgment of noninfringement with respect to one patent. Before trial, Flexuspine submitted a proposed verdict form including a “stop instruction” that conditioned the submission of invalidity on an affirmative finding of infringement. The court's intended final jury instructions and final verdict form adopted Flexuspine’s proposed form, with the stop instruction. During a formal charge conference, the court reviewed the final instructions. Neither party objected to a question concerning invalidity or the stop instruction. The court specifically inquired as to the propriety of the instruction. After the jury returned a verdict, the court determined that the jury had not filled out the verdict form correctly. The jury answered “no” to Question 1 regarding infringement but did not heed the stop instruction and continued, indicating the claims were invalid and submitting “0” for the damages. Neither party objected to sending the jury back to re-execute the form. The second verdict found the claims not infringed and left the other questions unanswered. Globus then lodged its first formal objection. The Federal Circuit affirmed that Globus did not infringe without addressing invalidity; denial of Globus’s Rule 59(e) motion requesting that the judgment include the jury’s invalidity verdict; and dismissal of Globus’s invalidity counterclaims without prejudice. View "Flexuspine, Inc. v. Gobus Medical, Inc." on Justia Law