May 2012 On May 4, 2012, in Minkin v. Gibbons, P.C., No. 11-1178 (Fed. Cir. May 4, 2012), the Federal Circuit affirmed the district court’s grant of SJ in favor of the law firm of Gibbons, P.C. (“Gibbons”), finding that Herman Minkin failed to raise a genuine dispute of material fact regarding causation, a necessary element in New Jersey legal malpractice cases. Minkin alleged that Gibbons committed malpractice in prosecuting a patent application for a hand tool where he was the sole inventor, when a Minkin customer developed a competing product by easily designing around his patent. Minkin alleged that his patent was so negligently drafted by Gibbons that it offered no meaningful protection against infringers.
Read the full summary of the Court’s decision in next month’s edition of Last Month at the Federal Circuit.
Looking Ahead
