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

In 2006 InterDigital granted LG a license to certain patents concerning devices capable of wireless voice or data communications, including devices designed to operate in accordance with second-generation (2G) wireless standards and devices designed to operate in accordance with third-generation (3G) wireless standards. After the contract terminated, InterDigital filed a complaint with the International Trade Commission, claiming violation of the Tariff Act, 19 U.S.C. 1337, by importing devices that infringed patents relating to 3G wireless technology. The ITC terminated the investigation as to LG, based on an arbitration clause in the contract. The Federal Circuit reversed, holding that there was no plausible argument that the case arose from the patent license contract between the companies. View "InterDigital Commc'ns, LLC v. Int'l Trade Comm'n" on Justia Law

Madison received a DTaP vaccination at age seven months and the next day suffered a prolonged seizure. Her temperature was recorded as 103.6 degrees. She continued to experience seizures and was admitted to the hospital again, a year later, with recurrent convulsive episodes. When she was about four years old, genetic testing revealed that Madison had a DNA sequence variation that was not inherited and arose spontaneously. Such mutations have been associated with several epilepsy syndromes. Her parents sued under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, 42 U.S.C. 300aa, which established the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program through which claimants can obtain compensation for vaccine-related injuries or death. Before the DNA test, a special master concluded that Madison was entitled to compensation, but the DNA test was disclosed during the damages phase. The special master ultimately denied compensation. The Federal Circuit affirmed, finding that the special master properly analyzed whether, after the plaintiffs established a prima facie case, the government carried its burden to prove that a factor unrelated to the vaccine was the sole substantial cause of the injuries. View "Deribeaux v. Sec'y of Health & Human Servs." on Justia Law

The University of Minnesota owns the 281 and 291 patents, which are directed to “septal occluders,” medical devices for repairing holes in the septum of the heart, using a catheter threaded through a vein. The University accused AGA of infringing both patents. AGA’s accused septal occluders are one-piece devices made from tubes of wire mesh. After claim construction, the district court granted summary judgment that the 291 patent was not infringed and that the asserted claims of the 281 patent were invalid as anticipated. The Federal Circuit affirmed. The district court properly construed the terms “affixed” and “conjoint” to conclude that the 291 patent requires two physically separate disks. View "Regents of the Univ. of MN v. AGA Med.Corp." on Justia Law

In 2003, after more than a decade of litigation, the IRS assessed penalties under now-repealed I.R.C. 6621(c), which penalizes “substantial” underpayments of tax “attributable to tax motivated transactions” against the 19 partners of the Dillon Oil Technology Partnership in tax years 1983 and 1984. The partners paid the tax and penalties in 2004, and, in 2006, initiated a refund suit. The Court of Federal Claims dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction under the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act, 1 I.R.C.7422(h), which provides that individual partners may not bring tax challenges relating to subject matter “attributable to a partnership item.” Such claims must be brought in a partnership-level suit by the partnership representative or Tax Matters Partner. The Federal Circuit affirmed, calling the claim an impermissible collateral attack. View "Bush v. United States" on Justia Law

AHG employed the inventors of the patents, which issued in 1991 and 1992 and are titled “Process for Distribution of Pieces such as Rivets, and Apparatus for carrying out the Process.” The patents claim priority to a French application filed in 1988, and relate to the dispensing of objects such as rivets through a pressurized tube with grooves along its inner surface, to provide a rapid and smooth supply of properly positioned rivets for such uses as the assembly of metal parts of aircraft. The invention “permits dispensing a very great number of pieces without risk of jamming in the tube and with a precise guiding permitting maintaining the alignment of the axes of the pieces.” AHG sued Brötje, asserting patent infringement, trade dress infringement, unfair competition, and intentional interference with prospective economic advantage. The district court ruled that the claims are invalid for failure to disclose the best mode of carrying out the invention, as required by 35 U.S.C. 112, but rejected Broetje’s argument that AHG abandoned the 339 patent by failing to pay the issue fee. The Federal Circuit reversed the judgment of invalidity, affirmed that the patent was not abandoned, and remanded for determination of remaining issues. View "Ateliers de la Haute-Garonne v. Broetje Auto. USA, Inc." on Justia Law

Douglas and Buyers manufacture snowplow assemblies for mounting on the front of a truck. Douglas commands about 60 percent of the market; Buyers entered the market in 2007, selling less expensive assemblies. By 2010, Buyers had a market share of about five percent. Douglas’s 700 patent claims a snowplow assembly that can be mounted on a vehicle and removed as a single unit. Patented features allow the user to remove heavy portions of the assembly from the vehicle when the plow is not in use, reducing stress on the vehicle’s suspension. The inventive mounting frame does not extend beyond the bumper upon removal of the snowplow assembly, reducing the likelihood the mounting frame will inadvertently cause damage. Douglas alleged infringement against Buyers. The district court granted summary judgment of non-infringement of the 700 patent. A jury found two other patents valid and infringed, but the court denied Douglas a permanent injunction and assigned an ongoing royalty. The Federal Circuit reversed with respect to the 700 patent, finding that the court applied an erroneous claim construction of “connected to”; remanded for entry of a permanent injunction with respect to another patent; and vacated the ongoing royalty rate. View "Douglas Dynamics, LLC v. Buyers Prods.Co." on Justia Law

Alexsam owns the 608 patent, which discloses a system for activating and using “multifunction card[s].” These cards include prepaid phone cards, used to pay for long-distance telephone calls, and electronic gift certificate cards. Such cards are typically distributed to retailers and displayed in stores in an inactive state, in order to deter theft, and are activated and assigned a cash value at the check-out counter. The claims at issue are drawn to a system for activating multifunction cards using a point-of-sale terminal, such as a cash register or a freestanding credit card reader. The district court held that certain of IDT’s systems infringed claims in the 608 patent and that these claims were not invalid, but that certain other systems were licensed under the claims. The Federal Circuit affirmed the judgment of no invalidity, reversed the jury’s finding of infringement with regard to IDT’s Walgreens and EWI systems, and affirmed the judgment of infringement with regard to IDT’s miscellaneous systems based on the district court’s discovery sanction. The court affirmed the judgment of noninfringement with regard to IDT’s SafeNet systems based on the license defense. View "Alexsam, Inc. v. IDT Corp." on Justia Law

Piperidine derivatives are commonly used as active ingredients in antihistamines. D’Ambra, AMRI’s president, found the prior art processes for making piperidine derivatives inefficient and overcame the deficiencies by synthesizing piperidine derivatives using piperidine and cyclopropylketone (CPK) intermediates at an earlier stage in the reaction. The processes developed by Dr. D’Ambra have the stated advantage of more readily separating out a substantially pure piperidine derivative end product, if desired. Sanofi-Aventis, the exclusive licensee of AMRI’s 703 patent, uses the processes to produce large quantities of fexofenadine, which is the active ingredient in its antihistamines marketed under the brand name Allegra® and Allegra-D® 24 Hour. The parties stipulated to a noninfringement judgment following the district court’s Markman opinion, which consolidated numerous patent infringement cases and construed terms of the 703 patent, among others. The Federal Circuit reversed and remanded, holding that the district court erred in construing “substantially pure.” View "Aventis Pharma, Inc. v. Amino Chem., Ltd." on Justia Law

Sunovion and Dey plaintiffs were simultaneously developing pharmaceutical products to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease by storing the compound formoterol in an aqueous solution and administering it through a nebulizer. Sunovion filed a patent application, followed by an application to test its products in human subjects. It then received a patent and held clinical trials, before ultimately releasing a commercial product. Dey likewise filed a series of patent applications, received several patents, ran human subject trials, and released a commercial product. Dey’s patent applications were filed after Sunovion’s, and its patents were issued after consideration of Sunovion’s patent. When Dey sued Sunovion for patent infringement, the district court held that some of Dey’s patents were invalid because a Sunovion clinical trial in which Sunovion tested its own product constituted anticipated Dey’s inventions and a prior public use within the meaning of 35 U.S.C. 102(b). The Federal Circuit reversed. Sunovion has not shown that it is entitled to summary judgment based on its assertion that its use of formulations meeting the limitations of Dey’s later-issued patents constituted a public use of Dey’s inventions within the meaning of section 102(b). View "Dey,L.P. v. Sunovion Pharma, Inc." on Justia Law

With respect to Bestpak’s importation of narrow woven ribbons with woven selvedge from China, he U.S. Department of Commerce calculated a separate rate margin using a simple average of a de minimis and an adverse facts available margin, yielding a rate of 123.83%. The Court of International Trade upheld the decision. The Federal Circuit vacated and remanded, finding that substantial evidence did not support the rate. View "Yangzhou Bestpak Gifts & Crafts Co., Ltd. v. United States" on Justia Law