Here is an update on recent activity at the Supreme Court in cases decided by the Federal Circuit. Highlights include thirty new amicus briefs in Google Inc. v. Oracle America, Inc., the denial of the application for a stay of the the Federal Circuit’s mandate in Sanofi-Aventis Deutschland GmbH v. Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc., three new petitions in a trade case and two patent cases, and a new amicus brief in support of a petition related to apportionment of patent damages. Here are the details.
Activity in Granted Cases
In terms of granted cases, the only case with any activity was Google Inc. v. Oracle America, Inc. All told, thirty new amicus briefs were filed in support of Oracle or neither party. You can find them listed below and, as always, on our case page:
- Interdisciplinary Research Team on Programmer Creativity
- The American Conservative Union Foundation
- Internet Accountability Project
- Copyright Thought Leaders
- Helienne Lindvall
- Synopsys, Inc.
- 25 Professors of Journalism and Media Law
- The Association of American Publishers, Inc.
- Ten Creators’ Rights Organization
- Committee for Justice
- Professor and Former CONTU Member Arthur R. Miller
- American Legislative Exchange Council
- Ralph Oman
- News Media Alliance
- Dolby Labratories, Inc.
- Motion Picture Association, Inc.
- USTelecom – The Broadband Association
- Joseph M. Tucci and Paul T. Dacier
- Professor Eugene H. Spafford, Ph.D., Professor Zhi Ding, Ph.D, Professor Emeritus Lee A. Hollar, Ph.D., Professor Adam Porter, Ph.D, and Mr. Peter Kent, BSC
- Former Congressmen
- Consumers’ Research
- Hudson Institute
- SAS Institute Inc.
- Former SUN Executive Scott McNealy
- Alliance of U.S. Startups and Inventors for Jobs (“USIJ”)
- Nine Professors and Scholars on Intellectual Property Law
- Copyright Alliance
- Digital Justice Foundation
- Center for Medicine in the Public Interest
- The Recording Industry Association of America, The National Music Publisher’s Association, The American Association of Independent Music, The Nashville Songwriters Association International, Songwriters of North America, The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, Music Artists Coalition, The Association of Independent Music Publishers
Activity in Petition Cases
New Denial of Application to Stay Mandate
We reported last week that in Sanofi-Aventis Deutschland GmbH v. Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc., Sanofi-Aventis filed a motion to stay the Federal Circuit’s mandate pending the filing and disposition of a writ of certiorari. We also reported that last week the Supreme Court granted Sanofi-Aventis a short reprieve by ordering that the Federal Circuit’s mandate would be stayed pending receipt of a response to the motion. This week’s update is that, after Mylan filed its response (and Sanofi-Aventis filed its reply in support of its motion), the Court denied the motion.
New Petitions
Three new petitions were filed.
In Ford Motor Co. v. United States, Ford Motor presented the Court with the following two questions:
- “Whether the Federal Circuit erred in holding, contrary to this Court’s precedent, that a product’s post-importation modification and use can determine its classification under a tariff heading that is not statutorily ‘controlled by use.'”
- “Whether the Federal Circuit erred in holding, in conflict with the decisions of the other twelve Circuits, that an appellee must brief issues not decided by the trial court or raised by the appellant to preserve them for remand.”
In Solutran Inc. v. Elavon, Inc., Solutran asked the Court, with respect to patent eligibility, “[d]oes Alice’s step one require that the claims be viewed as a whole and that consideration be given to the claimed advance over the prior art?”
In General Electric Co. v. United Technologies Corp., General Electric asked the Court to review “[w]hether competitive harm alone suffices to confer Article III standing to appeal an [inter partes review] determination, or whether an appellant must also show concrete plans for future activity that creates a substantial risk of a future patent infringement action.”
New Responses
In Automotive Body Parts Association v. Ford Global Technologies, Inc., Ford Global Technologies waived its right to respond to the petition, which presented a question related to patent exhaustion.
New Replies
No new replies were filed.
New Amicus Briefs
In Apple Inc v. VirnetX Inc., High Tech Inventors Alliance, HP Inc., and Lenovo (United States) Inc. filed an amicus brief in support of the Supreme Court granting the petition, which presented a question related to apportionment of patent damages.
New Grants and Denials
The Court did not grant or deny any petitions.