FedCircuitBlog

This morning the Federal Circuit granted the National Organization of Veterans Advocates’s petition for initial hearing en banc in National Organization of Veterans Advocates, Inc. v. Secretary of Veterans Affairs. NOVA requested its initial hearing to be conducted by the full court to consider two questions related to veterans law. In short, the court agreed. Here are the details.

This morning the Federal Circuit issued a precedential order granting a petition for initial hearing en banc in a veterans case, one precedential order denying a motion to vacate and remand in light of Arthrex, one nonprecedential order unsealing a nonprecedential opinion in a patent case, the nonprecedential opinion in the patent case, another nonprecedential opinion in a case appealed from the Court of Federal Claims, and another nonprecedential opinion in a patent case. Here is text from the orders and the introductions to the opinions.

Here is an update on recent en banc activity at the Federal Circuit in patent cases. Highlights include new petitions filed in four cases raising questions related to claim construction, persons who may petition for post-issuance review proceedings, and jurisdiction; three new responses to petitions raising questions related to venue, eligibility, non-obviousness, and claim construction; and the denial of petitions in six cases raising questions related to the Appointments Clause, non-obviousness, and eligibility. Here are the details

This morning the Federal Circuit issued a precedential opinion in a patent case, a nonprecedential order granting a request to re-issue a nonprecedential order as a precedential order, the re-issued precedential order denying a motion to vacate and remand in light of Arthrex, and another nonprecedential order in a patent case denying a petition for a writ of mandamus related to a motion to transfer. Here is the introduction to the opinion and relevant text from the orders.

This morning the Federal Circuit did not issue any opinions. As far as we can tell, this was not a result of the Star Wars holiday. The federal government has not yet recognized it, at least officially. May the Fourth be with you.

This week (and next Monday) the Federal Circuit will convene 18 panels to consider about 69 cases. This month, like last moth, the court will hear all of its oral arguments telephonically given the coronavirus pandemic. Moreover, the court will hear fewer oral arguments than normal, with only about 26 cases being argued this month. Three of these argued cases attracted amicus briefs. Here is what you need to know about those three cases.

The third case being argued this month that attracted an amicus brief is a patent case, Uniloc 2017 LLC v. Hulu, LLC. This case is an appeal from an invalidation of patent claims in an inter partes review proceeding. In it, Uniloc argues the Patent Trial and Appeal Board “erred in denying, based only on a § 101 patent eligibility challenge, Uniloc’s motion to amend the patent.” In particular, Uniloc’s position is that § 101 challenges are not permissible in IPRs, even with respect to proposed new claims. This is our argument preview.

Another case being argued this month at the Federal Circuit that attracted an amicus brief is Sellers v. Wilkie. In this case, the government appeals the grant of benefits to a veteran. The government alleges that this case presents the question of “[w]hether a claimant’s general statement requesting benefits on a formal claim form that identifies specific disabilities constitutes a claim for all ‘reasonably identifiable’ diagnoses within the claimant’s records.” This is our argument preview.

This morning the Federal Circuit issued two precedential opinions addressing an award of attorneys’ fees in a patent case and an appeal from an arbitrator’s decision in an employment case. The court also issued a nonprecedential order denying a petition for a writ of mandamus on the issue of forum non conveniens in a patent case. Here are the introductions to the opinions and text from the order.

This morning the Federal Circuit issued five opinions and one order, all in patent cases. Two of the opinions are precedential, and three are nonprecedential. Here are the introductions to the opinions and the text of the order.