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). My goal is to post new cases on a weekly basis. This posting covers the final three patent cases (the third to be covered next week as the opinion is “temporarily unavailable”) that were appealed from the district court level and decided by the Federal Circuit during the 14th calendar week of 2007. All opinions are precedential unless otherwise indicated.

Immersion Corp. v. Sony Computer Entertainment America v. Internet Services, LLC (04/04/2007, non-precedential): appeal of dismissal of claim by licensee for lack of standing (affirmed); discussion of two patents related to video game systems (U.S. Patent Nos. 6,275,213 and 6,424,333, both entitled “Tactile feedback man-machine interface device”); counterclaims seeking declaratory judgments of non-infringement, invalidity, and unenforceability asserted by defendant, but a jury found the patents not invalid and infringed by the defendant; “exclusive licensee” (third party) involvement in patent infringement case; licensee only has rights to software claims, but the patent claims require software and hardware claims; dismissal of claims affirmed as licensee to only part of a patent does not have standing to sue for infringement because its interest “differs from the type of interest traditionally associated with an exclusive licensee

Korsinsky v. Dudas (04/05/2007, non-precedential): appeal of expiration of patent for failure to pay maintenance fees (affirmed); discussion of patent related to a video computer (U.S. Patent No. 4,736,447, “Video Computer”); plaintiff’s patent expired for failure to timely pay maintenance fees; district court granted PTO’s motion for summary judgment on the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”) claim and the court dismissed the remaining claims pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6); patentee failed to make first patent maintenance payment (3 ½ years), and 12 years later, patentee seeks to reinstate the patent; “maintenance fees and the patent system put in place by Congress and the PTO do not conflict with the Constitution”; patentee’s motion for reconsideration denied for several reasons, including its untimeliness and no proof how an agreement with his wife prevented him from paying maintenance fees

Bass Pro Trademarks v. Cabella's (04/06/2007): [opinion temporarily unavailable on the Federal Circuit’s website; discussion to be included in next week’s posting]