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

Dennis Erb was discharged from his position as an Intelligence Research Specialist with the Department of Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) for repeatedly providing false information on his timecard and failing to abide by his supervisor's instructions. The Merit Systems Protection Board (Board) upheld Treasury's decision to remove Mr. Erb. The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the Board's decision, finding that substantial evidence supported the Board's determination that Mr. Erb intentionally falsified his timecard and that the Board correctly upheld the charges of both falsification and failure to follow instructions. The court also found no error with the Board's decision to uphold Treasury's selected penalty of removal. The court reasoned that Mr. Erb's misconduct was repetitive and serious, undermining the efficiency and discipline of the service. Therefore, the court found that the penalty of removal was not unreasonable. View "ERB v. TREASURY " on Justia Law

In April 2008, the Department of the Navy awarded a contract to Strategic Technology Institute, Inc. (STI) to provide various aircraft engineering and support services. The contract incorporated Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 52.216-7, Allowable Cost and Payment, and FAR 52.242-4, Certification of Final Indirect Costs. STI was required to submit its cost rate proposals for fiscal years 2008 and 2009 by certain deadlines. STI did not submit these proposals until 2014, upon request by the government. After receiving these proposals, the government conducted audits and found that STI's proposals included approximately $1 million in unallowable costs. The government issued a final decision, demanding payment of unallowable costs, penalties, and interests.STI appealed to the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals, arguing that the government's claim was barred under the six-year statute of limitations under the Contract Disputes Act. The Board rejected STI’s argument and held that the statute of limitations on any government claim for disallowed costs does not begin until the contractor submits the incurred cost proposal and provides sufficient audit records.STI then appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The court held that the event that started the clock for the statute of limitations is the submission of STI’s cost rate proposals in September 2014, not STI’s failure to timely submit the proposals. The court held that STI's liability for receiving overpayment was not fixed until STI submitted unallowable costs in the cost proposal. Therefore, the government’s claim could not have accrued until STI submitted its cost rate proposals. The court affirmed the decision of the Board. View "STRATEGIC TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE, INC. v. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE " on Justia Law

In this case, the plaintiff, Jason Lambro, worked as a studio technician for the Voice of America (VOA), a federal agency, under a series of contracts. Lambro alleged that he should have been classified as an employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and thus entitled to benefits such as overtime pay. The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that the FLSA itself, through its definitional provisions, provides the applicable standard for recognizing an employment relationship for FLSA purposes. Therefore, the court had to evaluate whether Lambro was employed by VOA under the FLSA's own standard for being employed. The court rejected the lower court's conclusion that the FLSA does not cover a person asserting coverage as a federal government employee unless a congressional authorization outside the FLSA creates the asserted employment relationship with the federal government. The court vacated the lower court’s dismissal and remanded the case for further proceedings. View "Lambro v. United States" on Justia Law

In this case, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reviewed the findings of the International Trade Commission (ITC) which ruled in favor of Universal Electronics, Inc. (Universal) in a patent dispute with Roku, Inc. The patent at issue, U.S. Patent No. 10,593,196, related to a "universal control engine" that helps different types of media devices communicate with each other using various communication protocols. Universal had accused Roku of importing certain TV products that infringed this patent.The court affirmed the ITC's findings on three key issues:1. Ownership Rights: Roku had argued that Universal lacked standing to assert the patent because it did not own all rights to the patent at the time it filed its complaint. However, the court found that Universal did indeed possess ownership rights based on a 2012 agreement which constituted a present conveyance of patent rights.2. Domestic Industry Requirement: The court found that Universal satisfied the economic prong of the domestic industry requirement by proving a substantial investment in engineering and research and development to exploit the patent. Roku had argued that the Commission erred by not requiring Universal to allocate its domestic industry expenses to a specific domestic industry product, but the court disagreed.3. Non-Obviousness of Patent: The court affirmed the ITC's determination that Roku failed to establish a prima facie case that the challenged claims were unpatentable as obvious. The court found that the combination of two prior art references did not disclose all elements of the patent claim in question. Additionally, the court found that Roku failed to present clear and convincing evidence of a motivation to combine the prior art references.Based on these findings, the court affirmed the ITC's decision, thereby ruling in favor of Universal Electronics, Inc. View "ROKU, INC. v. ITC " on Justia Law

In this case, CyWee Group Ltd. appealed a decision made by the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (the "Board") that found unpatentable claims 1, 4–5, 14–17, and 19 of U.S. Patent No. 8,441,438, which is directed to a three-dimensional (3D) pointing device. The appeal also involved CyWee’s revised motion to amend its claims. The main arguments of CyWee's appeal were that the Board erred by allowing LG Electronics Inc., an intervenor in the case, to oppose CyWee’s motion to amend and that the Board erred in denying the revised motion to amend.The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the Board's decision. The court found no error in the Board’s decision to allow LG to oppose the revised motion to amend, despite LG joining the case as a passive 'understudy'. The court also found substantial evidence to support the Board's conclusion that a skilled artisan would combine the prior art references in the case. The court rejected CyWee's argument that it was denied meaningful Director review, in line with precedent set in previous cases. View "CYWEE GROUP LTD. v. ZTE (USA), INC. " on Justia Law

The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the decisions from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Patent Trial and Appeal Board in a patent dispute between Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. (PacBio) and Personal Genomics Taiwan, Inc. (PGI). The core dispute revolved around the interpretation of the term "identifying a single biomolecule" in the claims of PGI’s U.S. Patent No. 7,767,441. The Board interpreted the term to mean that the apparatus must be capable of ascertaining the identity of one single, individual biomolecule by examining only that biomolecule. On appeal, the court affirmed the Board’s interpretation. PacBio challenged the Board’s finding that the Hassibi reference did not disclose “identifying a single biomolecule” under the claim construction, while PGI challenged the Board’s finding that the Choumane reference did disclose “identifying a single biomolecule” under that construction. The court found substantial evidence supporting the Board’s findings for both references and affirmed the decisions. PacBio and PGI bear their own costs. View "PACIFIC BIOSCIENCES OF CALIFORNIA, INC. v. PERSONAL GENOMICS TAIWAN, INC. " on Justia Law

In this case, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled against Philadelphia Energy Solutions Refining and Marketing, LLC ("Philadelphia Energy"). Philadelphia Energy, a fuel producer, had appealed a decision by the United States Court of Federal Claims denying their claim for tax refunds for excise taxes they had paid on fuel mixtures of butane and gasoline. Philadelphia Energy argued that these fuel mixtures should be considered "alternative fuel mixtures" under 26 U.S.C. § 6426(e), making them eligible for a tax credit. However, the Court of Appeals upheld the lower court's decision, finding that butane, despite being considered a liquefied petroleum gas, is not considered an "alternative fuel" under this statute. This is because butane is also a "taxable fuel," and the statutory language creates a dichotomy between "taxable fuels" and "special motor fuels", with the two being mutually exclusive. Consequently, Philadelphia Energy's mixture of butane and gasoline does not qualify for the alternative fuel mixture credit, and they are not entitled to the claimed tax refunds. View "PHILADELPHIA ENERGY SOLUTIONS REFINING v. US " on Justia Law

This case revolves around an interlocutory appeal from a consolidated case between Abbott Diabetes Care, Inc., Abbott Diabetes Care Sales Corp. (collectively, “Abbott”), and DexCom, Inc. at the United States District Court for the District of Delaware. DexCom had sued Abbott for infringing its patents, leading Abbott to petition for inter partes review of the asserted patents before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. DexCom sought a preliminary injunction to prevent Abbott from proceeding with the inter partes review proceedings based on a forum selection clause in a settlement and license agreement between the parties. DexCom appealed the district court’s denial of the preliminary injunction.The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the district court's decision, holding that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying the preliminary injunction. The court found that the forum selection clause in the settlement and license agreement did not preclude the filing of inter partes review petitions after the Covenant Period because it allowed them during the Covenant Period. Therefore, DexCom could not succeed on its breach-of-contract counterclaim, making it ineligible for a preliminary injunction. View "DEXCOM, INC. v. ABBOTT DIABETES CARE, INC. " on Justia Law

In the patent infringement case between K-fee System GmbH and Nespresso USA, Inc., the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed the district court’s decision. K-fee owns three patents related to coffee-machine portion capsules that display information to prevent their use in incompatible machines. The company alleged that Nespresso infringed these patents. The district court had interpreted the term "barcode" in K-fee's patents to exclude "bit codes," or codes made up of two binary symbols. Based on this interpretation, the court granted Nespresso’s motion for summary judgment of non-infringement.On appeal, the Federal Circuit disagreed with the district court’s interpretation of “barcode.” The court found that a "barcode" is defined by its visual appearance as a lineup of bars with varying widths, and that this definition can include bit codes. The court determined that the district court had erred in its claim construction of "barcode," and consequently, in its grant of summary judgment of non-infringement based on that construction. The case was remanded for further proceedings in line with this interpretation. View "K-FEE SYSTEM GMBH v. NESPRESSO USA, INC. " on Justia Law

Crispin Torres, a former employee of the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), appealed an arbitration decision which upheld his removal from the agency for unauthorized travel and falsification of certified records. The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit found that the arbitrator did not provide substantial evidence for concluding that two key factors, consistency of penalty with similar offenses (Douglas factor 6) and potential for rehabilitation (Douglas factor 10), weighed in favor of Mr. Torres' removal. The court found that the arbitrator failed to fully consider comparator cases where similar misconduct by other ICE law enforcement officers resulted in suspension rather than removal, and did not adequately explain why Mr. Torres had no potential for rehabilitation. The court vacated the arbitrator's decision and remanded the case for further proceedings consistent with its opinion. View "TORRES v. DHS " on Justia Law