For our weekly SoCal IP Institute meeting on Monday, March 4th, 2019, we will discuss the following cases:

University of Florida Research Foundation, Inc. v. General Electric Company  (CAFC February 26, 2019)(Available Here) The University of Florida sued General Electric for patent infringement on a patent  for Managing Critical Care Physiologic Data Using Data Synthesis Technology (US 7,062,251). GE moved to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), arguing the claims of the ’251 patent were directed to ineligible subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101. The district court granted GE’s motion. The University of Florida then argued the district court lacked jurisdiction to make a determination under § 101 due to sovereign immunity. The CAFC disagreed, reasoning that though the 11th amendment does give sovereign immunity, sovereign immunity applies when an entity sues an arm of a sovereign, not when a sovereign decides to sue and subjects itself to court jurisdiction.

Coda Development v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber  (WD Wash. February 22, 2019) (Available Here) Coda and Goodyear entered into a joint research agreement for creating a new type of tire. Coda alleges that Goodyear stole proprietary data from it, then filed several patent applications with trade secret  information. Coda then sued Goodyear for trade secret misappropriation, and sought correction of inventorship for the patents containing it’s tradesecrets. The District court dismissed the complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted, and denied Plaintiff’s leave to amend. The CAFC disagreed and remanded the case.

All are invited to join us on Monday March 4th, 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.