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WhitServe LLC v. Dropbox, Inc.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, No. 2019-2334 · judgment April 26, 2021


Certiorari denied · January 10, 2022
Pre-decision estimate: 3% cert probability

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

Questions presented

  1. If a patentee makes factual assertions and provides supporting evidence that its claimed invention is directed to patent-eligible subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101, is a court permitted to overlook the patentee’s assertions and evidence, provide no opportunity for a hearing, ignore the perspective of a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention, find that the claimed invention is directed to patentineligible subject matter, and dismiss the patentee’s complaint with prejudice despite the requirements of Rule 12(b)(6) and the statutory presumption of § 282(a)?

  2. Whether 35 U.S.C. § 101 requires a patent specification to explain the technological processes underlying the purported technological improvement in a patent claim, or if this encroaches on the enablement test under 35 U.S.C. § 112?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Michael Joseph Kosma
Whitmyer IP Group LLC

For respondent
Gregory Hayes Lantier
Wilmer Cutler Pickering

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. Jan 10 2022
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Dec 22 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/7/2022.
  3. Dec 20 2021
    Waiver of right of respondent Dropbox, Inc. to respond filed.
  4. Nov 24 2021
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due January 3, 2022)