Free Post: Patent Exceptionalism and Procedural Silence: A New Challenge to Federal Circuit Practice
Patent – Patently-O 2024-10-23
Summary:
By Dennis Crouch
A compelling new petition for certiorari submitted by Island Intellectual Property LLC challenges both the Federal Circuit’s frequent use of one-word Rule 36 affirmances and what petitioner sees as an improper Federal-Circuit patent-specific exception to summary judgment standards. I like this case as an important vehicle for addressing transparency issues that have been plaguing patent appeals for years.
- Read the Petition: Island IP Petition
Island’s U.S. Patent 7,509,286 claims methods for providing flexible interest allocation for insurance products using deposit sweep systems. The district court granted summary judgment of invalidity under § 101 based upon its similarity to the financial invention in Alice Corp., despite the patentee presenting over 1,400 pages of evidence raising multiple factual disputes. The Federal Circuit then affirmed without opinion under Local Rule 36.
At summary judgment, Island submitted substantial evidence that key claim elements were not “well-understood, routine, [and] conventional” at the time of invention. This included an inventor declaration explaining how the claimed interest allocation procedures resolved technical challenges that American Express had been unable to solve, and also expert testimony presenting evidence that the claimed database structure and use of aggregated accounts for enhanced insurance products was unconventional.