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Interference Analysis Is a Two-Way Street

by | Jun 6, 2024 |

On appeal from an interference proceeding, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed a Patent Trial & Appeal Board decision that found the claims of the senior party’s patent were not invalid as time-barred under 35 U.S.C. § 135(b)(1). The Federal Circuit concluded that the “two-way test” requires looking to see if either set of pre-critical and post-critical date claims contains a material limitation not found in the other and not just looking to see if the post-critical date claims have additional material limitations. Speck et al. v. Bates et al., Case No. 22-1905 (Fed. Cir. May 23, 2024) (Dyk, Bryson, Stoll, JJ.)

35 U.S.C. § 135(b)(1), pre-AIA, provides that “a claim which is the same as, or for the same or substantially the same subject matter as, a claim of an issued patent may not be made in any application unless such a claim is made prior to one year from the date on which the patent was granted.” This has been described as a statute of repose that places a time limit on a patentee’s exposure to an interference, the deadline for which is referred to as the “critical date.” At issue in this appeal was the “long-standing” exception to § 135(b)(1) for instances where the applicant files its claim after the critical period but has already been claiming substantially the same invention as the patentee during the critical period.

This case involves drug-coated balloon catheter technology. Bates is the senior party that filed a patent application, and Speck is the junior party that owns an issued patent. Speck’s patent issued on September 4, 2012, whereas Bates filed his application on August 29, 2013, six days before the critical date of Speck’s patent (i.e., one year after the filing date). Bates amended the application on August 30, 2013 (still before the critical date), and canceled all of the original claims and replaced them with new claims. Bates later amended the claims after the critical date to add a requirement that the device be “free of a containment material atop the drug layer.” The amendment was made to overcome a rejection from the examiner during prosecution.

Speck filed a motion to terminate the interference on the ground that the claims of Bates’s application were time-barred under § 135(b)(1) because Bates amended the claims more than one year after Speck’s patent issued. Speck also moved the Board to find that the claims of Bates’s application were unpatentable for lack of written description.

The Board denied Speck’s motion to terminate under § 135(b)(1), finding that the later-amended claims did not differ materially from the claims in other patents and patent applications Bates owned that were filed prior to the critical date, because “Speck ha[d] not directed [the Board] to a material limitation of the Bates involved claims that is not present in the earlier Bates claims.” Speck filed a motion for rehearing, which the Board denied. The Board also denied Speck’s motion to find that Bates’s claims lacked [...]

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For Statutory Equivalents, Even One Means May Be Enough

by | Jun 6, 2024 |

A US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) appeals review panel decided that a means-plus-function (M+F) claim element supported by the disclosure of only a single species is not invalid for indefiniteness or lack of written description, even if the specification lacks other disclosed statutory corresponding equivalents. Ex parte Chamberlain, Appeal No. 22-001944 (App. Review Panel, May 21, 2024) (Vidal, Dir.; Udupa, Boalick, APJs) (per curiam).

The independent claims of the patent application at issue involved methods of treating patients with “anti-C5 antibod[ies]” that include amino acid substitutions devised to increase the in vivo half-life of the antibody. Each claim involved similar preambles: “A method of treating a patient by administering an anti-C5 antibody comprising . . . .” One of the independent claims was in Jepson form, whereas the other included a M+F limitation.

Following rejections by the examiner and the applicant’s appeal to the Patent Trial & Appeal Board, the Board entered new grounds of rejection finding both claims invalid under 35 U.S.C. § 112, ¶1 (written description) and affirmed the examiner’s rejection of the claims for obviousness-type double patenting. The Board also entered a new ground of rejection finding the claim including the M+F claim element indefinite under 35 U.S.C. § 112, ¶2. Following the applicant’s appeal to the Federal Circuit, the PTO took the unusual step of petitioning the Federal Circuit to “administratively remand [the case] to the Office in order to convene an Appeals Review Panel to clarify the Office’s position on the proper analysis of ‘Jepson-format and means-plus-function claims in the field of biotechnology, and particularly in the antibody art’ and ‘to issue a revised decision.’”

On remand, the panel affirmed the Board’s determinations that written description was lacking but overturned the Board’s finding of indefiniteness for the claim including the M+F element. In doing so, the panel offered useful commentary on the invalidity standard for M+F claim elements as well as the implications that a limiting preamble may have on invalidity.

The panel found the “treating a patient” preamble recitation limiting in both claims. For the Jepson claim, the preamble was per se limiting. However, the panel went on to find that, even independent of the Jepson claim format, the “treating a patient” phrase would be limiting. Outside the Jepson context, the panel characterized the inquiry of determining whether a preamble limits the body of the claim as a highly contextual one. According to the panel, the “treating a patient” term did not merely provide “circumstances in which the method may be useful” but instead constituted “the raison d’être of the claimed method itself.” The “treating a patient” language was necessary to “give life, meaning, and vitality” to limitations in the body of the claim involving increasing the in vivo half-life of the antibodies and administering the antibodies.

Having determined that the “treating a patient” recitation was limiting, the panel found that the limitation was overbroad compared to the scope of the patent’s disclosure, and thus the Jepson format claim lacked adequate written description. Read in light of [...]

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No Attorneys’ Fees Available for Successful IPR in Parallel Court Proceedings

by | May 30, 2024 |

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit concluded that a party that voluntarily elects to pursue parallel proceedings before the Patent Trial & Appeal Board and the district court is not entitled to recover attorneys’ fees under 35 U.S.C. § 285 (exceptional case doctrine) in connection with the Board proceedings, nor does § 285 entitle a party to hold opposing counsel jointly and severally liable for fees. Dragon Intellectual Property LLC v. Dish Network L.L.C., Case Nos. 2022-1621; -1777; -1622; -1779 (Fed. Cir. May 20, 2024) (Moore, C.J.; Stoll, J.) (Bencivengo, J., dissenting).

Dragon sued DISH Network, Sirius XM Radio (SXM) and eight others for patent infringement. The district court stayed proceedings as to DISH and SXM while they pursued inter partes review (IPR) but proceeded with claim construction for the other defendants. Following claim construction, all parties stipulated to noninfringement, and the district court accordingly entered a noninfringement judgment that was subsequently vacated following appeal to the Federal Circuit. Following the Board’s determination that the asserted claims were unpatentable, DISH and SXM filed a motion for attorneys’ fees in the district court proceeding. The district court granted the motion for time spent litigating the district court case but denied for fees incurred solely during the IPR proceedings and recovery from Dragon’s former counsel. DISH and SXM appealed the denial-in-part, and Dragon cross-appealed the grant-in-part.

The Federal Circuit affirmed the district court’s grant-in-part, finding that the district court did not abuse its discretion in declaring these cases exceptional. The Federal Circuit explained that the vacated noninfringement judgment did not require the district court to ignore its claim construction order in determining exceptionality. The Court further explained that even though Dragon was not entitled to a claim construction “do-over,” the prosecution history disclaimer issue was independently considered during the exceptionality inquiry, and Dragon did not provide any grounds for the conclusion that this constituted an inadequate inquiry.

The Federal Circuit also affirmed the denial of attorneys’ fees with regard to fees incurred during the IPR proceedings and Dragon’s former counsel’s liability for fee awards under § 285.

First, the Federal Circuit rejected DISH and SXM’s argument that § 285 allows recovery of fees incurred during parallel IPR proceedings, principally on the grounds that the IPR proceedings were pursued voluntarily. The Court reasoned that there are many advantages to leveraging IPR proceedings and, therefore, “where a party voluntarily elects to pursue an invalidity challenge through IPR proceedings, we see no basis for awarding IPR fees under § 285.”

Second, the Federal Circuit relied on the statutory text and determined that liability for attorneys’ fees awarded under § 285 does not extend to a party’s counsel. The Court explained that while other statutes explicitly allow parties to recover costs and fees from counsel, § 285 is silent as to who can be liable for a fee award, and therefore it is reasonable to conclude that fees cannot be assessed against counsel.

Sitting by designation, Judge Bencivengo of the US District Court for the Southern District of California dissented [...]

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Section 337 Doesn’t Require Article III Standing for Claimant but Claimant Must Be “Patentee”

by | May 30, 2024 |

Addressing an initial determination by an administrative law judge (ALJ) granting summary determination and terminating a Section 337 investigation for lack of Article III standing, the US International Trade Commission reversed and held that Section 337 does not require claimants to have Article III standing. Certain Active Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode Display Panels and Modules for Mobile Devices, and Components Thereof, Inv. No. 337-TA-1351, Commission Opinion (May 15, 2024).

In late 2022, Samsung Display filed a complaint seeking to institute a Section 337 investigation based on its infringement allegations regarding four patents and seeking an exclusion order against replacement displays sold by various companies. In late 2023, on the eve of the evidentiary hearing, the ALJ granted the respondents’ motion for summary determination that the complainant lacked constitutional standing because Samsung Display had granted its parent company, Samsung Electronics Co., an implied license to the asserted patents with an unrestricted right to sublicense. Samsung Display petitioned for Commission review. On review, the Commission reversed.

The Commission first noted that because it’s an administrative tribunal and not an Article III court, the “case or controversy” requirement does not apply to parties before it and standing is instead based on its governing statute. The Commission acknowledged its previous decisions where it had applied a constitutional standing requirement and expressly overruled those decisions. It further noted that its statute does not include the “patentee” requirement of 35 U.S.C. § 281 that applies to plaintiffs in district court actions but reiterated its long-standing practice of requiring a complainant be the owner or exclusive licensee of the asserted patent(s) at the time of filing the complaint.

The Commission held that there were genuine issues of material fact as to whether Samsung Display was a “patentee” when it filed the complaint. The Commission found there was an open question as to whether Samsung Electronics actually had a right to sublicense without Samsung Display’s explicit or implicit authorization. The Commission thus remanded the investigation to the ALJ to conduct further proceedings to develop the factual record.



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Getting to the Core of It: Assignment Clause Is Ambiguous

by | May 30, 2024 |

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit vacated and remanded a district court’s grant of summary judgment, finding that the language used in an invention assignment clause was subject to more than one reasonable interpretation (i.e., ambiguous) and thus remand was necessary for further fact finding. Core Optical Tech., LLC v. Nokia Corp., Case Nos. 23-1001; -1002; -1003 (Fed. Cir. May 21, 2024) (Dyk, Taranto, JJ.) (Meyer, J., dissenting).

Core Optical filed complaints against three groups of defendants alleging patent infringement. The lead defendant, Nokia, moved for summary judgment, arguing that Core Optical did not have standing to bring the patent infringement suit. Nokia argued that by virtue of an invention assignment clause in an employment-related agreement signed in 1990, the inventor, Dr. Core, had assigned the patent rights to TRW, his employer at the time of the invention. In the agreement, Dr. Core “agreed to disclose to TRW and automatically assign to TRW all of his inventions that ‘relate to the business or activities of TRW’ and were ‘conceived, developed, or reduced to practice’ during his employment with TRW.” Nokia argued that by virtue of that earlier assignment, the subsequent assignment to Core Optical was ineffective. The agreement had a carveout from the assignment for inventions “developed entirely on [Dr. Core’s] own time” that was unrelated to his work for TRW. According to Nokia, based on the assignment, Core Optical did not have standing to assert the patent. The district court agreed and granted Nokia’s motion for summary judgment. Core Optical appealed.

The Federal Circuit reviewed the district court’s grant of summary judgment de novo, following Ninth Circuit and California law relating to the underlying contract dispute and related factual determinations. Under California law, the “fundamental goal of contractual interpretation is to give effect to the mutual intention of the parties” (citing City of Atascadero v. MLPF&S (1998)). In granting summary judgment, the district court had held that the 1990 invention assignment agreement’s carveout did not encompass Dr. Core’s PhD research, which undisputedly led to the invention claimed in the patent. That finding was based in part on the TRW fellowship program that supported and enabled Dr. Core’s PhD work. However, Core Optical presented evidence that “Dr. Core was careful not to work on his PhD research while ‘on the clock’ at TRW and not to use TRW equipment, facilities, or supplies when working on his PhD research.”

The Federal Circuit disagreed with the district court that the matter was subject to resolution on summary judgment. The Court agreed with Core Optical that the “entirely-own-time” phrase did not unambiguously express a mutual intent to designate all the time Dr. Core spent performing his PhD research as his own time or, as Nokia argued, to indicate that some of the time Dr. Core spent performing his PhD research was partly TRW’s time (as the district court held). The Federal Circuit walked through the undisputed facts, including that Dr. Core sought funding from TRW for his PhD research and [...]

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Pay for Delay Is Sometimes Okay

by | May 23, 2024 | ,

The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies accused of violating antitrust laws by using reverse payments to delay entry of a generic version of a patented drug. CVS Pharmacy, Inc. v. Forest Labs. Inc., Case Nos. 23-410; -418; -420; -423 (2d Cir. May 13, 2024) (Jacobs, Sack, Nardini, JJ.)

This case involves a drug called Bystolic, which is a beta blocker designed to treat high blood pressure. Numerous purchasers of Bystolic and its generic versions brought state and federal antitrust claims against Forest Labs. and the generic manufacturers. The purchasers alleged that Forest Labs. unlawfully paid off the generic manufacturers to delay the market entry of their products and prolong Forest Labs.’ ability to reap monopoly profits. The purchasers claim that Forest Labs. covered up these payments by pretextually compensating the generics for goods and services that Forest Labs. did not truly need. The purchasers claim that without such “side deals,” generic versions of Bystolic would have entered the market earlier – whether by the generic manufacturers prevailing in the infringement litigation, entering at risk (i.e., with litigation ongoing) or agreeing to a settlement allowing for earlier market entry.

The payments made by Forest Labs. are known as “reverse payments” because, unlike a typical settlement payment, the patent holder pays the alleged patent infringer even though they have no claim for damages. In 2013, the Supreme Court explained in FTC v. Actavis that such payments should be evaluated pursuant to antitrust law’s rule of reason, under which courts balance anticompetitive effects against procompetitive benefits. The Supreme Court explained that while reverse payments may look dubious, they are not automatically unlawful. Instead, these payments may “sometimes” violate the antitrust laws, but only if they are both “large” and “unjustified.” According to the Supreme Court, whether a reverse payment passes antitrust muster “depends upon its size, its scale in relation to the payor’s anticipated future litigation costs, its independence from other services for which it might represent payment, and the lack of any other convincing justification,” including fair value for goods and services exchanged as part of a bona fide commercial relationship.

Forest Labs. and the generic manufacturers moved to dismiss the purchasers’ claims for failure to state a claim. The district court granted the motion, concluding that the purchasers’ allegations did not plausibly show an antitrust violation under Actavis. The purchasers’ appealed.

The Second Circuit affirmed the dismissal. Analyzing Actavis, the Court explained that reverse payments are subject to the rule-of-reason analysis and the relevant inquiry involves determining why the payment was made. The Court noted that the payments must be analyzed against a backdrop of the strong public policy favoring settlement of disputes, meaning that the payments violate antitrust law only if they are both large and unjustified or unexplainable. In turn, whether a reverse payment is “unjustified” depends on whether it “reflects traditional settlement considerations,” including “fair value” for products or services provided by the generic manufacturer pursuant [...]

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Testing Negative: Collateral Order Doctrine Precludes Appellate Jurisdiction

by | May 23, 2024 |

Addressing appellate jurisdiction in view of the collateral order doctrine, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit dismissed an appeal of a district court’s ruling denying a motion to dismiss because the district court’s order did “not conclusively determine any issue.” Copan Italia S.p.A. v. Puritan Med. Prod. Co. LLC, Case No. 22-1943 (Fed. Cir. May 14, 2024) (Cunningham, Bryson, Stark, JJ.)

Copan and Puritan are competing medical supplies companies. Copan filed suit against Puritan alleging infringement of Copan’s patents for “flocked” swabs, which are used “for collecting biological specimens.” While the lawsuit was filed in 2018, the circumstances surrounding the case changed significantly in March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic caused the demand for flocked swabs to skyrocket. In May 2020, the parties agreed to stay the proceedings until the COVID-19 crisis passed.

During the stay, Puritan entered into a contract with the US Air Force, causing Puritan to expand its manufacturing facilities and capabilities. The Air Force stated in a document associated with the contract that, under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP Act), (1) the contract was being entered into for the purpose of covered countermeasures for responding to a public health emergency, (2) Puritan’s performance under the agreement was for recommended activities in responding to the public health emergency and (3) Puritan was a covered person under the PREP Act. Further, the Air Force “expressly acknowledge[d]” that Puritan “shall be immune from suit and liability to the extent and as long as [Puritan’s] activities fall withing the terms and conditions of the PREP Act and the PREP Act declaration.”

Puritan asserted it had immunity under the PREP Act from certain claims in Copan’s infringement suit. Puritan sought leave to amend its answer to include this affirmative defense and filed a partial motion to dismiss the claims directed to Puritan’s performance under the Air Force contract. Copan opposed the motion, arguing the PREP Act does not apply to claims for patent infringement and immunity only applies to claims for losses relating to physical harm, like products liability.

The district court denied Puritan’s motion, finding “that Puritan had not shown, as a factual matter, that its flocked swabs were ‘covered countermeasures’ under the PREP Act.” The district court pointed to “evidentiary gaps,” which prevented Puritan – at the current stage of litigation – from proving the PREP Act affirmative defense. Puritan appealed.

The Federal Circuit determined it lacked jurisdiction and dismissed the appeal. Because the denial of Puritan’s partial motion to dismiss was not a final order, appellate jurisdiction would only arise in limited circumstances under the collateral order doctrine. The collateral order doctrine allows appellate jurisdiction on rulings that (1) conclusively determine a disputed question, (2) resolve an issue completely separate (collateral) to the merits of the action and (3) are effectively unreviewable on appeal from a final judgment.

The Federal Circuit found that the district court order did not conclusively determine any issue and therefore the Federal Circuit lacked jurisdiction under the [...]

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Patent Thicket Avoidance: PTO Proposes Changes to Terminal Disclaimer Practice

by | May 23, 2024 |

On May 10, 2024, the US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (Notice) concerning major changes to the terminal disclaimer (TD) practice, which may lead to a sea change in patent prosecution strategies. The proposed change would require a TD to include an agreement from the patent owner that the patent will be unenforceable if it’s tied directly or indirectly to another patent having any patent claim invalidated or canceled based on prior art. 89 Fed. Reg. 40439 (May 10, 2024).

The rule change is a potential boon for patent challengers and is intended to promote innovation and competition by allowing a competitor to avoid enforcement of patents tied by TDs to patents with claims finally held unpatentable or invalid. Under current practice, invalidation of a patent tied to another patent by a TD does not directly affect the patentability of the other patent. Under the new rule, a competitor could target a single patent in a validity dispute in a post-grant challenge without the need to seek review and invalidation of other related patents. As a result, invalidating one claim in a patent tied to other patents by TDs would render all other tied patents unenforceable.

According to the Notice, the proposed change aligns with the US government’s intent to reduce drug costs and promote competition by reducing barriers to market entry in accordance with President Biden’s Executive Order 14036 on “Promoting Competition in the American Economy.” Part of the reduced costs are said to come from bringing down the cost of challenging large “patent thickets” of multiple patents covering a single product or minor variations of the product tied by TDs.

The proposed rule change would represent a paradigm shift for TD practice. Current TD practice under 37 CFR 1.321(c) or (d) allows applicants to file multiple patents with claims varying in only minor ways from one another by filing TDs to obviate obviousness-type double patenting (ODP) rejections over closely related patent claims issued or pending in applications commonly owned or commonly owned on the basis of a joint research agreement. In filing a TD, the applicant agrees to disclaim any patent term extending beyond the term of the prior patent having similar patent claims.

The proposed rule seeks “to revise 37 CFR 1.321 (c) and (d) to require that a terminal disclaimer filed to obviate nonstatutory double patenting include an agreement by the disclaimant that the subject patent or any patent granted on the subject application shall be enforceable only if the patent is not tied and has never been tied directly or indirectly to a patent by one or more terminal disclaimers filed to obviate nonstatutory double patenting in which:

(1) any claim has been finally held unpatentable or invalid under 35 U.S.C. 102 or 103 . . . by a Federal court in a civil action or by the PTO, and all appeal rights have been exhausted; or

(2) a [...]

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Prime Delivery: Amazon Program Now Offers Personal Jurisdiction to Patent Holders

by | May 16, 2024 |

Addressing the issue of personal jurisdiction in the context of a declaratory judgment case involving a program for resolving patent infringement claims, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit concluded that a patent owner has personal jurisdiction in the forum of an alleged infringer when it files a program claim against the alleged infringer. SnapRays, dba SnapPower v. Lighting Defense Group, Case No. 23-1184 (Fed. Cir. May 2, 2024) (Moore, CJ. Lourie, Dyk, JJ.)

The Amazon Patent Evaluation Express (APEX) program helps resolve patent infringement claims against sellers on Amazon. Under APEX, a patent owner submits an APEX Agreement to Amazon that identifies the allegedly infringed patent claim and the Amazon listings with the alleged infringing products. Amazon then sends this APEX Agreement to the seller, who can do one of the following to avoid removal of their accused listings:

  • Opt into APEX and let a third party determine whether their product likely infringes
  • Resolve the claim directly with the patent owner
  • File a lawsuit for declaratory judgment of noninfringement. If the seller does nothing, its listings are automatically removed from Amazon within three weeks of receipt of the APEX Agreement.

Lighting Defense Group (LDG), a Delaware company whose principal place of business is in Arizona, submitted an APEX Agreement alleging that SnapPower’s Amazon products (electrical outlet covers with integrated technology) infringed one of its patents. SnapPower, a Utah company whose principal place of business is in Utah, then filed a declaratory judgment action against LDG in Utah. LDG then filed a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. The district court granted the motion, finding that SnapPower did not demonstrate that LDG purposefully directed activities at SnapPower in Utah and that there was no evidence that LDG reached out to Utah other than through responses to SnapPower’s communications. SnapPower appealed.

The Federal Circuit reversed, finding that LDG was subject to personal jurisdiction under the Court’s three-prong test because (1) LDG purposefully directed its activities at SnapPower in Utah, (2) LDG’s submission of the APEX Agreement was directed to SnapPower in Utah and aimed to affect activities in Utah and (3) it would not be unreasonable to find personal jurisdiction over LDG in Utah.

In assessing the first prong, the Federal Circuit found that LDG knew, via APEX’s terms, that Amazon would notify SnapPower of the APEX Agreement and that the options available to SnapPower included a claim for declaratory judgment. Further, the Court found that the APEX Agreement had more power than cease and desist letters because of the automatic removal of the listings after three weeks, which would affect sales and activities in Utah.

In assessing the second prong, the Federal Circuit found that personal jurisdiction comported with due process because LDG’s actions aimed to affect marketing, sales and other activities in Utah and because the suit arose out of LDG’s activities in the forum.

In assessing the final prong, the Federal Circuit rejected LDG’s argument that allowing personal jurisdiction would “open the [...]

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Stud-y Harder: Domestic Industry Must Be Established for Each Asserted Patent

by | May 16, 2024 |

Addressing a final determination by the US International Trade Commission of no violation of § 337, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed that the complainant had not satisfied the economic prong of the domestic industry requirement because it relied on aggregated evidence of investments across different products protected by different patents. Zircon Corp. v. ITC, Case No. 22-1649 (Fed. Cir. May 8, 2024) (Lourie, Bryson, Stark, JJ.)

In 2020, Zircon filed a complaint seeking a § 337 investigation based on alleged infringement of four patents covering electronic stud finders. The Commission instituted an investigation, naming Stanley Black & Decker as the respondent. Zircon withdrew one patent during the investigation and, in late 2021, the administrative law judge (ALJ) issued an initial determination finding no violation of § 337. The ALJ found some claims of one of the three patents to be valid and infringed but held that Zircon had failed to establish the economic prong of the domestic industry requirement because it had aggregated its investments across all 53 of its practicing products, of which only 14 practiced all three patents. On review, the Commission affirmed the finding of no violation, holding that all claims were either invalid or not infringed. The Commission also affirmed the domestic industry finding, holding that the aggregation prevented it from evaluating the significance of Zircon’s investments with respect to each of the three asserted patents. Zircon appealed.

The Federal Circuit affirmed on the basis that Zircon failed to meet the second prong of the domestic industry requirement. The Court explained that where different groups of products practice different patents, the complainant must separately establish a domestic industry for each group of products. The Court agreed with Zircon that such a showing might not necessarily require breaking out investments on a per-patent basis but concluded that the complainant must ultimately show that the domestic industry requirement is met for each asserted patent. Because the Federal Circuit upheld the finding of no domestic industry, it found it unnecessary to reach the infringement and invalidity rulings.



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