United States Federal Circuit
Highmark, Inc. v. Allcare Health Mgmt. Sys., Inc., 11-1219
In a patent infringement suit involving a method for determining whether a health insurer should approve a particular treatment for a patient, district court's order finding the case exceptional under 35 U.S.C. section 285 in awarding attorneys' fees and costs to plaintiff is affirmed in part, reversed in part and remanded where: 1) the district court did not clearly err in concluding that defendant's claim 102 allegations were brought in subjective bad faith; 2) because defendant's allegations of infringement of claim 52 were not objectively baseless, district court's exceptional case finding on this claim is reversed; and 3) district court's exceptional case finding based on three primary instances of alleged litigation misconduct is reversed as none of the defendant's actions at issue is sufficient to make this case exceptional under section 285.
Appellate Information
- Decided 08/07/2012
- Published 08/07/2012
Judges
- Dyk
Court
- United States Federal Circuit