FedCircuitBlog

Here is a report on recent news and commentary related to the Federal Circuit and its cases. Today’s report highlights:

• two blog posts discussing the Federal Circuit’s recent grant of a petition for rehearing en banc in a design patent case addressing obviousness; and
• an article noting takeaways from a recent Federal Circuit opinion addressing how “the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board need not consider evidence submitted via incorporation by reference.”

This morning, the Federal Circuit released a precedential opinion in an employment case. In it, the court vacated and remanded an arbitrator’s decision to remove the plaintiff from the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Late yesterday and this morning, the court also released three nonprecedential orders, one transferring a case to a district court, one dismissing an appeal for untimeliness, and another also dismissing an appeal. Here is the introduction to the opinion, text from the transfer and dismissal for untimeliness, and a link to the other dismissal.

Here is an update on recent activity at the Supreme Court in cases decided by the Federal Circuit. With respect to granted cases, there is no new activity to report since our last update. While no new petitions were filed with the Court, a waiver of right to respond was filed in a patent case. Here are the details.

Two cases being argued in July at the Federal Circuit attracted amicus briefs. One of those cases is Besanceney v. Department of Homeland Security. In this case, the Federal Circuit will review a finding by the Merit Systems Protection Board that disclosures made by Besanceney, a criminal investigator for the Transportation Security Administration, were not protected under the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act. This is our argument preview.

This morning, the Federal Circuit released a precedential opinion in a patent case. In it, the court reversed a district court’s dismissal of a claim based on claim preclusion. Here is the introduction to the opinion.

Here is an update on recent en banc activity at the Federal Circuit. Last week, the court granted en banc rehearing in a patent case addressing the applicable test for non-obviousness of designs under design patent law. The court also filed an order holding another related patent case in abeyance pending the en banc review of the granted case. Here are the details.

The Federal Circuit did not release any opinions or orders today on its website.

Two cases being argued in July at the Federal Circuit attracted amicus briefs. One of those cases is Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Inc. v. Incyte Corporation. In this case, the Federal Circuit will review a decision by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that the inter partes review petitioner “has shown by a preponderance of the evidence that the challenged claims are unpatentable.” Notably, in this case, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries was substituted for Concert Pharmaceuticals as the appellant to reflect a recent merger. This is our argument preview.

This morning, the Federal Circuit granted LKQ Corporation’s petition for rehearing en banc in LKQ Corporation v. GM Global Technology Operations LLC, a design patent case addressing obviousness. In its petition, LKQ asked the en banc court to review two questions related to obviousness in the context of design patents. In its order granting en banc rehearing,the Federal Circuit ordered the parties to address several related questions in supplemental briefs. Here are the details.

This morning, the Federal Circuit released a precedential order granting a petition for en banc rehearing in a design patent case addressing obviousness. The court also released three nonprecedential opinions: one in a patent case appealed from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board and two in related pro se cases appealed from the Merit Systems Protection Board. Here are the introductions to the order and opinions.