Hybrid vehicle patent not infringed; invalidity issues need not be reached on appeal from ITC In an appeal from the International Trade Commission, the Federal Circuit affirmed the Commission's determination of noninfringement of a patent. The court, however, did not consider the ITC's finding of nonenablement on appeal. While in the context of a district court case a counterclaim for invalidity is not mooted by a finding of noninfringement, the […] Continue Reading →
Party defaulting before district court and enjoined cannot attack registration via cancellation In a decision this week, the Federal Circuit held that a party against whom a default judgment was entered in a trademark infringement case before a district court cannot thereafter petition to cancel the registration at issue before the TTAB. The TTAB held the claim barred by res judicata. The court held that res judicata […] Continue Reading →
Fourth Circuit: Claim preclusion prevents new determination of actual damages against licensees Yesterday, the Fourth Circuit decided another copyright infringement case based on use of the logo for the Baltimore Ravens football team. The court had previously affirmed two cases involving the same logo, where copyright infringement was found but no damages were issued. In this case, several hundred licensees were sued for using the infringing logo.The […] Continue Reading →
Infringement and royalty rate affirmed; dismissal of willful infringement claim reversed In a recent decision, the Federal Circuit affirmed-in part a district court's grant of summary judgment of infringement of a patent, finding that the claims were properly held to include measuring devices that either directly or indirectly compare two signals to determine the proper measurement. The court reversed-in part the district court's damages award. The […] Continue Reading →
USPTO not bound by district court claim construction on reexamination; obviousness affirmed The Federal Circuit today addressed claim construction and obviousness in the context of a reexamination appeal. The patentee argued that the USPTO was bound, in reexamination, to apply the claim construction given the patents by a district court when the patents were in litigation before reexamination. The court found that because the USPTO was not […] Continue Reading →
Back to the Future: trade dress found functional in 1985 still functional in 2007 The Federal Circuit once again rejected Bose Corporation's application to register a speaker design as a trademark. The court had earlier affirmed a finding of functionality by the USPTO, and because there were no changed circumstances since that decision, the court once again affirmed the same finding based on the doctrine of res judicata (claim […] Continue Reading →
Appeals Court holds Transclean Corporation to its stated position The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decided in Transclean v. Jiffy Lube that Transclean should be bound by its repeated statements proffered during the course of litigation and not be allowed to take a contrary position during a second phase of litigation. Transclean is the sole licensee of U.S. Patent No. […] Continue Reading →