Posts Tagged: "Cascades Projection LLC v. Espon America"

Is the Federal Circuit using Rule 36 to avoid difficult subject matter?

Obviously, Judges cannot be experts on all things, but this apparent lack of understanding of something so fundamental to the case was a bit alarming for the patent owner. Surely, Judge Reyna would clear up his understanding of the difference between a web page and a web server after oral argument and realize that the arguments being made by the defendant were unnecessarily confusing, but also contradicted arguments previously made. Unfortunately, we will never know whether Judge Reyna continues to believe that a web page and a web server are the same thing, or whether the other Judges on the panel were equally confused, because the Federal Circuit issued a Rule 36 affirmance of the trial court’s decision

Federal Circuit Issues Rule 36 Affirmance of PTAB After Acknowledging Lack of Technical Knowledge in Oral Arguments

On March 13th, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a decision in Cascades Projection v. Epson America, which upheld a ruling by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) to invalidate the asserted claims in a patent covering a system of projecting images using a liquid crystal display (LCD). During oral arguments, one judge of the Federal Circuit opined that it may not have enough testimony in order to decide the case correctly. To save themselves any discussion, the Federal Circuit panel of Circuit Judges Jimmie Reyna, Evan Wallach and Todd Hughes issued a Rule 36 affirmance of the PTAB’s decision, upholding the PTAB without discussing any reason as to why.

En Banc Federal Circuit Dodges PTAB Constitutionality

Patlex, which dealt with reexamination of applications by an examiner — not by an Article I tribunal — could be considered a next step beyond McCormick. MCM, however, simply cannot be viewed as consistent with either Patlex or McCormick on any level. Indeed, the Supreme Court was abundantly clear in McCormick, which remains good law. The courts of the United States (i.e., Article III courts), not the department that issued the patent, is the only entity vested with the authority to set aside or annul a patent right. Since the PTAB is not a court of the United States, it has no authority to invalidate patent rights. It is just that simple.