Second Quarter 2016 Supreme Court and Federal Circuit Update

Brooks Kushman Shareholders Frank Angileri and Marc Lorelli discuss several recent Court decisions that will have the greatest impact on intellectual property law. During the second quarter of 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court and Federal Circuit issued several significant IP rulings, including decisions that will affect on-going discussions concerning important patent issues.

The webinar reviews and provide practical guidance on:

• Enhanced Damages and Willful Infringement in Patent Cases: In Halo Electronics, Inc. v. Pulse Electronics, Inc., 136 S. Ct. 1923 (June 13, 2016), the Supreme Court rejected the Federal Circuit’s Seagate Technology standard for willful infringement and gave district courts broad discretion to award enhanced damages to patent infringement plaintiffs. The ruling will require many litigants to reassess their trial strategies.
• Federal Circuit Continues to Refine Alice/Mayo Test: In a series of important cases, the Federal Circuit continued to apply the Supreme Court’s Alice/Mayo framework for assessing patent eligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101.
• The decisions in Rapid Litigation Management Ltd. v. CellzDirect, Inc., No. 2015-1570 (Fed. Cir. July 05, 2016); Bascom Global Internet Services, Inc. v. AT&T Mobility LLC, No. 2015-1763 (Fed. Cir. June 27, 2016); and Enfish, LLC v. Microsoft Corp., 822 F.3d 1327 (Fed. Cir. 2016) may signal new avenues for establishing patent eligibility.
• Supreme Court Decides First AIA Case: In Cuozzo Speed Techs., LLC v. Lee, 136 S. Ct. 2131 (2016), the Supreme Court considered the USPTO’s AIA trial procedures, including the correct claim construction standard to be used in inter partes review proceedings and the appealability of decisions to institute review.