Justia Patents Opinion Summaries

Defendant appealed the district court's remand to state court. Plaintiff moved to dismiss the case. At issue was whether the district court has jurisdiction over an inventorship dispute where the contested patent has not yet been issued. The court concluded that, regardless of whether the removed complaint included an inventorship dispute, that dispute was inadequate to establish the district court's jurisdiction because the allegations indicated that no patent had issued; by raising a timely objection to removal, plaintiff properly preserved its jurisdictional argument; and because removal was improper and the case had not yet been tried on the merits, binding precedent dictated that the court remand the case to state court. Accordingly, the court affirmed the district court's remand order as amended and dismissed plaintiff's motion and cross-motion. View "Camsoft Data Sys., Inc. v. Southern Electronics Supply, et al." on Justia Law

The 321 patent, titled “Method for Manufacture of Quantum Sized Periodic Structures in Si Materials,” resulted from contributions of Brueck, Zaidi, Chu, employed by UNM, and Draper, employed by Sandia, and issued in 1998. In 1996, the four executed an assignment to UNM that defined all assignors as employees of UNM. UNM executed an assignment to Sandia to correct Draper’s assignment. While the 321 application was pending, in 1997, Brueck and Zaidi filed the application that led to the 998 patent, titled “Method and Apparatus for Extending Spatial Frequencies in Photolithography Images.” The application incorporated the 321 patent by reference, but did not claim priority to any earlier application. Draper was not listed as an inventor and had no inventive contribution. UNM obtained assignments from Brueck and Zaidi. During prosecution the PTO rejected claims for double patenting. UNM filed a terminal disclaimer, which specified that “any patent granted on this instant application shall be enforceable only for and during such period” that the 998 and 321 patents “are commonly owned.” UNM stated that it was the owner of a 100 percent interest in the application. The 998 patent issued in 2000. In 2008 successfully sought a certificate of correction indicating that the 998 patent is a continuation-in-part of the 321 patent. In 2010 UNM filed an infringement suit concerning the 998 patent. Although Sandia had an ownership interest since the Draper Assignment, Sandia had never claimed any interest in the 321 patent. The district court dismissed for lack of standing. The Federal Circuit affirmed. Sandia did not voluntarily join as a co-plaintiff and could not be involuntarily joined. All co-owners must ordinarily join in an infringement suit .View "STC.UNM v. Intel Corp." on Justia Law

Source manufactures water reservoirs in which drinking water can be stored inside backpacks for use during outdoor activities and is the assignee of the 276 patent, which focuses on a reservoir with a hermetic seal to prevent leakage and a wide opening for easier cleaning and filling. Attorney Yonay prosecuted the 276 patent application. Yonay and his partner signed the complaints in an infringement action against Hydrapak, which also manufactures a flexible hydration reservoir, the Reversible Reservoir. Hydrapak served a sanctions motion under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11, which allows the party against whom the sanctions will be sought 21 days to withdraw the offending claim. Source declined to withdraw its amended complaint. The district court granted Hydrapak summary judgment and sanctions, stating that there was “nothing complicated or technical” about the claim limitation “slot being narrower than the diameter of the rod,” and that none of the words of this limitation “requires definition or interpretation beyond its plain and ordinary meaning.” The court determined that in Hydrapak’s products the slot is larger than the diameter of the rod, even under Source’s proposed construction. After the Federal Circuit affirmed and denied Hydrapak sanctions for a frivolous appeal, the district court imposed a sanction of $200,054.00. The Federal Circuit affirmed.View "Source Vagabond Sys., Ltd. v. Hydrapak, Inc." on Justia Law