Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
The Chamberlain Group, Inc. v. Techtronic Industries Co., et al.
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, No. 2018-2103, 2018-2228 · judgment August 21, 2019
Before the decision, roughly the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for counsel who has won certiorari before, a Federal Circuit decision below, and a business petitioner, and down for a business respondent.
Question presented
This Court has held that any machine or process is eligible for patent protection under 35 U.S.C. § 101, subject only to narrow exceptions where the patent seeks to monopolize an abstract idea or law of nature. This Court has further held repeatedly that a court must make that determination by evaluating the claims “as a whole.” The Federal Circuit, however, routinely declares inventions ineligible for patent protection by dissecting the patent’s claim into purportedly new versus old elements, and then isolating just the new ones for analysis. It applied that approach here to strip The Chamberlain Group’s novel garage door opener of patent protection. The question presented is: Whether the Federal Circuit improperly expanded § 101’s narrow implicit exceptions by failing to properly assess Chamberlain’s claims “as a whole,” where the claims recite an improvement to a machine and leave ample room for other inventors to apply any underlying abstract principles in different ways.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
E. Joshua Rosenkranz
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
For respondent
William Robert Peterson
Office of the Texas Attorney General
Proceedings
- Oct 05 2020Petition DENIED.
- Sep 02 2020DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/29/2020.
- Sep 01 2020Reply of petitioner The Chamberlain Group, Inc. filed. (Distributed)
- Aug 18 2020Motion to delay distribution of the petition for a writ certiorari until September 2, 2020 granted.
- Aug 13 2020Motion of petitioner to delay distribution of the petition for a writ of certiorari under Rule 15.5 from August 26, 2020 to September 2, 2020, submitted to The Clerk.
- Aug 07 2020Brief of respondents Techtronic Industries, Co. Ltd., et al. in opposition filed.
- Jul 08 2020Brief amicus curiae of High 5 Games, LLC filed.
- Jul 08 2020Brief amici curiae of The Honorable Randall R. Rader (ret.) and ChargePoint, Inc. filed.
- Jun 19 2020Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including August 7, 2020.
- Jun 17 2020Motion to extend the time to file a response from July 8, 2020 to August 7, 2020, submitted to The Clerk.
- Jun 08 2020Response Requested. (Due July 8, 2020)
- May 26 2020DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/11/2020.
- May 19 2020Waiver of right of respondent Techtronic Industries, Co. Ltd., et al. to respond filed.
- May 15 2020Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due June 18, 2020)
- Mar 02 2020Application (19A956) granted by The Chief Justice extending the time to file until May 15, 2020.
- Feb 27 2020Application (19A956) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from March 16, 2020 to May 15, 2020, submitted to The Chief Justice.