High Court Arguments on Patent Attorneys’ Fees Focus on ‘Objective Unreasonableness’

On Wednesday, February 26, Finnegan partner Donald R. Dunner appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court to represent respondent Allcare in a case concerning “exceptional” patent case determinations when awarding attorney fees. Allcare advocated for that the Federal Circuit not defer to district courts in patent-related appeals. In argument, Dunner acknowledged that while the Federal Circuit judges may not always agree, it is still a single tribunal focused on patent law. “You have lots of dissenting opinions, concurring opinions,” he said, “but it’s a single body, and a single body that has jurisdiction over all the cases is better situated.”

When the argument turned to questions of law, Dunner again referred to legislative intent that the Federal Circuit establish uniformity in patent appeals. Neither side may find a “perfect” answer, “But there’s a best answer,” Dunner said, “and I suggest that the best answer is to let the legal issues decided by the court that gets tons of patent issues, that has a lot more experience—as Justice Alito mentioned in one of the points that he made—rather than district court judges who may get a few cases, may get a lot of cases, depending what district you're in.”