Blawgletter doesn’t often see elegance in judicial opinions, but we do admire the Federal Circuit’s eight-page gem today in Boston Scientific Scimed, Inc. v. Medtronic Vascular, Inc., No. 06-1434 (Fed. Cir. Aug. 8, 2007).
The court considered which among three patent applications had priority. One patent owner alleged that a foreign application established its priority. But the district court and the Federal Circuit disagreed. A foreign filing counts only if the patent holder owned the application at the time of its filing. And the rule applies even if, as in this case, the applicant later assigns the foreign application/patent to the patent holder.
That Circuit Judge Mayer can write!
Barry Barnett
