FedCircuitBlog

Here is a report on recent news and commentary related to the Federal Circuit and its cases. Today we highlight:

• an article reporting how “President Donald Trump . . . tapped one of his White House lawyers to fill a vacancy on the U.S. Court of International Trade, a federal court that could prove pivotal in deciding tariff refunds if the Supreme Court strikes down some of the president’s duties”;
• an article discussing how the Supreme Court put President Trump’s tariff case “on a fast track at the administration’s urging” but doesn’t “seem in a rush to rule on the president’s signature economic program”;
• an article observing how, in late 2025, “the USPTO announced the creation” of a working group related to standard essential patents in “the latest effort of the USPTO to strengthen the ability of patent holders . . . to enforce their patent rights, including through injunctive relief”; and
• an article describing how “Apple Inc. couldn’t convince the Federal Circuit to block the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office from implementing changes that make it harder to challenge the validity of patents.”

This morning, the Federal Circuit released two precedential opinions. One of the opinions comes in a patent cases addressing claim construction. The other also comes in a patent case, this one challenging instructions the Director of the Patent and Trademark Office had given to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board related to its authority to decline petitions for inter partes review. The court also released three nonprecedential opinions. The first comes in an appeal of a decision of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board; the second comes in a patent infringement case and addresses an award of enhanced damages; and the third comes in a pro se appeal of a decision of the Court of Federal Claims. The Federal Circuit also released nine nonprecedential orders. Three transfer matters; three dismiss appeals; one remands a case; and two deny petitions for writs of mandamus. Finally, the court also released a Rule 36 judgment. Here are the introductions to the opinions and orders other than dismissals, along with links to the dismissals and Rule 36 judgment.

Late yesterday, the Federal Circuit released a nonprecedential order dismissing an appeal. This morning, the court released two precedential opinions, one nonprecedential order dismissing an appeal, and one Rule 36 judgment. One of the opinions addresses antitrust liability for unlawful tying in a patent infringement case; the other comes in an appeal of a decision of the Court of Federal Claims in a vaccine case. Here are the introductions to the opinions and links to the dismissals and the judgment.

Late yesterday, the Federal Circuit released a nonprecedential order dismissing an appeal. This morning, the Federal Circuit released four nonprecedential opinions and three Rule 36 judgments. Two of the nonprecedential opinions come in patent infringement cases appealed from district courts, while the other two come in appeals of decisions of the Merit Systems Protection Board. Here are the introductions to the opinions and links to the judgments and dismissal.

This morning, the Federal Circuit released six nonprecedential opinions and seven nonprecedential orders. Four of the opinions come in patent cases, including two appeals of decisions of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. The fifth opinion comes in an appeal of a decision of the Court of Federal Claims, while the sixth opinion comes in an appeal of a decision of the Merit Systems Protection Board. Five of the orders dismiss appeals while two transfer cases. Here are the introductions to the opinions and orders transferring cases and links to the dismissals.

No opinions and orders were released today in observance of the federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday. Late Friday, two nonprecedential orders dismissing appeals were released. Here are links to the dismissals.

Late yesterday, the Federal Circuit released three nonprecedential orders dismissing appeals. This morning, the court released one precedential opinion, four nonprecedential opinions, and one Rule 36 judgment. The precedential opinion comes in a veterans case. Two of the nonprecedential opinions come in patent cases; one comes in a pro se appeal of a decision of the Merit Systems Protection Board; and the fourth comes in a pro se appeal of a decision of the Court of Federal Claims. Here are the introductions to the opinions and links to the judgment and dismissals.

Late yesterday, the Federal Circuit released a nonprecedential opinion dismissing an appeal. This morning, the court released two precedential opinions, four nonprecedential opinions, and a Rule 36 judgment. One of the precedential opinions comes in an appeal of a decision of the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims; the other comes in an appeal of a decision of the Merit Systems Protection Board. Of the nonprecedential opinions, one comes in appeals of a decision of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board; another comes in an appeal of a decision of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board; another comes in a pro se appeal of a decision of the Court of Federal Claims; and the fourth comes in the form of a pro se petition for review of an arbitrator’s decision. Here are the introductions to the opinions and links to the judgment and yesterday’s dismissal.

Here is a report on recent news and commentary related to the Federal Circuit and its cases. Today we highlight:

• an article suggesting a recent Supreme Court decision could “signal that the Court may rule against the administration in the Trump tariff cases”;
• an article analyzing how in President Trump’s tariff case the Supreme Court “has to navigate a direct clash between two constitutional values: the Hamiltonian imperative for executive agility in responding to complex, multi-vector hybrid, or irregular threats, and the Madisonian commitment to decentralized power and legislative oversight in the regulation of commerce”;
• an article reporting how “[a]n attorney for Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman said . . . the 98-year-old judge plans to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court after the full D.C. Circuit refused to reconsider a decision affirming the dismissal of her lawsuit challenging her suspension”; and
• a blog post commenting on the oral argument in “a long-running challenge to the USPTO’s Fintiv discretionary denial framework.”

Last week, the Federal Circuit Court heard oral argument in Apple Inc. v. Squires, a case we have been watching because it attracted four amicus briefs. In it, Apple Inc., Cisco Systems, Inc., Google LLC, and Intel Corp. appeal a district court’s determination that the adoption of a precedential framework by the Patent and Trademark Office to govern whether the Patent Trial and Appeal Board will institute inter partes review when parallel district court litigation exists did not require notice-and-comment rulemaking under the Administrative Procedure Act. Judges Lourie, Taranto, and Chen heard the oral argument. This is our argument recap.