March 2012 On March 2, 2012, in MySpace, Inc. v. Graphon Corp., No. 11-1149 (Fed. Cir. Mar. 2, 2012), a majority of the Court affirmed the district court’s finding of invalidity of the patents-in-suit under §§ 102 and 103 of the Patent Act. The majority rejected the dissent’s argument that issues arising under § 101 are “antecedent question[s]” that must be addressed before the Court can reach the §§ 102 and 103 issues. The majority stated:
Looking Ahead
Rather than taking the path the dissent urges, courts could avoid the swamp of verbiage that is § 101 by exercising their inherent power to control the processes of litigation . . . . If that were done in the typical patent case, litigation over the question of validity of the patent would be concluded under these provisions, and it would be unnecessary to enter the murky morass that is § 101 jurisprudence.
Slip op. at 17.
Read the full summary of the Court’s decision in next month’s edition of Last Month at the Federal Circuit.
