The New Cold War: Risk, Sanctions, Compliance Episode 25: “Can the U.S. Seize the Russian Central Bank’s Assets?”
Common Missteps When Suing the State of New Jersey and How to Prevent Them
As highlighted in the Data Security Incident Response Report, government entities such as universities, medical centers, public utilities and transportation services companies have become highly sought-after targets of cyber...more
The legal aftershocks of the COVID-19 pandemic will be surfacing for years to come. But for those waiting for pendent-appellate jurisdiction and Rule 54(b) sightings, a recent Court of Appeal opinion combines appellate...more
A little more than three years ago, the Federal Circuit rejected the University of Minnesota's contention that LSI was barred from bringing (and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board barred from hearing) an inter partes review of...more
In previous posts, we reported on several of the many lawsuits across the country in which students have sued their colleges and universities for tuition reimbursement as a result of not receiving certain services during (in...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reiterated that “[s]overeign immunity does not apply to IPR proceedings when the patent owner is a state.” Board of Regents of the University of Texas System v. Baylor College...more
Any patent litigant unwilling to acquiesce to an adverse judgment from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) can appeal to the Federal Circuit. 28 U.S. Code § 141. But the right to appeal is not the same as the wisdom of...more
In a non-precedential opinion, the Federal Circuit recently reaffirmed that state universities cannot use sovereign immunity to avoid patent challenges at the PTAB stating that, “sovereign immunity does not apply to IPR...more
Companies seeking to license patents from state universities face a special risk--sovereign immunity. The 11th Amendment to the US Constitution deprives federal courts of jurisdiction to hear complaints brought by a citizen...more
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has ruled that one factor weighs above all others when evaluating whether an agency is an “arm of the state” and entitled to sovereign immunity under the Eleventh...more
Major operational changes and disruptions occasioned by COVID-19 have created a swell of contract disputes and new litigation in various industries. The area of higher education is no different. ...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit rejected the arguments of a state university in support of sovereign immunity and affirmed the district court’s decision to transfer the case to the District of Delaware. Board...more
State Sovereignty Principles Do Not Allow a State to Bring a Patent Infringement Suit in an Improper Venue - In Board of Regents v. Boston Scientific Corp., Appeal No. 2018-1700, the Federal Circuit ruled that the patent...more
PATENT CASE OF THE WEEK - Genetic Veterinary Sciences, Inc. v. LABOKLIN GMBH & Co. KG, Appeal No. 2018-2056 (Fed. Cir. Aug. 9, 2019) - Our case of the week features a foreign University sued for declaratory judgment...more
GENETIC VETERINARY SCIENCES v. LABOKLIN GMBH & CO. KG - Before Wallach, Hughes, and Stoll. Appeal from the Eastern District of Virginia. Summary: (1) If a foreign entity is not subject to jurisdiction in any state’s...more
In a precedential decision, issued June 14, 2019, the Federal Circuit affirmed the PTAB’s ruling against the University of Minnesota, declining to dismiss petitions for inter partes review (“IPR”). The court rejected the...more
The Federal Circuit recently ruled that state sovereign immunity does not apply in Inter Partes Review (IPR) proceedings, closing another America Invents Act (AIA) loophole. The case, Regents of the University of Minnesota v....more
States and their agencies, particularly state universities, are often parties to patent infringement litigation in federal courts. An increasingly common defense to infringement allegations is to ask the Patent Office to...more
School may be out for the summer, but public colleges and universities would do well to spend their break shoring up strategies and defenses against potential inter partes review (“IPR”) proceedings. Last week the Federal...more
Federal Circuit Determines Time-Barred Petitioner Joined to an IPR Has Appellate Standing - In Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. Research Corporation Tech., Appeal Nos. 2017-2088, -2089, -2091, the Federal Circuit held that a...more
A closely watched case on sovereign immunity, Reactive Surfaces Ltd., LLP, v. Toyota Motor Corp., IPR2017-00572, has now been terminated by the patent owner’s request for adverse judgment....more
On December 19, 2017, a seven-judge expanded PTAB panel ruled that the University of Minnesota (UM) waived its Eleventh Amendment immunity defense when it filed a patent infringement action in federal district court. ...more
The PTAB (Patent Trial and Appeal Board) of the USPTO recently issued a decision that a filing of a patent infringement action by a public university waives sovereign immunity to inter partes review (IPR) proceedings in the...more
Patent Trial and Appeal Board Chief Judge David Ruschke recently dealt sovereign immunity a crippling blow. Although Judge Ruschke confirmed that Eleventh Amendment immunity does apply to sovereign actors, he held that when a...more
In a pair of near identical decisions issued on December 19, 2017, an expanded PTAB panel found that the Regents of the University of Minnesota had waived its defense of sovereign immunity by filing actions against the...more
On December 19, 2017, an expanded panel of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) ruled that the state of Minnesota waived its Eleventh Amendment immunity to challenges to patent validity by inter partes review (IPR) by...more