Justia U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

The patent, entitled “Intermediate Network Authentication,” concerns internet security, and was developed by a scientist at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). The NRL allowed the patent to lapse for nonpayment of the 7.5-year maintenance fee. Two weeks after the lapse, NRL received an inquiry from Network Signatures about licensing the patent and successfully petitioned the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to accept delayed payment of the fee. Network Signatures sued State Farm for infringement of the patent. In defense, State Farm asserted that the patent was permanently unenforceable on the ground that the NRL patent attorney had engaged in inequitable conduct by “falsely representing” to the PTO that the NRL’s non-payment of the maintenance fee was “unintentional.” The district court granted summary judgment of inequitable conduct, and found the patent unenforceable. The Federal Circuit reversed, holding that the PTO Director acted in accordance with law and within his discretion in excusing the delayed payment, and that inequitable conduct was not established. View "Network Signatures, Inc. v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins., Inc." on Justia Law

Conventional memory circuits asynchronously transfer all of the data upon request, which can tie up the computer system for long periods of time and create a “bottleneck” that slows down computer operations. The patent at issue solves the problem using a synchronous memory system to transfer data. The Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences held that certain claims of the patent were invalid for anticipation and obviousness. The Federal Circuit held that the Board correctly construed claims: that the “external clock signal” only requires the clock to be periodic during the data input phases, as opposed to being periodic for all system operations and that “write request” could include “the state of a signal,” which is usually represented by a single bit. The court vacated with respect to the obviousness determination. View "Rambus Inc. v. Rea" on Justia Law

Del Monte imports products consisting of tuna, with sauce, in a sealed microwaveable package. The tuna accounts for 80 percent of the total product weight; the sauce accounts for 20 percent. U.S. Customs and Border Protection classified two of the three flavors under subheading 1604.14.10 of the U.S. Harmonized Tariff Schedule, which covers tuna packed “in oil,” because their sauces include some oil. Customs appraised the goods based on the price that Del Monte paid its supplier of importation, without adjusting for $1.5 million that Del Monte later received from its supplier after negotiations over the accuracy of the amount originally paid. The Court of International Trade held that Del Monte’s goods were properly classified and valued. The Federal Circuit affirmed. Fish products in which the only oil is added as part of a liquid substance introduced at the time of packing are considered “in oil” even if the liquid does not consist entirely of oil; there is no minimum threshold for the amount of oil that must be present. Imported merchandise must be appraised, when possible, based on its “transaction value,” 19 U.S.C. 1401a(a)(1), “the price actually paid or payable for the merchandise when sold for exportation,” regardless of subsequent rebates. View "Del Monte Corp. v. United States" on Justia Law

In connection with construction of a pipeline to ship natural gas from Wyoming to Eastern Ohio, Rockies Express and Minerals Management Service (MMS), within the Department of the Interior, entered into contracts containing Royalty-in-Kind (RIK) provisions. Under the RIK program, the government receives its royalty for mineral resources extracted under federal leases “in kind,” i.e., in natural gas, rather than in cash, 30 U.S.C. 192; 42 U.S.C. 15902(b). In exchange, the government makes monthly payments to ensure that a certain quantity of the mineral resources is made available for its purposes. The government then enters into processing and transportation contracts to sell the mineral royalties, often at a substantial profit over royalties received in cash. The Civilian Board of Contract Appeals determined that MMS had materially breached the contract, but that Rockies Express was only entitled to damages that had accrued before the Secretary of the Interior announced a decision to phase-out RIK contracts. The Federal Circuit affirmed that MMS materially breached the contract, but reversed the decision to limit damages. Rockies Express is entitled to compensatory damages to put it in as good a position as that in which it would have been put by full performance of the contract. View "Rockies Express Pipeline, LLC v. Salazar" on Justia Law

Former U.S. Forest Service employee King had long-term relationships with two women, both of whom claimed federal survivor benefits upon his death. Kathryn believed she had married King in a civil ceremony in 2002. Diana, who had been legally married to and divorced from King twice, but had continued to live with him until 2002, maintained that she was the common law wife of King at the time he married Kathryn. Before his death, Diana had initiated proceedings in Montana to dissolve their common law marriage. The women subsequently entered settlement agreements and engaged in state court litigation. Kathryn received benefits from May 27, 2004 until February 2007. Diana subsequently received the survivor benefits. Kathryn transferred to Diana the funds that she received ($41,939.13), as she believed was required by a Montana court decree. Kathryn challenged the OPM’s effort to recover the improper payments, having transferred the money to Diana, but the government affirmed its decision and determined that collection of the $41,939.13 would not cause Kathryn financial hardship. The Merit Systems Protection Board affirmed, holding that Kathryn did not meet the definition of “widow” under the Civil Service Retirement Act, 5 U.S.C. 8341(A)(1), and had not proved that she was entitled to waiver for the overpayment. The Federal Circuit reversed. The Board failed to credit substantial evidence demonstrating that Kathryn detrimentally relied on the overpayment of survivor annuity funds. View "King v. Office of Pers. Mgmt." on Justia Law

In 1996, the Department of Commerce determined that certain pasta products from Italy were being sold in the U.S. at less than fair value and published an order imposing antidumping duties. Several years later, Commerce conducted its ninth administrative review of that order, covering the period of July 1, 2004, through June 30, 2005 and arrived at an antidumping duty margin of 18.18 percent for Atar. Commerce ordinarily compares the export price of the subject merchandise with the price of like products sold in the exporter’s home market or in a representative third country, 19 U.S.C. 1677(35), 1677b(a)(1)(A)–(C). Commerce determined that it could not assess normal value by reference to Atar’s proffered home-market or third-country sales data, so it approximated the normal value of Atar’s subject goods using a constructed value approach. The Court of International Trade rejected Commerce’s calculations. After several remands, Commerce revised its profit cap determination, eventually including above- and below-cost sales made by profitable and unprofitable respondents in the prior administrative review. The trade court then sustained Commerce’s duty calculations. The Federal Circuit reversed, holding that Commerce acted reasonably in excluding below-cost sales data from the prior administrative review when calculating the constructed value profit cap applicable to Atar’s subject merchandise. View "Atar S.R.L v. United States" on Justia Law

BDI is the owner a design patent and the manufacturer of slippers known as SNOOZIES®. High Point manufactures and distributes the accused FUZZY BABBA® slippers, which are sold through various retailers, including Meijer, Sears, and WalMart. BDI sent High Point a cease and desist letter, asserting patent infringement. High Point sought a declaratory judgment. The district court held BDI’s asserted design patent invalid on summary judgment and dismissed BDI’s trade dress claims with prejudice. The Federal Circuit reversed. The district court applied the incorrect standard; a reasonable jury could, under the correct standard, find the patent not invalid based on functionality. On remand, the district court should weigh High Point’s notice of BDI’s trade dress claim and initial belief that its original complaint encompassed such a claim and the absence of apparent prejudice to High Point against the fact that BDI had always been in possession of the information added in the proposed amendments and could have asked to clarify its pleading sooner. View "High Point Design LLC v. Buyer's Direct, Inc." on Justia Law

The patents at issue relate to methods and devices for sealing a vascular puncture, which occurs when a medical procedure requires a puncture through the skin and into a vein or artery to insert a medical device, such as a catheter, into a patient’s vasculature. After such a procedure, the medical professional typically removes the medical device from the vasculature. Prior to development of the technology at issue, the medical professional was then required to apply external pressure to the puncture site until clotting occurred, sometimes for an extended period of time. This caused discomfort and increased the recovery time. The Janzen and Fowler patents disclose methods and devices for sealing a vascular puncture to improve patient recovery. The district court held that the safe-harbor provision of 35 U.S.C. 121 protects the Janzen patent from invalidity due to double-patenting; construed key terms in the Janzen patent; and found that the Fowler patents were not invalid for obviousness. The Federal Circuit reversed the safe harbor ruling, which rendered the rulings regarding the claim constructions moot, and affirmed that the Fowler patents are nonobvious and not shown to be invalid. View "St. Jude Med., Inc. v. Access Closure, Inc." on Justia Law

Entities (Cencast) that remit payroll and employment taxes on behalf of motion picture and television production companies filed Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) and the Federal Insurance Contribution Act employment tax returns, treating each employee as being in an “employment” relationship with Cencast rather than with the production companies. This reduced the overall tax payments because of statutory caps on FUTA and FICA taxes. The amount of tax that was avoided is equal to the additional amounts of FUTA and FICA tax that individual production companies would have been liable for had they conducted their own payroll services and filed their own returns. The United States Court of Federal Claims rejected Cencast’s refund claims. The Federal Circuit affirmed, holding that the scope of Cencast’s liability for employment taxes under the (FICA) is determined by reference to the employees’ “employment” relationships with the common law employers for which Cencast remits taxes (the production companies). Those common law employers cannot decrease their liability by retaining entities such as Cencast to actually make wage payments to the employees. The court further noted that some of the individuals classified as employees were independent contractors, so that Cencast was barred from seeking refunds. View "Cencast Servs., L.P. v. United States" on Justia Law

In 1997 Wawrzynski was awarded the 990 patent, entitled “Method of Food Article Dipping and Wiping in a Condiment Container.” The description illustrates a condiment container that has a flexible cap with a slitted opening. A user introduces a food article, such as a French fry, into the container through the slit and dips it into the condiment. As the food article is removed, the flexible cap wipes away excess condiment , reducing the likelihood of a drip or spill. . Wawrzynski presented his “Little Dipper” concept, permitting a consumer to either dip or squeeze, to Heinz in a 2008. Heinz indicated that the company was not interested in the product, but months later, released its new “Dip & Squeeze®” packet. Wawrzynski filed a lawsuit asserting breach of an implied contract and unjust enrichment. Heinz counterclaimed that Heinz did not infringe the patent and that the patent was invalid. The district court entered summary judgment, holding that federal patent law preempted the state law claims and that Wawrzynski failed to prove infringement. The Federal Circuit transferred to the Third Circuit, stating that its subject matter jurisdiction over patent disputes derives solely from the complaint, not from any counterclaim. View "Wawrzynski v. H.J. Heinz Co." on Justia Law