United States Federal Circuit

Where inventor assigned rights in a patent to his wholly owned corporation for tax purposes, the inventor himself does not have standing to prosecute infringement claims, and 35 USC 287(a) notice from the inventor was similarly invalid.

Appellate Information

• Decided 06/04/2001
• Published 06/06/2001

Judges

• RADER, Circuit Judge., Before RADER, Circuit Judge, PLAGER, Senior Circuit Judge, and SCHALL, Circuit Judge.

Court

• United States Federal Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Louis S. Mastriani,Adduci, Mastriani, & Schaumberg, L.L.P., of Washington, DC, argued for plaintiffs-appellants Hakan Lans in 00-1144 and 00-1358 and for Uniboard Aktiebolag in 00-1556.   With him on the brief were Tom M. Schaumberg, Steven E. Adkins, and Adam F. Bobrow.


• For Appellees:
  
• Gary H. Ritchey, Cooley Godward LLP, of Palo Alto, CA, argued for defendants-appellees in 00-1144 and 00-1556, and Andrew P. Valentine, Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich LLP, of San Diego, CA, argued for defendants-appellees in 00-1358.   With them on the briefs of the defendants-appellees were Martin L. Lagod and Lori R.E. Ploeger, Cooley Godward LLP, for Gateway 2000 Inc. Of counsel for Gateway in 00-1556 was Stephen P. Swinton.   Also on the briefs were:  Henry A. Petri, Jr., Howrey Simon Arnold & White, LLP, of Houston, TX, for Compaq Computer, Digital Equipment Corporation, and AST Research, Inc.;  Scott F. Partridge and Mitchell D. Lukin, Baker Botts L.L.P., of Houston, TX, Robert W. Holland, of Austin, TX, and David A. Super, of Washington, DC, for Dell Computer Corporation;  John Allcock and John E. Giust, Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich LLP, of San Diego, CA, for Hewlett-Packard Company in 00-1144, 00-1358 and 00-1556.   On the brief for Hewlett-Packard Company in 00-1358 was Matthew C. Bernstein, and in 00-1556 was Mary A. Lehman, Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich LLP. Of counsel for Hewlett-Packard Company in 00-1144 was Scott L. Robertson, Hunton & Williams, of Washington, DC. Joseph B. Tompkins, Jr. and Christine Liverzani Prame, Sidley & Austin, of Washington, DC, V. Bryan Medlock, Jr., of Dallas, TX, and Douglas I. Lewis, of Chicago, IL, for Packard Bell NEC, Inc.;  Roger L. Cook, Mark L. Pettinari, and James W. Soong, Townsend & Townsend & Crew, LLP, of San Francisco, CA, and Robert A. Molan, Nixon & Vanderhye, of Arlington, VA, for Acer America Corporation.