Amicus Brief

Unified Files Amicus for En Banc Review of EcoFactor v. Google in Fed. Cir.

On November 26, 2024, Unified filed an amicus brief with the en banc Federal Circuit in EcoFactor, Inc. v. Google LLC, No. 23-1101. The full Court will be reviewing the proper standard under Rule 702 for admissibility of expert testimony regarding reasonable royalties in patent cases. Specifically, the Court will be considering a decision involving the admissibility of expert testimony that relied primarily on an inoperative clause stating the patent owner's "belief" to extract a single-patent royalty from lump-sum settlement agreements covering many patents. Unified wrote to advise the court on the prejudicial harms of admitting outsized damages theories before a jury.

Unified Patents is represented by William G. Jenks of Jenks IP Law, and by in-house counsel, Michelle Aspen and Jonathan Stroud. Download the amicus brief below.

Amicus filed in Dragon IP Fed. Cir. Appeal, Supporting en banc Review of Attorneys Fees

On August 19, 2024, Unified filed an amicus brief in support of an en banc review of a decision that insulates the attorneys and funders who control shell companies that file objectively baseless cases from § 285 fees. The brief also recommends review of the panel's holding that precludes district court judges from rewarding fees related to inter partes review proceedings in exceptional cases, even when those proceedings resolve a related district court case.

Unified Patents is represented by William G. Jenks of Jenks IP Law, and by in-house counsel, Jonathan Stroud and Michelle Aspen. Download the amicus brief below.

Fintiv challenged in Federal Circuit Amicus by Unified and Zero Motorcycles

On August 12, 2024, Unified Edge filed an amicus brief with the Federal Circuit addressing whether the USPTO's implementation of Fintiv as a precedential matter violates the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The brief explains why the USPTO has not only failed to follow the APA’s required rulemaking procedure but also has promulgated the Fintiv factors in the absence of any ambiguity under 35 U.S.C. §§ 314(a) and 315(b). 

Unified Edge is part of the Unified Network and advocates for the right policies, focusing on researching, organizing, providing, and promoting data-backed studies and evidence to further regulatory, business, and policy goals. Unified Edge works to keep its members up to date and informed on ongoing policies, data, and the regulatory landscape in order to move the law forward in a just, reasoned, and data-backed way. Unified Edge is represented by Mark Davies, Amanda Woodall, and Yar Chaikovsky at White & Case, and by in-house counsel, Michelle Aspen and Jonathan Stroud. Download the amicus brief below.

Unified Files Amicus in Roku Fed.Cir. appeal from the ITC, Supporting Stronger Domestic Industry Requirement

On March 18, 2024, Unified filed an amicus brief in support of Roku's petition for rehearing or rehearing en banc by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Roku v. ITC on the issue of relaxed enforcement of the economic domestic industry requirement in ITC cases. In the brief, Unified explores the trends of NPE activity at the ITC, where exclusion orders can and have been used to extract larger settlements than would be available in district courts due to this relaxed enforcement of domestic industry. Unified accordingly requests the Court clarify how the domestic industry requirement is analyzed, and argues it should be done in a manner consistent with the ITC's purpose of protecting unfair trade, and consistent with statutory language.

Unified Patents is represented by in-house counsel, David Seastrunk, Michelle Aspen, and Jonathan Stroud. Download the amicus brief below.

SCOTUS Amicus Filed by Unified Edge, Supporting Curb on Over-Broad Patent Claims

On February 10, 2023, Unified Edge filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court concerning the test for whether a patent has met the statutory requirement for enablement—i.e., the requirement that the specification sufficiently disclose the claimed invention in such full, clear, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use it. 

The brief explains why the Supreme Court should maintain—across all fields of endeavor, including high tech—the Federal Circuit’s vigorous check on functional patent claims that the Federal Circuit has applied over decades of its case law (which in turn rests on 170 years of the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence). The fact-intensive investigation into enablement required by the Federal Circuit's Wands factors provides the appropriate, flexible framework for Patent Office examiners, fact-finders, trial court judges, and reviewing appellate courts to apply in assessing compliance with the statutory requirement for enablement. 

Reversal—and replacement of the full scope enablement test with Amgen’s proposed permissive standard—would invite patentees even further to pursue wildly unsupported functional claims in the Patent Office across a wide range of industries, threatening innovation and contributing to already out-of-control litigation defense and settlement costs.

Unified Edge is part of the Unified Network and advocates for the right policies, focusing on researching, organizing, providing, and promoting data-backed studies and evidence to further regulatory, business, and policy goals. Unified Edge works to keep its members up to date and informed on ongoing policies, data, and the regulatory landscape in order to move the law forward in a just, reasoned, and data-backed way. Unified Edge is represented by Lisa Ferri, Andrew Pincus, and Rich McCormick of Mayer Brown LLP and by in-house counsel, Jonathan Stroud and Ashraf Fawzy.

Read the amicus brief below: