Kannuu Pty Ltd. v. Samsung Electronics Co.

Issue(s) Presented

1. “Whether in the instant action, the validity challenges brought by Samsung in the PTAB fall under the forum selection clause (‘FSC’) of the parties’ NDA because the validity challenges ‘relate to’ the discussions that the parties had under the NDA given that it is undisputed that the clause must be interpreted broadly under New York law, one of the issues in the IPRs is whether Samsung copied information that Kannuu shared with Samsung under the NDAs, and the parties’ discussions under the NDA concerned whether Samsung needed a license to the patents at issue in the IPRs.”
2. “Whether public policy allows private parties to contractually agree to restrict the forum for disputes about patent validity to an Article III court rather than keeping open the option of the PTAB as an alternative forum.”
3. “Whether this Court should remand with instructions to enter the injunction rather than merely remanding with instructions to reconsider the four factors given that none of the factors can possibly favor Samsung.”

Holding

1. “The connection between the two—the inter partes review proceedings and the NDA—is too tenuous for the inter partes review proceedings to be precluded by the forum selection clause in the NDA.”

2. “Had Kannuu and Samsung entered a contract which applied to inter partes review proceedings, a forum selection clause in that hypothetical contract might permit Kannuu to avoid inter partes review and its inherent features. But, they did not enter such a contract.”

3. “Having discerned no error by the district court, we affirm the district court’s denial of a preliminary injunction compelling Samsung to seek dismissal of its inter partes review petitions.”

Posts About this Case

• Recent En Banc Activity

  December 16, 2021

• Recent En Banc Activity

  November 17, 2021

• Update on Important Panel Activity

  October 18, 2021

• Opinion Summary - Kannuu Pty Ltd. v. Samsung Electronics Co.

  October 14, 2021

• Update on Important Panel Activity

  July 26, 2021

• Argument Recap - Kannuu Pty Ltd. v. Samsung Electronics Co.

  July 14, 2021

• Update on Important Panel Activity

  July 5, 2021

• Court Week - What You Need to Know

  July 5, 2021

• Update on Important Panel Activity

  June 4, 2021

• Update on Important Panel Activity

  March 22, 2021