For our weekly SoCal IP Institute meeting on Monday, November 11th, 2019, we will discuss the following cases:

Arthrex v. Smith & Nephew (CAFC 2019) (available here)

The Federal Circuit held that the PTAB’s administrative patent judges are “principal officers”. Principal officers must be appointed by the President of the United States under the Appointments Clause of the Constitution. The Judges must also be approved by the Senate. The Federal Circuit further determined that it could remedy the current constitutional defect by severing administrative patent judge removal protections, this would render the administrative judges  inferior officers that could be appointed by “Heads of Departments” like the secretary of commerce.

The implications of this decision are also found in the CAFC’s subsequent decision Customedia Tech v. Dish Network (CAFC 2019) (available here)

Polar Pro Filters, Inc. v Frogslayer LLC (S.D Texas 2019) (here)

Polar Pro contracted with Frogslayer to produce camera software. When Frogslayer allegedly did not produce the software on time, Polar Pro sued for breach of contract and other claims. At issue in the case was whether defendant’s software was “becnhmarked” to other software on the market. The court however, looked past the issue of bechmarking and found plaintiff had contracted for but was not provided software.

All are invited to join us on Monday November 11th, 2019 at noon in our Westlake Village office. This activity is approved for 1 hour of MCLE credit. If you will be joining us, please RSVP to Elisha Manzur by 9 am Monday morning.