Context
: mCom asserted a banking-system patent against multiple financial institutions after most related patent claims had already been invalidated in Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) inter partes review (IPR) proceedings initiated by Unified Patents. In parallel actions against City National Bank of Florida and HSBC, different district courts dismissed the complaints based on invalidity and/or failure to plausibly allege infringement. In the Florida case, the district court additionally awarded attorney fees and imposed sanctions against counsel, concluding that the case was sufficiently exceptional to justify fee-shifting and sanctions.
What’s new
: The Federal Circuit affirmed dismissal of mCom’s banking patent suits and upheld invalidity findings against the remaining asserted claims, but reversed both the attorney-fee award and sanctions imposed against counsel in the Florida litigation. In a companion nonprecedential ruling involving HSBC, the court further held that the affirmed invalidity ruling precluded mCom from continuing to assert the same claims in parallel litigation.
Direct impact