This morning the Federal Circuit issued two precedential opinions. The first is a government contract case appealed from the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals and the other is a patent case appealed from the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Here are the introductions to the opinions.
NOAA Maryland, LLC v. Administrator of the General Services Administration (Precedential)
The Civilian Board of Contract Appeals held that two taxes imposed on the lessor of a building (NOAA Maryland, LLC) do not come within a lease provision that requires the General Services Administration (GSA), as lessee, to reimburse NOAA Maryland for “real estate taxes” NOAA Maryland must pay above a lease-set base amount. The Board interpreted the provision to exclude all “future” taxes, i.e., taxes enacted after the date of the lease or its extension, even if those taxes meet the three expressly stated criteria for being a real estate tax. We reject the Board’s interpretation, and because GSA has not preserved any argument that the two taxes at issue fail to meet those criteria, we reverse.
New Vision Gaming & Development, Inc. v. SG Gaming, Inc. (Precedential)
New Vision Gaming & Development, Inc., appeals two covered-business method review final-written decisions. In those decisions, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board held that all claims of U.S. Patent Nos. 7,451,987 and 7,325,806, as well as proposed substitute claims, are patent ineligible under 35 U.S.C. § 101. New Vision requests that we vacate and remand the Board’s decisions in light of Arthrex, Inc. v. Smith & Nephew, Inc., 941 F.3d 1320 (Fed. Cir. 2019). Because Arthrex issued after the Board’s final-written decisions and after New Vision sought Board rehearing, New Vision has not waived its Arthrex challenge by raising it for the first time in its opening brief before this Court. See C.A. Casyso GmbH v. HemoSonics LLC, No. 20-1444 (Oct. 27, 2020) (non-precedential order) (vacating and remanding in analogous circumstances). Thus, we vacate and remand for further proceedings consistent with Arthrex, and we need not reach any other issue presented in this case.