No. 19-211

Time Warner Cable, Inc., et al. v. Sprint Communications Company, L.P.

Lower Court: Federal Circuit
Docketed: 2019-08-19
Status: Denied
Type: Paid
Amici (1) Experienced Counsel
Tags: 35-usc-112 35-usc-112a 35-usc-284 apportionment federal-circuit garretson-v-clark patent-claims patent-damages patent-infringement patent-validity reasonable-royalty written-description
Key Terms:
Patent
Latest Conference: 2019-11-01
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Whether the Federal Circuit erred by affirming a damages award based on unapportioned end-user service revenues

Question Presented (from Petition)

QUESTIONS PRESENTED Many commercial products and services involve numerous components and features that implicate potentially hundreds or thousands of patents. The Patent Act’s damages statute, 35 U.S.C. §284, entitles patent holders to damages only for what they actually invented and claimed: “damages adequate to compensate for the infringement,” which may consist of “a reasonable royalty for the use made of the invention by the infringer.” (emphasis added). To police that boundary, this Court has long held that patent holders who seek damages “must in every case give evidence tending to separate or apportion the defendant’s profits and the patentee’s damages between the patented feature and the unpatented feature.” Garretson v. Clark, 111 U.S. 120, 121 (1884). The written description requirement of 35 U.S.C. §112(a), ensures that patent claims are limited to what was actually invented: every patent must include “a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in... full, clear, concise, and exact terms,” or the patent is invalid. The questions presented are: 1. Whether the Federal Circuit erred by affirming a damages award based on unapportioned end-user service revenues. 2. Whether the Federal Circuit erred in ruling that a patent satisfies 35 U.S.C. §112(a)’s requirement of “a written description of the invention” merely because the specification does “not expressly exclude[]” technology within the scope of the patent claims.

Docket Entries

2019-11-04
Petition DENIED. The Chief Justice took no part in the consideration or decision of this petition.
2019-10-09
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/1/2019.
2019-10-09
Reply of petitioners Time Warner Cable, Inc., et al. filed. (Distributed)
2019-09-25
Brief of respondent Sprint Communications Company, L.P. in opposition filed.
2019-09-18
Brief amicus curiae of Intel Corporation filed.
2019-09-09
Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including September 25, 2019.
2019-09-04
Motion to extend the time to file a response from September 18, 2019 to September 25, 2019, submitted to The Clerk.
2019-08-15
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due September 18, 2019)
2019-05-31
Application (18A1232) granted by Justice Thomas extending the time to file until August 15, 2019.
2019-05-23
Application (18A1232) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from June 16, 2019 to August 15, 2019, submitted to Justice Thomas. (The Chief Justice is recused.)

Attorneys

Intel Corporation
William F. LeeWilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, Amicus
William F. LeeWilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, Amicus
Sprint Communications Company, L.P.
John Michael JakesFinnegan, Henderson, et al., Respondent
John Michael JakesFinnegan, Henderson, et al., Respondent
Time Warner Cable, Inc., et al.
John Caviness O'QuinnKirkland & Ellis LLP, Petitioner
John Caviness O'QuinnKirkland & Ellis LLP, Petitioner