Supreme Court Report

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WPEM, LLC v. SOTI Inc.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, No. 2020-1483 · judgment December 9, 2020

Certiorari denied · May 17, 2021
Pre-decision estimate: 5% cert probability

Before the decision, roughly the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a Federal Circuit decision below, a business petitioner, and counsel who has filed here before, and down for a business respondent.

Questions presented

  1. Does a patent’s presumption of validity afforded by 35 U.S.C. §282 limit a district court’s discretion to find a case exceptional under 35 U.S.C. §285 when it is only later discovered the accused technology is prior art?

  2. Given the clear and convincing evidence standard to invalidate a patent, does a district court have the discretion to find a case exceptional under 35 U.S.C. §285 based upon asserted but unproven grounds of invalidity and unenforceability?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
William Peterson Ramey III
Ramey LLP

For respondent
—

Case

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

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Order
Order list, May 17, 2021 · Certiorari denied

Proceedings

  1. May 17 2021
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Apr 27 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/13/2021.
  3. Mar 16 2021
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due April 16, 2021)