Posts Tagged: "Federal Reserve Banks"

Response Filed to SCOTUS Petition on Question of Whether Reserve Banks Are ‘Persons’ Eligible to Request PTAB Review

On November 25, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta (Bank of Atlanta) filed a brief in opposition in response to a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by Bozeman Financial LLC (Bozeman) with the U.S. Supreme Court on September 8. Bozeman’s petition followed a decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC), which affirmed a decision of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) holding that the PTAB correctly determined claims 21–24 of U.S. Patent No. 6,754,640 (’640 patent) and claims 1-20 of U.S. Patent 8,768,840 (’840 patent), both owned by Bozeman Financial LLC (Bozeman), to be directed to patent ineligible subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101. In reaching the decision, the CAFC first determined the appellees, all 12 of the United States Federal Reserve Banks, were considered “persons” under the America Invents Act (AIA) and, therefore, eligible to petition for post-issuance review under the AIA. In its brief in opposition, the Bank of Atlanta asserted that the CAFC “correctly concluded that the Reserve Banks should not be viewed as part of the sovereign for purposes of the AIA’s post-grant review provisions” and that the Supreme Court’s review is not warranted.

Federal Reserve Banks file for declaratory judgment in patent case

Once the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta declined to take a license, Bozeman informed them that he believed they were infringing on his two patents… The complaint sets forth two claims for relief: one for declaratory judgment of non-infringement of the 6,754,640 patent, and the other for declaratory judgment of non-infringement of the 8,768,840. The complaint alleges that the Federal Reserve Banks do not infringe multiple elements of independent claims set forth in both patents and seeks a judicial declaration indicating as much, along with costs, expenses, and attorney’s fees.