United States Federal Circuit - July 2003 Opinion Summaries

CHRISTIAN v. US

Government Benefits, Military Law
The Court of Federal Claims's refusal to apply a harmless error inquiry in military passover discharge cases is reversed where two-thirds of the white...

MINTON v. NAT'L ASSOC. OF SEC. DEALERS, INC.

Intellectual Property, Patent
Plaintiff's lease of a computer program and telecommunications network, which performed similarly to what plaintiff claimed in a patent directed to a...

ULTRA-PRECISION MFG. LTD. v. FORD MOTOR CO.

Civil Procedure, Intellectual Property, Patent
There is no appellate jurisdiction to hear an interlocutory appeal of grant of two separate motions in limine, certified under Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(b),...

THE POMEROY COLLECTION, LTD. v. US

International Trade
The U.S. Customs Service correctly classified imported floor lamps as glassware for indoor decoration, thus the Court of International Trade's...

VAUGHN v. PRINCIPI

Attorney's Fees, Government Benefits
In an action for attorneys' fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act, two recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions preclude plaintiffs from attaining...

BUTTERBAUGH v. DEP'T OF JUSTICE

Labor & Employment Law, Military Law
Federal employees who train with the military reserves need take military leave only for those days on which they are required to work, and 5 U.S.C....

FORMER EMPLOYEES OF MOTOROLA CERAMIC PRODS. v. US

Administrative Law, Attorney's Fees, International Trade, Labor & Employment Law
Parties who secure a consent order remanding a proceeding to an administrative agency because of an alleged error on the merits (where the court also...

TORPHARM INC. v. RANBAXY PHARMS., INC.

Drugs & Biotech, Intellectual Property, Patent
The grant of summary judgment invalidating plaintiff's patent based on obviousness is reversed because, despite plaintiff's assertion of improved Form...

CUSTOM COMPUTER SERVS., INC. v. PAYCHEX PROPS., INC.

Administrative Law, Intellectual Property, Trademark
The PTO Trademark Trial and Appeal Board's dismissal of defendant's notice of opposition to a trademark application for having been untimely filed is...

INTELLECTUAL PROP. DEV., INC. v. UA-COLUMBIA CABLEVISION OF WESTCHESTER, INC.

Communications Law, Intellectual Property, Patent
Summary judgment of non-infringement of a patent directed to "broadcasting systems with fibre optic transmission lines" is affirmed in favor of...