FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ARLINGTON, VA - On March 7, 2016, AIPLA filed an amicus briefs in Cuozzo Speed Technologies, LLC v. Lee, U.S. No. 15-446, and Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., U.S., No. 15-375.

AIPLA Argues for Phillips/Markman Claim Construction Standard in PTAB Proceedings in Cuozzo

In the brief, AIPLA argued to the Supreme Court that the Federal Circuit erred in endorsing the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's (PTAB) use of the broadest reasonable interpretation (BRI) standard for claim construction in America Invents Act (AIA) trial proceedings. According to the brief, the BRI standard was specially crafted for examinational proceedings, not for the adjudicative proceedings created by the AIA.  Congress intended those adjudicative proceedings to be an efficient alternative to district court trials, and they should follow the Phillips/Markman standard for claim construction used in district courts.

The amicus brief also argued that the Federal Circuit incorrectly bars appellate consideration of issues raised in the PTAB final written decision when those issues were also addressed in the PTAB decision to institute the AIA trial. The Court's misinterpretation of the bar on appeals at 35 U.S.C. §314(d) conflicts with the presumption of judicial review of executive branch actions.

Read the Amicus Brief

AIPLA Urges Totality of Circumstance Test for Attorneys' Fees Awards in Copyright Cases in Kirtsaeng

AIPLA urged the Supreme Court to require a totality of the circumstances test for awards of attorneys' fees in copyright cases, and to reject an approach which allows a single factor, such as the objective reasonableness of the losing party's position, to be determinative of the fee decision. According to the brief, fee awards under 17 U.S.C. §505 are committed to the discretion of the district court, and under Fogerty v. Fantasy, Inc., 510 U.S. 517 (1994), that discretion is to be exercised on case-by-case basis with no presumptions for the copyright owner. It argued that copyright fee awards should follow the Court's recently announced rule for patent fee awards in Octane Fitness, LLC v. ICON Health & Fitness, Inc., 134 S. Ct. 1749 (2014), endorsing the totality-of-the-circumstances test.

Read the Amicus Brief