FedCircuitBlog

Last week, the Federal Circuit issued its opinion in Monk v. Wilkie, a veterans case we have been tracking because it attracted five amicus briefs. The panel comprised of Judges Newman, Lourie, and Reyna unanimously affirmed a decision by the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims that the petitioners in this case did not meet the commonality requirement for class certification. Judge Newman wrote the opinion, and Judge Reyna provided additional views in a separate opinion. Here is a summary of the opinions.  

This past Friday, the Federal Circuit announced an order closing the court on Friday, November 27, 2020, immediately following the Thanksgiving federal holiday on Thursday, November 26, 2020. Here is the text of the order.

The Federal Circuit did not publish any new opinions or orders this morning.

Four cases being argued next week at the Federal Circuit attracted amicus briefs. One is Veterans4You LLC v. United States. In this case, Veterans4You asserts that the VA wrongly invoked the “printing mandate” in 44 U.S.C. § 501 to route a Department of Veterans Affairs (“VA”) procurement through the Government Publishing Office (“GPO”). Veterans4You contends this approach resulted in a violated of the “Rule of Two,” a statutory preference for veteran-owned small businesses or service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses. Veterans4You argues that the decision by the Court of Federal Claims upholding the VA’s action should be reversed. This is our argument preview.

This morning, the Federal Circuit issued a precedential opinion in a patent case, a precedential order denying a stay in a patent case, and a nonprecedential opinion in a patent case. The Federal Circuit also issued a Rule 36 judgment. Here are the introductions to the opinions, the text of the order, and a link to the Rule 36 judgment.

• Fed. Circ. Ruling Is Troubling For Generic Drug Manufacturers – In a 2-1 decision, the Federal Circuit issued an opinion addressing the role of skinny labels in an induced infringement analysis.
• Work History Tool Properly Held Ineligible for Patent Protection – The Federal Circuit issued a nonprecedential opinion on Monday affirming a district court decision that an invention directed at a method for verifying work history is too abstract to patent.
• Fed. Circ. Urged To Undo Ugg’s $450K Trademark Win – An Australian apparel company argued on Monday that the lower court used the wrong legal test in finding that “ugg” is not a generic word for a kind of sheepskin boot.

Here’s the latest.

The Federal Circuit did not publish any new opinions or orders this morning.

This post summarizes recent activity at the Supreme Court in cases decided by the Federal Circuit.

• Two new reply briefs were filed with the Court, the first by Comcast in Comcast Cable Communications, LLC v. Rovi Guides, Inc., and the second by Duke in Duke University v. Biomarin Pharmaceutical Inc.
• The Court denied a total of three petitions this week: (1) Robles v. Wilkie, (2) Medina v. Federal Aviation Administration, and (3) B.E. Technology, L.L.C. v. Facebook, Inc.

Here are the details.

This morning, the Federal Circuit issued a nonprecedential erratum. Here is the text of the erratum.

Here is an update on recent en banc activity at the Federal Circuit. In one of the two pending en banc veterans cases, the Court invited the National Organization of Veterans Advocates to file an amended petition. In the other case, two amicus briefs were filed. With respect to petitions for en banc rehearing in patent cases, highlights include a new invitation to respond to a petition raising questions related to literal infringement and claim construction; a new amicus brief filed in a case raising questions related to prosecution history estoppel, vitiation, and reasonable royalties; and the denial of two petitions in cases raising questions related to patent marking, expert testimony, willful infringement, and inventorship. Here are the details.