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

Personal Web’s patent describes and claims methods (or devices for carrying out methods) of locating data and controlling access by giving a data file a substantially unique “True Name” that depends on its content. The patent describes generating a True Name using mathematical algorithms (hash functions) that use a file’s contents to generate a small-size identifier. It calls for comparing that name with values in a network, determining whether a user is authorized to access the data, and providing or denying access based on that determination. Apple petitioned for inter partes review, arguing unpatentability under 35 U.S.C. 103, for obviousness based on a combination of one reference that focuses on a system for backing up or restoring data and one that focuses on a system for managing rights to access data. The Patent Trial and Appeal Board agreed with Apple. The Federal Circuit affirmed the Board’s claim construction of “content-dependent name,” “content-based identifier,” and “digital identifier,” but vacated the obviousness determination because the Board did not adequately support its findings that the prior art disclosed all elements of the challenged claims and that a relevant skilled artisan would have had a motivation to combine the references to produce the claimed inventions with a reasonable expectation of success. View "Personal Web Technologies, LLC v. Apple, Inc." on Justia Law

MPHJ’s 173 Patent, entitled “Distributed Computer Architecture and Process for Document Management,” describes a system and method that “extends the notion of copying from a process that involves paper going through a conventional copier device, to a process that involves paper being scanned from a device at one location and copied to a device at another location.” The patent calls its invention a “Virtual Copier” whose purpose is “to enable a typical PC user to add electronic paper processing to their existing business process,” and states that it replicates an image “using a single GO or START button, to do a similar operation in software so that the image gets seamlessly replicated into other devices or applications or the Internet.” The Patent Trial and Appeals Board, on inter partes review, found certain claims invalid for anticipation of obviousness. The Federal Circuit affirmed, citing Supreme Court precedent that “when unexpired patents are reviewed by the Board, the claims are given their broadest reasonable interpretation consistent with the specification and the prosecution history, from the viewpoint of persons skilled in the field of the invention,” and upholding the Board’s constructions of the claim terms “application” and “rendering.” View "MPHJ Technology Investments, LLC v. Ricoh Americas Corp." on Justia Law

Chengde is a Chinese producer of oil country tubular goods (OCTG), steel tubing products used in oil and gas drilling, and ATP is the importer of record during the relevant period. In 2011, the Department of Commerce initiated the first administrative review of the antidumping duty order directed to OCTG from China and selected Chengde as a mandatory respondent. Because China is considered a nonmarket economy country, Commerce selected Indonesia, a market economy country, as the primary surrogate country from which it would use surrogate values to ascertain Chengde’s factors of production. In the Final Results, Commerce assigned Chengde a dumping margin of 162.69%. The Trade Court and Federal Circuit affirmed, finding that Commerce’s antidumping duty calculations were supported by substantial evidence and otherwise in accordance with law. The court rejected challenges to Commerce’s decision to use a simple average of surrogate values for carbon steel billets and alloy steel billets for the untested OCTG; its denial of scrap byproduct offset; and its treatment of international freight as nonmarket economy transactions. View "American Tubular Products, LLC v. United States" on Justia Law

Shire sued Watson for infringing the 720 patent by filing an Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) with the FDA seeking to market a generic version of Shire’s drug, LIALDA®. The patent is directed to a controlled-release oral pharmaceutical composition of mesalamine used to treat inflammatory bowel diseases. The district court rejected Watson’s invalidity arguments that the patent lacked written description and enablement, and held that Watson infringed two claims. On appeal, and again after remand from the Supreme Court, the Federal Circuit stated that the matrix compositions are “limited by the Markush groups” added during prosecution “to overcome the examiner’s rejection of the claims as obvious” and that “the correct construction requires that the inner volume contain substances from the group described for the inner lipophilic matrix (which are all lipophilic substances), and that the outer volume separately contain substances from the group described for the outer hydrophilic matrix (which are all hydrophilic).” On remand, the district court concluded that Watson’s ANDA Product satisfied the “inner lipophilic matrix” and “outer hydrophilic matrix” limitations and satisfied the Markush limitations because the excipients falling outside the respective Markush groups were “unrelated” to the invention since they did not drive the water-affinity property of their respective matrices. The Federal Circuit reversed and remanded with instructions to enter judgment of non-infringement. Watson’s ANDA Product does not satisfy the Markush group requirements. View "Shire Development, LLC v. Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc." on Justia Law

Within the Department of Defense, DRMS disposes of surplus military property at Defense Reutilization and Marketing Offices (DRMOs). Property that cannot be reutilized is demilitarized and/or reduced to scrap that can be sold. A 2007 DRMS Request for Proposals sought performance of DRMO activities for up to five years. A referenced website showed DRMS’s historical workload and scrap weight; an amendment indicated that “the contractor may experience significant workload increases or decreases” and outlined a process to “renegotiate the price” if workload increased. DRMS awarded its first contract to Agility to operate six DRMOs for one base year with four option years at a fixed price of $45,233,914.92 per year. Upon commencing work in Arifjan, the largest of the DRMOs, Agility immediately fell behind. It inherited a backlog of approximately 30 weeks. From the start, the volume received at Arifjan was greater than Agility anticipated. The parties terminated their contract for convenience in 2010. Agility thereafter requested funding for its additional costs, claiming DRMS provided inaccurate workload estimates during solicitation. The contracting officer awarded Agility only $236,363.93 for its first claim and nothing for the second, noting that Agility received an offset from its scrap sales. The Federal Circuit reversed, as “clearly erroneous,” the Claims Court’s findings that DRMS did not inadequately or negligently prepare its estimates and that Agility did not rely on those estimates. Agility’s receipt of scrap sales and the parties’ agreement did not preclude recovery. View "Agility Defense & Government Services, Inc. v. United States" on Justia Law

Utah Trooper Swenson attempted to stop a car near the Uncompahgre Ute Reservation. The car entered the reservation. About 25 miles later, it stopped. Kurip, age 17, and Murray emerged and ran. Swenson caught Kurip and requested back-up. Vernal City Officer Norton and others responded. Norton claims that Murray shot at Norton, then shot himself. The officers found an illegally-purchased gun near Murray. No officer administered medical assistance to Murray while waiting for an ambulance. FBI agents took charge, and, with local officers, allegedly denied a tribal officer access. After Murray was declared dead (off-reservation), an officer allegedly photographed Murray nude and manipulated his remains. After an external examination, the medical examiner concluded that the bullet entered the back of Murray’s head, above and behind his left ear. Murray was right-handed. No soot was found on Murray’s hands. When the investigation into the gun concluded, the FBI destroyed it. Plaintiffs sued under 42 U.S.C. 1983. The district court held that there was no seizure, that the pursuit was reasonable, and that Murray had fired at Norton. The Tenth Circuit affirmed. Meanwhile, plaintiffs sued the United States in the Claims Court, alleging violations of an 1868 Treaty and of the government’s trust obligations. The Claims Court concluded that the Treaty was limited to affirmative criminal acts committed on reservation lands and dismissed allegations regarding failure to take custody of and secure Murray’s body against desecration, spoliation of evidence, failure to ensure a proper autopsy, and failure to protect the Tribe’s reservation boundary and sovereign interest in the crime scene. The court found allegations concerning acts on the reservation barred by issue preclusion. The Federal Circuit vacated. The Claims Court improperly limited the scope of claims cognizable under the Treaty and erred in applying issue preclusion without considering a spoliation issue. View "Jones v. United States" on Justia Law

A 2011 petition alleged that imports of steel nails from the United Arab Emirates were being sold in the U.S. at less than fair value. The Department of Commerce initiated an antidumping investigation, determined that Precision was a mandatory respondent, and found that Precision had engaged in “targeted dumping,” with sales reflecting “export prices . . . that differ[ed] significantly among certain customers, regions, and time periods.” Commerce may calculate dumping margins using the average-to-average, the transaction-to-transaction, or the average-to transaction methods, 19 U.S.C. 1677f-1(d)(1)(A)(i)–(ii). The average-transaction methodology results in higher margins because sales at non-dumped prices are given a value of zero and only sales at dumped prices are aggregated. Commerce historically applied the Limiting Regulation, under which, use of the average-transaction methodology required explanation of why the other two methodologies fail to sufficiently account for dumping. In 2008, Commerce withdrew the Limiting Regulation. Commerce acknowledged that the repeal required prior notice and public comment, but “waive[d] the requirement,” invoking the “good cause” exception because the regulations were applicable to ongoing investigations. In calculating Precision’s dumping margin three years later, Commerce applied the average-to-transaction methodology. The Trade Court held that Commerce had violated the Administrative Procedure Act by withdrawing the regulation without providing notice and opportunity for comment. On remand, Commerce redetermined Precision’s duty by applying the withdrawn regulation and found that no duty was owing. The Trade Court and Federal Circuit affirmed. View "Mid Continent Nail Corp. v. United States" on Justia Law

Cumberland Pharmaceuticals owns the 445 patent, which describes acetylcysteine compositions substantially free of chelating agents. It is listed in the Food and Drug Administration’s Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations (the Orange Book) as covering Cumberland’s chelating-agent-free formulation of Acetadote®, an intravenous antidote for overdoses of acetaminophen. When Mylan filed an abbreviated new drug application to market its own chelating-agent-free acetylcysteine formulation, Cumberland filed a patent-infringement action. Mylan stipulated to infringement but asserted invalidity based on derivation of the claimed invention from someone at the FDA and obviousness. The district court rejected both challenges, finding that Mylan proved neither that anyone at the FDA conceived of the claimed invention before the named inventor nor that there was a reasonable expectation that the claimed formulations, without any chelating agents, would succeed. The Federal Circuit affirmed. Mylan offered evidence that there is no need to chelate trace metal ions because degradation may be effectively avoided by an inert vial atmosphere together with modern manufacturing practices that leave very low levels of metal contaminants, but the evidence did not establish that relevant skilled artisans would have reasonably expected success for those reasons in 2005. The district court had sufficient evidence to find otherwise. View "Cumberland Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Mylan Institutional LLC" on Justia Law

Kays served in the Navy, 1972-1976. In 2005, he sought benefits for disability caused by PTSD, allegedly caused by two non-combat stressors during his service. He was stabbed during a fight as he left an Enlisted Men’s Club, and while off-duty and taking diving lessons, he was asked to help with the recovery effort of a downed civilian helicopter; in the water, he was separated from the group and became stressed. Kays submitted a newspaper article, statements, records, and in-person testimony about those events. In 2005, the VA Regional Office denied Kays’s claim. The Board of Veterans Appeals remanded for further development of the record. The Regional Office again denied the PTSD claim. The Board affirmed. Meanwhile, the pertinent regulation, 38 C.F.R. 3.304(f), was amended and the Veterans Court held that the amendments were retroactive. On remand, the Board again denied Kays’s claim, finding that statements by Kays and his former spouse about the alleged stabbing were unsupported and contradicted by other evidence and that Kays’s testimony about the search and rescue was not credible because of the lack of supporting detail in the article, his delay in reporting the event, and his changing story. The Veterans Court found the Board’s decision to be a question of fact reviewed under the clearly erroneous standard. The Federal Circuit affirmed, finding that the Veterans Court applied the correct standard of review and correctly determined that the regulations require credible supporting evidence. View "Kays v. McDonald" on Justia Law

Tinnus, which produces a toy for filling water balloons, sued Telebrands for infringement of Tinnus’s 066 patent, which relates to a system for simultaneously filling multiple containers (such as balloons) with fluid. Telebrands sells a competing product. Both products attach to a hose and fill multiple water balloons at once by channeling the water into the balloons through a set of hollow tubes. Tinnus obtained a preliminary injunction. Shortly thereafter, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board instituted a Post-Grant Review proceeding for the patent, finding all claims were more likely than not invalid based on the same arguments considered by the district court. The Federal Circuit upheld the preliminary injunction, stating that it was “unable to find any clear error in the district court’s conclusion that Tinnus had demonstrated irreparable harm.” The court also upheld findings of insufficient motivation to combine disparate prior art references and that the claim term “substantially filled” is not indefinite. View "Tinnus Enterprises, LLC v. Telebrands Corp." on Justia Law