Federal Circuit Grants Writ of Mandamus for Finnegan Client POSCO

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 23, 2015

WASHINGTON, DC—On July 22, 2015,the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled in favor of Finnegan client POSCO, vacating a lower court's ruling that modified a protective order allowing foreign courts to access POSCO's proprietary information.

In 2012, Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation filed suit against POSCO in the District of New Jersey, alleging patent infringement. When Nippon Steel sought to use POSCO’s confidential documents produced for this U.S. case in other foreign courts, Finnegan persuaded the court to issue a protective order that prevented such foreign cross-use. Under the order, POSCO produced millions of pages of confidential documents. However, during the final phase of discovery, the court modified the protective order to permit cross-use of confidential material. In response, Finnegan filed a petition for writ of mandamus with the Federal Circuit.

In its decision, the district court cited a ruling known as Pansy, but the Federal Circuit concluded that the court did not correctly interpret the ruling. The Federal Circuit granted POSCO’s petition for writ of mandamus and remanded the case to district court.

This case is In re: POSCO, 15-112, CAFC.

Contacts
James B. Monroe, Managing Partner 
james.monroe@finnegan.com

About Finnegan

Finnegan is one of the largest IP law firms in the world. From offices in Atlanta, Boston, London, Palo Alto, Reston, Seoul, Shanghai, Taipei, Tokyo, and Washington, DC, the firm practices all aspects of patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret law, including counseling, prosecution, licensing, and litigation. Finnegan also represents clients on IP issues related to European patent oppositions, international trade, portfolio management, the Internet, e-commerce, government contracts, antitrust, and unfair competition. For additional information on the firm, please visit www.finnegan.com. Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.