Here is a report on recent news and commentary related to the Federal Circuit and its cases. Today’s report highlights:
- a blog post about a Federal Circuit decision “vacat[ing] two separate preliminary injunction orders . . . against hoverboard products;”
- an article about amicus briefs supporting a petition for certiorari asking “the U.S. Supreme Court to do away with the Federal Circuit precedent barring infringement suits on patents the Patent Trial and Appeal Board has invalidated;” and
- another article about the “impact of Judge Garcia’s order” on the number of patent case filings in the Western District of Texas.
Eileen McDermott wrote a blog post for IPWatchdog about a Federal Circuit decision “vacat[ing] two separate preliminary injunction orders . . . against hoverboard products alleged to infringe on four design patents.” McDermott explained that the Federal Circuit’s decision was based on “’substantive defects’ in the [U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois]’s reasoning for granting the injunctions.”
Britain Eakin authored an article for Law360 about amicus briefs supporting a petition for certiorari asking “the U.S. Supreme Court to do away with the Federal Circuit precedent barring infringement suits on patents the Patent Trial and Appeal Board has invalidated.” Eakin reported how the “briefs highlighted the lower evidentiary standard at the PTAB — preponderance of the evidence — versus district courts, which use the clear and convincing standard.” Eakin highlighted how the briefs argued “the Federal Circuit shouldn’t be allowed to impose a decision that relies on a lower standard of proof . . . because estoppel generally does not apply when there is a different standard between tribunals.”
Aimee Fagan published an article for Law.com about “impact of Judge Garcia’s order” on the number of patent case filings in the Western District of Texas. She reports the impact has proved to be surprising to those who held “[t]he popular view . . . that this order was a death knell for Judge Albright’s Waco patent docket.” Fagan asserted that, although “there was an initial drop in new patent case filings,” the Western District of Texas “has surprisingly retained its No. 1 spot,” which is “measured by volume of new patent case filings over the past two months.”