This morning the Federal Circuit issued one precedential opinion in a patent case and one nonprecedential opinion in a patent case. Here are the introductions to the opinions.
In re PersonalWeb Technologies LLC (Precedential)
Appellant PersonalWeb Technologies LLC filed a number of lawsuits charging dozens of customers of Amazon.com, Inc., and Amazon Web Services, Inc., (collectively “Amazon”) with infringing several related patents. Amazon responded with a declaratory judgment action seeking an order declaring that PersonalWeb’s lawsuits against Amazon’s customers were barred as a result of a prior lawsuit brought by PersonalWeb against Amazon, which was dismissed with prejudice. In the eight cases that are now on appeal, the district court agreed with Amazon that the consequence of the prior dismissal was to bar PersonalWeb’s infringement actions against Amazon’s customers. In re: PersonalWeb Techs., LLC, No. 5:18-md02834-BLF, 2019 WL 1455332 (N.D. Cal. Apr. 2, 2019). We affirm.
LiquidPower Special Products Inc. v. Baker Hughes (Nonprecedential)
For reasons analogous to those expressed in LiquidPower Specialty Products Inc. v. Baker Hughes, 749 F. App’x 965 (Fed. Cir. 2018) (“LiquidPower 2018”), we conclude that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“Board”) erred by reaching its obviousness conclusion without considering the evidence of secondary considerations proffered by LiquidPower Specialty Products Inc. (“LSPI”). Accordingly, we vacate the Board’s obviousness determination and remand for further proceedings.