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 sole patent case that was appealed from the district court level and decided by the Federal Circuit during the 19th calendar week of 2007. All opinions are precedential unless otherwise indicated.

Leapfrog Enterprises, Inc. v. Fisher-Price, Inc., et al. (05/09/2007): appeal of judgment of noninfringement and invalidity of claim of patent-in-suit (affirmed); discussion of patent related to a learning device to help young children read phonetically (U.S. Patent No. 5,813,861, entitled “Talking phonics interactive learning device”); no clear error in the district court’s application of the claim to the essentially undisputed facts of this case (pertaining to noninfringement); “[a]n obviousness determination is not the result of a rigid formula disassociated from the consideration of the facts of a case. Indeed, the common sense of those skilled in the art demonstrates why some combinations would have been obvious where others would not” (quote from KSR v. Teleflex, cited); claim invalid as obvious in view of the combination of a prior art patent, a known device, and the knowledge of one of ordinary skill in the art concerning readers