- Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a jury verdict invalidating a University of California patent that had been asserted by a non-practicing entity, Eolas, against dozens of companies based on their use of “interactive” features on the World Wide Web. More on this case from Joe Mullin at ArsTechnica.
- As noted by Jason Rantanen at Patently-O, the Federal Circuit Advisory Council just released a model order addressing limitations on excess asserted claims and prior art in patent litigations. The orders seeks to provide district courts with a roadmap for narrowing the issues in patent cases and reducing litigation costs for the parties, and follows a 2011 Federal Circuit Advisory Council model order addressing e-discovery issues.
- Court watchers and readers of this blog might be particularly interested in a couple of upcoming oral arguments taking place at the Federal Circuit over the next month and a half:
- On August 9, the court will hear oral argument in appeal no. 13-1129, which is the Apple’s appeal of Judge Lucy Koh’s decision not to impose a permanent injunction on Samsung for infringement of several Apple patents, in part because Apple failed to establish a “causal nexus” between Samsung’s infringement and any irreparable harm to Apple.
- And on September 11, oral argument is scheduled in appeal no. 12-1548, which is the appeal of Judge Posner’s decision to dismiss both Apple’s and Motorola’s dueling claims for damages and injunctions in a Northern District of Illinois infringement case. The standard-essential patent-related portion of this oral argument should be especially interesting, as the judges may be posing questions on the appropriate methodology for calculating a RAND royalty and whether injunctive relief may be obtained as a remedy for infringement of a RAND-pledged SEP.
- Lastly, congratulations to Todd Hughes, the Deputy Director of the Commercial Litigation Branch of the Civil Division at the Department of Justice who was nominated earlier this year by President Obama to become a Federal Circuit judge. Last week, Mr. Hughes’ nomination was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee, and his nomination now proceeds to the full Senate for a confirmation vote. (via Blog of Legal Times)