The U.S Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled on January 5 that a U.S. District Court erroneously entered summary judgment in Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV’s challenge of the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences’ determination that Cardiac Science Operating Co. had priority in a patent dispute over defibrillators, and has remanded the case to the lower court. At issue is a dispute between Philips, which held the defibrillator patent-at-issue, and Cardiac Science, which applied for a defibrillator patent. The Board was initially charged with determining which party had first invented the subject matter in the interfering claims, and ruled that Cardiac Science had priority. Philips subsequently filed suit to overturn the board's ruling, which the company claimed was based on erroneous decisions. A U.S. district judge threw out the suit in September 2009; Philips then appealed to the Federal Circuit, arguing that the district court improperly entered de facto summary judgment and improperly dismissed Philips' claims. The Federal Circuit has ruled that not only did the district court abuse its discretion by basing summary judgment on an erroneous conclusion of the law, but that it also improperly dismissed Philips' claim that certain Cardiac Science patent application claims were unpatentable. Philips is represented in this matter by Finnegan.