CAFC Affirms Improper Venue Ruling in Victoria’s Secrets’ Favor – On IPWatchDog, Matthew Schutte posted an article reporting on a Federal Circuit decision to affirm the grant of a motion to dismiss a patent infringement suit based on improper venue.
Judge Albright will Keep the Google and Apple Cases – In a post on PatentlyO.com, Dennis Crouch offers his thoughts on the Federal Circuit’s recent decision not to order Judge Albright to transfer certain patent cases.
Arthrex-Based TTAB Challenge Meets Dubious Federal Circuit Panel – Kyle Jahner reports for Bloomberg that “[a] piano company trying to revive its trademark encountered a Federal Circuit skeptical of its argument.”
Shell, ARCO, Texaco, Unocal Win $100 Million WWII Cleanup Appeal – In this article on BloombergLaw.com, Daniel Seiden reports on the Federal Circuit’s ruling in Shell Oil Co. v. United States.
CAFC Affirms Improper Venue Ruling in Victoria’s Secrets’ Favor
Reported by Matthew Schutte on IPWatchDog.com
Matthew Schutte reports on the Federal Circuit decision in Andra Group, LP v. Victoria’s Secret Stores, LLC, explaining that the court held “Andra had failed to establish the necessary elements of the second Cray factor.” Schutte explains how Andra argued that, “under In Re Cray, the Non-Store Defendants had ratified the retail stores as their own.” He notes that the Federal Circuit “found these arguments by Andra to be uncompelling because they had not shown the Non-Store Defendants sustained a ‘unified business model’ with the Stores.”
Judge Albright will Keep the Google and Apple cases
Reported by Dennis Crouch on PatentlyO.com
Dennis Crouch posted on PatentlyO.com about a Federal Circuit decision not to order Judge Albright to transfer certain patent cases. Crouch explains that Apple, which he says has a “$1 billion Austin Texas Campus and 8,000+ employees within the district, . . . argued that litigating a patent case within the district would be truly inconvenient.” Crouch reports that the Federal Circuit did not give that argument “much weight.” Crouch says that “[t]he real answer here is that the plaintiff (Koss Corp) shopped for Judge Albright and the defendant is shopping for a different Judge (any other judge).”
Arthrex-Based TTAB Challenge Meets Dubious Federal Circuit Panel
Reported by Kyle Jahner on BloombergLaw.com
On BloombergLaw.com, Kyle Jahner reports that “[a] piano company trying to revive its trademark encountered a Federal Circuit skeptical of its argument that a Supreme Court ruling deeming a patent tribunal unconstitutionally structured also applied to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.” Jahner notes that this case “will provide the first direct test of whether the reasoning in Arthrex, which ultimately stripped the prohibition on the PTO director reviewing decisions, applies to the TTAB as well.” Jahner adds that, if Arthrex does apply, “it could open the door for parties who recently lost before to appeal to the PTO director.”
Shell, ARCO, Texaco, Unocal Win $100 Million WWII Cleanup Appeal
Reported by Daniel Seiden on BloombergLaw.com
Daniel Seiden posted an article on BloombergLaw.com reporting on a Federal Circuit decision allowing “Shell Oil, Atlantic Richfield Co., Texaco Inc., and Union Oil of Co. of California [to] keep the over $100 million . . . incurred for cleaning up waste from the manufacture of aviation gasoline during World War II.” Seiden explains that this case began during World War II when “aviation gas . . . created a waste product called acid sludge.” Seiden highlights that the Federal Circuit said the “claims court correctly found the government’s duty to indemnify the oil companies and their right to reimbursement for remediation costs matured before [a] repeal occurred.”