This week is Court Week at the Federal Circuit. In total, the court will convene eleven panels to consider 49 cases this week and on Tuesday of next week. Of these 49 cases, the court will hear oral arguments in 37. The Federal Circuit is providing access to live audio of these arguments via the Federal Circuit’s YouTube channel. Of the argued cases, one cases attracted an amicus brief. Here’s what you need to know about this case.
FS.COM Inc. v. International Trade Commission
As explained in our argument preview, in this case the Federal Circuit will review a determination by the ITC that Panduit Corp. and The Siemon Company infringed certain patents and The Siemon Company and FS.com Inc. infringed one patent.
Appellants argue “[t]he Commission legally erred because Panduit and Siemon did not did not import any . . . articles that infringed the ’320, ’456, and ’153 patents, which are directed toward chassis assemblies.” Moreover, they assert “[t]he Commission also legally erred by holding that expansive, open-ended range claims of the ’320 and ’456 patents that recite connection densities of ‘at least’ 98 or 144 connections were enabled.” Finally, they contend “the Commission erred in holding that Siemon and FS infringed the ’206 patent because it applied an improper construction of ‘front opening’ that allowed modules with multiple front openings to fall within the scope of the claims.”
In response, the ITC asserts it properly “found that Panduit’s and Siemon’s imported modules are ‘articles that infringe’ within the meaning of Section 337(a)(1)(B) and that Appellants’ inducing acts constitute a violation of Section 337.” Furthermore, it argues “[t]he Commission also properly found that Appellants did not prove that the open-ended connection density limitations in the challenged claims of the ’320 and ‘456 patents are not enabled.” Finally, the ITC contends “[s]ubstantial evidence also supports the Commission’s finding that Panduit’s and Siemon’s accused products include the ‘fiber optic routing element’ in the asserted claims of the ’153 patent.”
Darlene Ghavimi will argue the appellant.
Cathey Chen will argue for the ITC.
This argument is scheduled to take place on Friday, March 10 in Courtroom 201 at 10:00 AM Eastern.