Appeals

W|N’s appellate practice group has successfully handled appeals before the United States Supreme Court and before the United States Courts of Appeals, and in particular the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The Federal Circuit resolves all patent appeals from U.S. district courts nationwide as well as all appeals from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

W|N’s success in appellate practice is founded upon the expertise and experience of our lawyers, a number of whom have served as law clerks and interns at the Federal Circuit. The firm’s reputation in appellate practice is reflected in the selection of its lawyers to author amicus briefs on behalf of institutions as notable as the American Intellectual Property Law Association in several landmark cases pending before the U.S. Supreme Court (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. v. Grokster, 2005) and the Federal Circuit (In re Beauregard, 1995 and Phillips v. AWH Corporation, 2004)

Our lawyers can be called upon to handle appeals of any complexity at any stage in any case. W|N offers a full range of appellate services, including briefing and oral argument in seeking affirmance or reversal of judgments and jury verdicts, obtaining and avoiding emergency stays from preliminary injunctive relief, and in seeking to uphold or revoke permanent injunctions.

We can also assist clients with the preparation and filing of petitions for rehearing and petitions for certiorari before the U.S. Supreme Court. Clients may also have us prepare amicus briefs to influence the outcome in appeals to which they are not a formal party but in which the court will address legal issues of significant importance to them.

This list is representative of Workman Nydegger's accomplishments in appeals:

Vita-Mix Corp. v. Basic Holding, Inc., 581 F.3d 1317 (Fed. Cir. 2009)
On behalf of an accused infringer, we convinced the Federal Circuit to affirm a grant of summary judgment that there was no indirect infringement and to reinstate all invalidity defenses against the patent owner, thereby eliminating any basis for a claim of damages and leading to a favorable settlement on remand.

Nautilus Group, Inc. v. ICON Health & Fitness, Inc., 191 Fed. Appx. 960 (Fed. Cir. 2006)
On behalf of an accused infringer, we convinced the Federal Circuit to summarily affirm a grant of summary judgment that our client did not infringe the patent-in-suit, thereby defeating a claim for approximately $150 million in damages.

Free Motion Fitness, Inc. v. Cybex Int’l, Inc., 423 F.3d 1343 (Fed. Cir. 2005)
On behalf of a patent owner, we convinced the Federal Circuit to vacate an unfavorable grant of summary judgment of noninfringement, forcing competitors to acknowledge our client’s patent rights and leading to a favorable settlement on remand.

Lifetime Products, Inc. v. GSC Technology Corp., 97 Fed. Appx. 327 (Fed. Cir. 2004)
On behalf of a patent owner, we convinced the Federal Circuit to deny a competitor’s motion to stay a preliminary injunction which ordered the competitor to cease all infringing sales, and then to summarily affirm the grant of the injunction.

Biotec Biologische Naturverpackungen GmbH & Co. KG v. Biocorp, Inc., 249 F.3d 1341 (Fed. Cir. 2001)
On behalf of a patent owner, we convinced the Federal Circuit to uphold a jury verdict of infringement and the grant of a permanent injunction which ordered competitors to cease all infringing sales.

Ultradent Products, Inc. v. Life-Like Cosmetics, Inc., 127 F.3d 1065 (Fed. Cir. 1997) 
On behalf of a patent owner, we convinced the Federal Circuit to uphold a jury verdict of willful infringement and to reject a competitor’s claim that the patents were unenforceable for inequitable conduct.

Baxter Healthcare Corp. v. Spectramed, Inc., 49 F.3d 1575 (Fed. Cir. 1995)
On behalf of a patent owner, we convinced the Federal Circuit to reverse the lower court’s judgment that the patent was not infringed and to reject a competitor’s challenges to the enforceability of the patent.

Digital Equipment Corp. v. Desktop Direct, Inc., 511 U.S. 863 (1994)
On behalf of a trademark owner, we obtained a ruling that a settlement agreement entered into by our client should be rescinded because of material misrepresentations during the settlement negotiations, and then convinced the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that the opposing party could not appeal that ruling until after trial and final judgment