En banc Federal Circuit scraps affirmative duty of care to avoid infringement In a unanimous en banc decision issued late yesterday afternoon, the Federal Circuit granted a petition for mandamus requested by a party who was ordered by a district court to produce attorney-client privileged and work product protected material of its trial counsel, and to permit deposition of its trial counsel. The order was entered after […] Continue Reading →
Thursday at the Federal Circuit: en banc arguments on the duty of care and waiver of privilege This Thursday, the Federal Circuit will sit en banc to hear oral argument in In re Seagate Technology LLC, a mandamus case regarding a district court's order to produce certain attorney-client privileged materials. (Update (6/7): the audio of the oral argument is now available online at this link.) Like in many patent cases, one of […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit to decide scope of attorney-client privilege waiver en banc The Federal Circuit this afternoon agreed to hear a case to determine the scope of the waiver of attorney-client privilege when advice of counsel is used to defend against a charge of willful infringement. The order in In re Seagate Technology, LLC, which can be found here, invites the parties to brief the following questions: […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit considers intent required for inducing infringement en banc The Federal Circuit resolved a perceived conflict in its case law regarding the necessary level of intent required for a defendant to be found liable for inducing infringement of a patent. The court considered one subsection of DSU Medical Corp. v. JMS Co. en banc to resolve the conflict. The court held that to prove […] Continue Reading →
Majority of Federal Circuit appears ready to reconsider claim construction standard of review Today the Federal Circuit denied rehearing en banc in Amgen, Inc. v. Hoechst Marion Roussel, Inc., a case dealing with synthetic human erythropoietin, a protein that stimulates red blood cell production. In order to rehear a case en banc, a majority of active judges on the court must vote to rehear the case. There are […] Continue Reading →