Eastern District of Texas invalidates patent asserted against Finnegan client FedEx Corporation

Judge Leonard Davis of the Eastern District of Texas issued an order granting judgment in FedEx’s favor and invalidating claims of a patent asserted by BarTex Research, LLC.  BarTex alleged that FedEx’s shipping labels infringed its patent related to bar codes.  FedEx won a favorable claim construction ruling by Magistrate Judge John Love that was later adopted by Judge Davis.  Thereafter BarTex conceded that the asserted claims were invalid in view of the claim construction.  While FedEx’s motion for summary judgment of invalidity was pending before Judge Davis, BarTex requested that Judge Davis issue an order granting judgment in favor of FedEx on the invalidity grounds raised in FedEx’s summary judgment motion.  The judgment in favor of FedEx was upheld on appeal by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.  Finnegan also represents FedEx Corporation in an inter partes reexamination of the same BarTex patent.  Although the reexamination has not yet concluded, the Patent Office has rejected all claims of BarTex’s patent.