Supreme Court Report

Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →

WesternGeco LLC v. ION Geophysical Corporation

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, No. 2013-1527, 2014-1121, 2014-1526, 2014-1528 · judgment September 21, 2016

Decided · June 22, 2018
At-filing estimate: 2% cert probability
The Solicitor General's brief was filed December 6, 2017

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Question presented

Under 35 U.S.C. § 271(f), it is an act of patent infringement to supply "components of a patented invention," "from the United States," knowing or intending that the components be combined "outside of the United States," in a manner that "would infringe the patent if such combination occurred within the United States." Under 35 U.S.C. § 284, patent owners who prevail in litigation are entitled to "damages adequate to compensate for the infringement.” In this case, despite affirming that Respondent was liable for infringement under§ 271 (f), the majority of a divided panel of the court of appeals held that Petitioner was not entitled to lost profits caused by the proscribed combination. The court of appeals reasoned that even when Congress has overridden the presumption against extraterritorial application of the law in creating liability, the presumption must be applied a second time to restrict damages. The question presented is: Whether the court of appeals erred in holding that lost profits arising from prohibited combinations occurring outside of the United States are categorically unavailable in cases where patent infringement is proven under 35 U.S.C.§ 271(f). JUSTICE ALITO TOOK NO PART. MARCH 28, 2018: JUSTICE ALITO IS NO LONGER RECUSED IN THIS CASE.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Paul D. Clement
Clement & Murphy, PLLC

For respondent
Kannon K. Shanmugam
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP

Case

Subject area
Economic Activity (estimated from the questions presented, in the Supreme Court Database’s categories)

Conference history
Distributed for 3 conferences

Amicus briefs
1 cert-stage · 11 merits
(9 supporting pet./neither, 2 respondent)

Linked docket
16A576

Orders
Miscellaneous order, January 12, 2018 · Certiorari granted
Miscellaneous order, April 13, 2018

Argument & decision

Argued April 16, 2018 — Paul D. Clement · Kannon K. Shanmugam. Listen and read along · the Court’s audio

Decided June 22, 2018. Opinion by Thomas.

Proceedings

  1. Aug 21 2018
    Record for the U.S.C.A. Federal Circuit has been returned.
  2. Jul 24 2018
    JUDGMENT ISSUED.
  3. Jun 22 2018
    Judgment REVERSED and case REMANDED. Thomas, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Roberts, C. J., and Kennedy, Ginsburg, Alito, Sotomayor, and Kagan, JJ., joined. Gorsuch, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Breyer, J., joined.
  4. Apr 16 2018
    Argued. For petitioner: Paul D. Clement, Washington, D. C.; and Zachary D. Tripp, Assistant to the Solicitor General, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C. (for United States, as amicus curiae.) For respondent: Kannon K. Shanmugam, Washington, D. C.
  5. Apr 13 2018
    Motion of the Solicitor General for leave to participate in oral argument as amicus curiae and for divided argument GRANTED.
  6. Apr 09 2018
    Reply of petitioner WesternGeco LLC filed. (Distributed)
  7. Apr 06 2018
    Record received from the U.S.D.C. Southern District of Texas Brownsville Division is electronic and can be accessed through the electronic case filing system for the Southern District of Texas. Sealed documents was sent to this Court, the record is electronic.
  8. Apr 06 2018
    Record from the U.S.C.A. Federal Circuit is electronic and located on PACER, with the exception of 1 Box of Confidential material.
  9. Apr 02 2018
    Brief amici curiae of Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc., The Internet Association, SAS Institute Inc., Symmetry, LLC, and Xilinx, Inc. filed. (Distributed)
  10. Apr 02 2018
    Brief amici curiae of Electronic Frontier Foundation and R Street Institute filed. (Distributed)
  11. Mar 30 2018
    Record requested from U.S.C.A. Federal Circuit.
  12. Mar 28 2018
    Justice Alito is no longer recused in this case.
  13. Mar 26 2018
    Brief of respondent ION Geophysical Corporation filed. (Distributed)
  14. Mar 09 2018
    Motion of the Solicitor General for leave to participate in oral argument as amicus curiae and for divided argument filed.
  15. Mar 07 2018
    CIRCULATED
  16. Mar 05 2018
    Brief amicus curiae of Intellectual Property Owners Association filed in Support of Neither Party. (Distributed)
  17. Mar 05 2018
    Brief amicus curiae of American Intellectual Property Law Association filed in Support of Neither Party. (Distributed)
  18. Mar 02 2018
    Brief amicus curiae of United States filed.
  19. Mar 02 2018
    Brief amicus curiae of Power Integrations, Inc. filed.
  20. Mar 02 2018
    Brief amici curiae of Intellectual Property Law Scholars in support of neither party filed. (Distributed)
  21. Mar 02 2018
    Brief amicus curiae of Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago filed. (Distributed)
  22. Mar 02 2018
    Brief amicus curiae of Houston Intellectual Property Law Association in Support of Neither Party filed. (Distributed)
  23. Mar 01 2018
    Brief amicus curiae of Law Professor Stephen Yelderman filed. (Distributed)
  24. Feb 27 2018
    Brief amicus curiae of New York Intellectual Property Law Association in support of neither party filed.
  25. Feb 23 2018
    SET FOR ARGUMENT on Monday, April 16, 2018.
  26. Feb 23 2018
    Brief of petitioner WesternGeco LLC filed.
  27. Feb 23 2018
    Joint appendix filed.
  28. Feb 02 2018
    Blanket Consent filed by Petitioner, WesternGeco LLC.
  29. Feb 01 2018
    Blanket Consent filed by Respondent, ION Geophysical Corporation.
  30. Jan 25 2018
    Letter of amendment to corporate disclosure statement from respondent ION Geophysical Corp. filed. (Distributed)
  31. Jan 12 2018
    Petition GRANTED. Justice Alito took no part in the consideration or decision of this petition.
  32. Jan 08 2018
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/12/2018.
  33. Dec 20 2017
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/5/2018.
  34. Dec 20 2017
    Supplemental brief of respondent ION Geophysical Corp. filed. (Distributed)
  35. Dec 06 2017
    Brief amicus curiae of United States filed.
  36. May 30 2017
    The Acting Solicitor General is invited to file a brief in this case expressing the views of the United States. Justice Alito took no part in the consideration or decision of this petition.
  37. May 09 2017
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of May 25, 2017.
  38. May 08 2017
    Reply of petitioner WesternGeco LLC filed.
  39. Apr 19 2017
    Brief of respondent ION Geophysical Corporation in opposition filed.
  40. Mar 08 2017
    Order extending time to file response to petition to and including April 19, 2017.
  41. Feb 17 2017
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due March 20, 2017)
  42. Dec 13 2016
    Application (16A576) granted by The Chief Justice extending the time to file until February 17, 2017.
  43. Dec 08 2016
    Application (16A576) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from December 20, 2016 to February 17, 2017, submitted to The Chief Justice.