Here is a report on recent news and commentary related to the Federal Circuit and its cases. Today’s report highlights an amicus brief filed by government in support of Oracle in its ongoing fight against Google at the Supreme Court and an article addressing how following a recent Federal Circuit decision patent owners may need to work harder to steer cases into desired venues.
Margaret Harding McGill reported for Axios that in Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc., “[t]he Trump administration is siding with Oracle in the database giant’s dispute with Google before the Supreme Court—a move that comes as Oracle’s founder hosts a high-dollar fundraiser for the president.” As explained by McGill, “[t]he solicitor general’s office weighed in Wednesday with a brief in support of the company.” McGill notes “[t]he administration found Google’s policy arguments are ‘unpersuasive’ and argued software code is copyrightable,” and “[t]he brief also rejected Google’s arguments about interoperability.”
Matthew Bultman authored an article for Bloomberg Law explaining how, following In re Google LLC, “[p]atent owners may start digging deeper into business relationships to steer cases to certain venues after the Federal Circuit ruled that a lawsuit against Alphabet Inc. subsidiary Google LLC couldn’t be heard in the Eastern District of Texas.” According to Bultman, “[p]atent owners focused on keeping lawsuits in their preferred district may scour business relationships, looking for people who are conducting the company’s business in the area.” (We previously commented on the Federal Circuit’s decision.)