Here is an update on recent activity at the Supreme Court in cases decided by the Federal Circuit. In stark contrast to last week, it was a rather quiet week at the Court. Highlights include an additional amicus brief in Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc., two responses to petitions, and one denial of a petition.
Activity in Granted Cases
Since our report last week, another amicus brief, this one by the Software Freedom Law Center, was submitted in Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc. This briefs adds to the extensive list of briefs filed last week, almost all of which supported Google’s positions in the case. Keep in mind, however, that amicus briefs in favor of Oracle America will be filed in advance of a later deadline.
Activity in Petition Cases
New Petitions
No new petitions were filed this week.
New Responses
In Apple Inc. v. VirnetX Inc., VirnetX Inc. argued that “Apple’s assertion that the Federal Circuit ignored or believed it could ignore interving legal changes is frivolous” and that “Apple has no plausible arguments for resisting the judgment.” Instead, says VirnetX, Apple “continues the pattern of ‘gamesmanship’ and delay that resulted in the district court enhancing damages below.”
In Cisco Systems, Inc. v. SRI International, Inc., SRI International, Inc. explained that the petition, which presented a question related to patent eligibility, should be denied because “the Federal Circuit, like the district court before it, concluded that the patent claims did not in fact recite only the abstract idea of collecting and analyzing data.” Moreover, SRI says, “the petition does not even seek review of that claim specific determination.” Even “if it did,” SRI goes on, “the petition would seek no more than fact-bound error correction.” Further, SRI argues that there is no intra-circuit split because “there is no conflict between [two cases] because of the differences in the claim terms.” Finally, SRI states that “review is not warranted because the decision below faithfully and correctly applies [the] Court’s settled precedents to the particular claims at issue.”
In Cruz v. Wilkie, the government waived its right to respond to the petition.
New Reply Briefs
No new reply briefs were filed this week.
New Amicus Briefs
No new amicus briefs were filed this week.
New Grants and Denials
The Supreme Court did not grant any petitions, but it denied the petition in Lepore v. Office of Personnel Management, a case addressing the review of findings of fact in the context of determinations of annuities for retiring government employees.