I will periodically post case citations from the Federal Circuit along with the date of the opinion/order and a brief list of the legal topics discussed therein (specifically those with additional embedded case law citations). This posting covers the ninety-first through the ninety-fifth patent cases that were appealed from the district court level and decided by the Federal Circuit in 2006. All opinions are precedential unless otherwise indicated.

Eolas Technologies v. Microsoft Corp. (07/31/2006): reassignment of patent infringement case to different district court judge, application of regional circuit law to the inquiry, unique nature of 7th Circuit law regarding reassignment, application of Circuit Rule 36 to remands

Pfizer, Inc. v. Ranbaxy Laboratories, Limited (08/02/2006): claim construction and subsequent infringement determination appellate standards of review, express disavowal of chemical structure in patent application, statements made during foreign counterpart patent applications are irrelevant to claim construction of U.S. patent, statements made during similar but not formally related or incorporated by reference are irrelevant to claim construction, patent term extension under Hatch-Waxman Act, claims not rewritten by a court to preserve validity, claim invalidation under § 112, paragraph 4, for improper dependency

Amgen v. Hoechst Marion Roussel (now known as Aventis Pharmaceuticals) (08/03/2006): review of claim construction of "therapeutically effective amount", claim construction begins with the words of the claims themselves, items courts should consider when performing claim construction (the claims themselves, the remainder of the specification, prosecution history, and others), anticipation appellate standard of review after bench trial (question of fact, reviewed for clear error), anticipation references must also be enabled, patentee burden of rebutting Festo presumption, discussion of requirements to rebut presumption, dissent regarding claim construction necessity as pertaining to this case

Pennington Seed v. Produce Exchange No. 299, et al. (08/09/2006): assertion of Eleventh Amendment immunity for patent infringement by University, potential state law remedies for infringement regarding lack of violation of due process rights, liability for infringement for government employees acting within official capacity, sufficient nexus required between official actions and infringement activity, personal jurisdiction over university officials, due process analysis of non-resident defendant

Serio-Us Industries v. Plastic Recovery Technologies (08/10/2006): two-step patent infringement analysis, claim construction appellate standard of review, review of objection to jury instructions, request for new trial in the absence of Rule 50 and 59 motions, discounting expert testimony if conflicting with claim construction mandated by the claims, appellate review of a judgment as a matter of law, federal preemption of state law claims, notifying potential infringers of infringement in good faith violates no protected right, review of exceptional case and fees claim