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

Crocs's Design Patent 789, titled “Footwear,” has a single claim for the “ornamental design for footwear.” Crocs sued Dawgs for infringement, Dawgs sought inter partes reexamination (IPE) under 35 U.S.C. 311. The district court stayed its proceedings. The examiner rejected the claim as anticipated, 35 U.S.C. 102(b). While an appeal to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board was pending, Dawgs filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The bankruptcy court approved the sale of all of its assets to a new entity, Holdings, “not free and clear of any Claims Crocs . . . may hold for patent infringement occurring post-Closing Date by any person ... or any defenses Crocs may have in respect of any litigation claims that are sold.” The bankruptcy court authorized the distribution of the net sale proceeds and dismissed Dawgs’s bankruptcy case. Holdings assigned all rights, including explicitly the claims asserted by Dawgs in the infringement action and the IPE, to Mojave. Dawgs dissolved but continued to exist for limited purposes, including “prosecuting and defending suits" and "claims of any kind.”The Board declined to change the real-party-in-interest from the IPE requestor to Mojave, then reversed the examiner’s rejection of the patent’s claim. The Federal Circuit granted the motion to substitute. The assignments indicate that Mojave is Dawgs's successor-in-interest; as such, Mojave has standing. If the Board precludes substitution on the basis of a transfer in interest because of a late filing, it would defeat the important interest in having the proper party before the Board. View "Mojave Desert Holdings, LLC v. Crocs, Inc." on Justia Law

Elevated LDL cholesterol is linked to heart disease. LDL receptors remove LDL cholesterol from the bloodstream; the PCSK9 enzyme regulates LDL receptor degradation. Amgen’s 165 and 741 patents describe antibodies that purportedly bind to the PCSK9 protein and lower LDL levels by blocking PCSK9 from binding to LDL receptors. Amgen sued Sanofi, alleging infringement of multiple patents, including the 165 and 741 patents. Amgen and Sanofi stipulated to infringement of selected claims and tried issues of validity to a jury.The court granted judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) of nonobviousness and of no willful infringement. Following remand, a jury again found that Sanofi failed to prove that the asserted claims were invalid for lack of written description and enablement. The district court granted Sanofi’s Motion for JMOL for lack of enablement and denied the motion for lack of written description. The Federal Circuit affirmed. Undue experimentation would be required to practice the full scope of these claims, which encompasses millions of candidates claimed with respect to multiple specific functions. It would be necessary to first generate and then screen each candidate antibody to determine whether it meets the double-function claim limitations. View "Amgen Inc. v. Sanofi, Aventisub LLC" on Justia Law

The Infinity patents share a specification and involve using a fax machine as a printer or scanner for a personal computer. The indefiniteness issues revolve around the connection between the fax machine and the computer, termed a “passive link.” In a suit alleging that Oki infringed the patents, the district court found the patent claims indefinite.The Federal Circuit affirmed. Infinity has taken materially inconsistent positions regarding the extent of the claimed “passive link”— specifically, whether it ends at the I/O bus inside the computer or merely at the computer’s port; the endpoint of “passive link” is not reasonably certain and the term is indefinite. Because there is no reasonable certainty about where the “passive link” ends, there also cannot be reasonable certainty about where the “computer” begins. View "Infinity Computer Products, Inc. v. Oki Data Americas, Inc." on Justia Law

Sharifi alleges the U.S. Army took his land when it built Combat Outpost Millet in Afghanistan in 2010. The government asserted that Sharifi’s Fifth Amendment complaint was “vague and ambiguous” because it did not specifically identify the property interest that the government allegedly took, that Sharifi had not provided a legal description of the land, a deed, or other documents that would allow the government to identify the location. The Claims Court instructed Sharifi to file an amended complaint. Sharifi alleged that government records, verified by the District Governor of Arghandab, showed that his grandfather owned the land on which the Army built COP Millet: Ownership of the land passed to Sharifi and his siblings, who subdivided the land by a 2004 inheritance agreement. The government submitted six declarations, including several witness declarations and an expert declaration on Afghan law. The Claims Court dismissed Sharifi’s amended complaint for failure to show a cognizable property interest.The Federal Circuit affirmed. The government records attached to Sharifi’s amended complaint and the 2004 inheritance agreement do not constitute proof of land ownership under the laws of Afghanistan. Even accepting as true all factual allegations in Sharifi’s amended complaint, the amended complaint does not contain sufficient facts to state a plausible takings claim. View "Sharifi v. United States" on Justia Law

Dr. Chudik applied to the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) for a patent on his “Guide for Shoulder Surgery” in 2006. The PTO examiner issued a second rejection in 2010. Rather than taking an appeal to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (35 U.S.C. 134(a)), Chudik requested continued examination (section 132(b)). In 2014, the examiner again rejected his claims. Chudik appealed to the Board. Instead of filing an answer, the examiner reopened prosecution and rejected the claims as unpatentable on a different ground; that process repeated in 2016. In 2017, while Chudik’s fourth notice of appeal from an examiner rejection was pending, the examiner issued another rejection, which led to a notice of allowance after Chudik altered his claims. Chudik’s patent issued in 2018.The PTO awarded Chudik a patent term adjustment of 2,066 days (35 U.S.C. 154(b)) but rejected Chudik’s claim for an additional 655 days of “C-delay,” for the time his four notices of appeal were pending in the PTO. C-delay covers appellate review by the Board or a federal court in a case in which the patent was issued under a decision in the review reversing an adverse determination of patentability. The PTO concluded that, in light of the reopening of prosecution, the Board’s jurisdiction never attached and there was no Board or reviewing court reversal. The district court and Federal Circuit affirmed. C-delay for “appellate review” requires a reversal by the Board or a court. View "Chudik v. Hirshfeld" on Justia Law

Holmes began working for the USPS in 1989. An investigation revealed that another letter carrier, Baxter, was selling marijuana from Baxter’s postal truck. Surveillance video showed Holmes and other USPS employees engaged in transactions with Baxter while on duty. Baxter later admitted to selling marijuana from his USPS vehicle; six other letter carriers admitted to purchasing marijuana from Baxter. Holmes denied purchasing marijuana while on duty. The surveillance video showed two relevant interactions between Baxter and Holmes, while on duty.At pre-disciplinary interviews, Holmes invoked his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. Following a Notice of Proposed Removal, Holmes met with the deciding official, Bush, and stated that he “wanted to apologize,” and that he “made this little mistake.” Bush issued a termination, explaining that removal was consistent with the penalties received by the other employees. Bush considered Holmes’s lengthy federal service and lack of disciplinary record but concluded that they did not outweigh the support for his removal. In five grievance arbitrations, the arbitrators mitigated the penalty to long-term suspension without back pay. Holmes instead appealed to the Merit System Protection Board, arguing that the agency had insufficient evidence to find that he purchased marijuana from Baxter.The Board upheld his removal. The Federal Circuit affirmed, rejecting arguments that the removal was arbitrary or otherwise not in accordance with law; obtained without procedures required by law,; or unsupported by substantial evidence, 5 U.S.C. 7703(c) View "Homes v. United States Postal Service" on Justia Law

Customer loyalty programs issue points that customers can redeem for goods and services. Maritz’s patent relates to a system and method for permitting a customer to redeem loyalty points without human intervention. A graphical user interface provides allows the participant to communicate with a web-based vendor system, such as an airline reservation system. An application programming interface interfaces with the GUI and the vendor system to facilitate information transfer between them.cxLoyalty petitioned for a covered business method (CBM) review of claims 1–15 of the patent. The Patent Trial and Appeal Board concluded that original claims 1–15 are ineligible for patenting under 35 U.S.C. 101 but that proposed substitute claims 16–23 are patent-eligible. cxLoyalty appealed as to the substitute claims; Maritz cross-appealed both the determination that the patent is eligible for CBM review and the ruling as to the original claims.The Federal Circuit dismissed Maritz’s challenge to CBM eligibility and held that both the original and substitute claims are directed to patent-ineligible subject matter. The threshold determination that a patent qualifies for CBM review is non-appealable under 35 U.S.C. 324(e). Representative claim 1 is directed to transfers of information relating to a longstanding commercial practice and is directed to an abstract idea. The claims amount to nothing more than applying an abstract idea using techniques that are, individually or as an ordered combination, well-understood, routine, and conventional. View "cxLoyalty, Inc. v. Maritz Holdings Inc." on Justia Law

The Federal Circuit affirmed the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals' decision denying P.K. Management's claim that it should receive individual payments for inspections of Custodial properties under a contract with the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The court agreed with the Board's determination that the contract terms unambiguously cover routine inspections through a monthly fee rather than individual payments.In this case, the court read the Contract as whole and held that the plain meaning places compensation for routine inspections of Custodial properties under Contract Line Item Numbers (CLIN) 0006 rather than CLIN 0005AA. The court explained that, because the Contract is unambiguous, it follows the plain meaning without considering extrinsic evidence or related arguments. The court considered P.K. Management's remaining arguments and found them unpersuasive. View "P.K. Management Group, Inc. v. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development" on Justia Law

The Army Corps of Engineers issued a request for proposals. NIKA bid but was not awarded a contract. NIKA made a timely request for debriefing. The Corps sent NIKA a written debriefing and alerted NIKA of the right to submit additional questions. NIKA did not submit additional questions. NIKA filed a protest at the Government Accountability Office (GAO) six days after the written debriefing. Under 31 U.S.C. 3553(d), bid protests filed at the GAO invoke an automatic stay of procurement during the pendency of the protest if the federal agency awarding the contract receives notice within five days of debriefing. GAO denied the stay as untimely.NIKA filed suit, citing 10 U.S.C. 2305(b)(5)(B)(vii), which states that “[t]he debriefing shall include . . . an opportunity for a disappointed offeror to submit, within two business days after receiving a post-award debriefing, additional questions related to the debriefing.” The Claims Court instituted the stay. The bid protest concluded and the stay has ended.The Federal Circuit reversed, first holding that the issue was not moot, being capable of repetition but evading review. The text of 31 U.S.C. 3553(d) indicates that when no additional questions are submitted, the “debriefing date” is the date upon which the party receives its debriefing. The five-day period begins on the debriefing date, rather than two days later. Because NIKA did not file at the GAO within the five-day period, it did not timely invoke the stay. View "NIKA Technologies, Inc. v. United States" on Justia Law

The patent at issue is directed to an efficient method for compressing video files; its claims generally concern “a method of decoding a moving picture in inter prediction mode,” in which “one or more reference pictures are used to estimate motion of a current block” over the time of the video. In inter partes review, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board found all claims unpatentable.The Federal Circuit affirmed in part and vacated with respect to claim 3. The court rejected an argument that the Board erred by relying on references that do not qualify as prior art printed publications under 35 U.S.C. 102. Substantial evidence supports the Board’s finding that persons of ordinary skill in video-coding technology could have accessed the references with reasonable diligence; those references constitute printed publications within the meaning of 35 U.S.C. 102. The Board erred by finding claim 3 anticipated when the petition for inter partes review asserted only obviousness as to that claim. View "M & K Holdings, Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd." on Justia Law