University of South Florida v. Fujifilm Medical Systems

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
DecidedNovember 23, 2021
Docket20-1872
StatusPublished

This text of University of South Florida v. Fujifilm Medical Systems (University of South Florida v. Fujifilm Medical Systems) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
University of South Florida v. Fujifilm Medical Systems, (Fed. Cir. 2021).

Opinion

Case: 20-1872 Document: 39-2 Page: 1 Filed: 10/22/2021

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ______________________

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA RESEARCH FOUNDATION, INC., Plaintiff-Appellant

v.

FUJIFILM MEDICAL SYSTEMS U.S.A., INC., Defendant-Appellee ______________________

2020-1872 ______________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut in No. 3:18-cv-00215-AVC, Senior Judge Alfred V. Covello. ______________________

SEALED OPINION ISSUED: October 22, 2021 PUBLIC OPINION ISSUED: November 23, 2021 * ______________________

JOHN S. ARTZ, Dickinson Wright PLLC, Ann Arbor, MI, argued for plaintiff-appellant. Also represented by STEVEN A. CALOIARO, Reno, NV.

DAVID W. MARSTON, JR., Morgan, Lewis & Bockius

* This opinion was originally filed under seal and has been unsealed in part with the remaining sealed por- tions redacted from the public opinion. Case: 20-1872 Document: 39-2 Page: 2 Filed: 10/22/2021

LLP, Miami, FL, argued for defendant-appellee. Also represented by JITSURO MORISHITA, Tokyo, Japan; JACOB SNODGRASS, Washington, DC. ______________________

Before MOORE, Chief Judge, REYNA, and STOLL, Circuit Judges. STOLL, Circuit Judge. The University of South Florida Research Founda- tion, Inc. appeals the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut’s order dismissing its patent in- fringement suit against Fujifilm Medical Systems U.S.A., Inc. for lack of statutory and constitutional standing. For the reasons stated below, we vacate the court’s dismissal and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. BACKGROUND I On April 7, 1997, the University of South Florida (USF) received a “Disclosure of Invention” entitled “Workstation-User Interface for Digital Mammography” which included internal number “USF #97A15.” J.A. 363. On September 16, 1997, the inventors assigned all rights in the invention to USF as part of a Revenue Allocation Agreement between the inventors, USF, and the Univer- sity of South Florida Research Foundation, Inc. (USFRF). J.A. 363–67. This agreement also stated that [redacted] J.A. 364. The inventors later entered into a separate assign- ment agreement in 2002, in which they assigned their rights in invention disclosure number 97A015PRC to USF. J.A. 436–38. This assignment from the inventors to USF refers to invention disclosure number 97A015PRC as being [redacted] J.A. 436. U.S. Patent Application No. 10/081,135 issued on October 7, 2003, as Case: 20-1872 Document: 39-2 Page: 3 Filed: 10/22/2021

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA. v. 3 FUJIFILM MEDICAL SYSTEMS

U.S. Patent No. 6,630,937 titled “Workstation Interface for Use in Digital Mammography and Associated Meth- ods.” At some point, the Revenue Allocation Agreement be- tween the inventors, USF, and USFRF was followed by a nunc pro tunc license agreement, which lists an effective date of July 4, 1997. J.A. 265–66. The nunc pro tunc agreement defines the “Subject Invention” as: [redacted] J.A. 265 ¶ 1. This nunc pro tunc license agreement also [redacted] Id. ¶ 2. In addition, the agreement states that [redacted] J.A. 266 ¶ 3. II In May 2016, USFRF filed a patent infringement complaint asserting that medical imaging products and systems made by Fujifilm Medical Systems USA, Inc. in- fringed all claims of the ’937 patent. Compl., Univ. of S. Fla. Rsch. Found., Inc. v. Fujifilm Med. Sys. USA, Inc., No. 3:18-cv-00215 (D. Conn. May 12, 2016), ECF No. 1. The complaint, amended complaint, and second amended complaint all included the following ownership assertion: The inventors of the ’937 patent assigned their rights to the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida. The University of South Florida in turn assigned their rights to the ’937 patent to the Plaintiff in this lawsuit, namely the Univer- sity of South Florida Research Foundation, Inc. (“USFRF”). USFRF is currently the owner of the entire right, title and interest in United States Patent No. 6,630,937. See Ruling on Motions at 3, Univ. of S. Fla. Rsch. Found., Inc., No. 3:18-cv-00215 (D. Conn. May 11, 2020), ECF No. 267 (“Motions Ruling”). Case: 20-1872 Document: 39-2 Page: 4 Filed: 10/22/2021

On June 6, 2019, Fujifilm moved for summary judg- ment, arguing that USFRF lacked so-called statutory standing to sue Fujifilm for patent infringement because the license agreement did not transfer all substantial rights to USFRF that would permit USFRF to bring suit by itself. Mot. for Summ. J., Univ. of S. Fla. Rsch. Found., Inc., No. 3:18-cv-00215 (D. Conn. June 6, 2019), ECF No. 229, at 2 n.1. Five days later, on June 11, 2019, USFRF moved for leave to amend its Second Amended Complaint to “correct an inadvertent error” concerning its ownership of the ’937 patent because “[USF] did not assign its rights to the ’937 Patent to USFRF” but instead granted USFRF an exclusive license. J.A. 476–79. On May 11, 2020, the district court dismissed the case under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(h)(3) for lack of both statutory and constitutional standing, without prej- udice. Motions Ruling at 34–35. The district court ana- lyzed USFRF’s statutory standing 1 based on the rights conveyed in the nunc pro tunc USF-USFRF license agree- ment. The agreement states that “USF and USFRF de- sire to cooperate in the development, protection, and commercial exploitation of the said invention,” which the court concluded “implies a cooperative effort in the pro- tection of the patent, rather than an exclusive granting of

1 In referring to this issue as “statutory standing,” the district court followed some of our older cases in which we referred to whether a plaintiff may bring suit under 35 U.S.C. § 281 as “statutory standing.” We have more recently clarified that § 281 is simply a statutory requirement; it does not “implicate standing or subject- matter jurisdiction.” Lone Star Silicon Innovations LLC v. Nanya Tech. Corp., 925 F.3d 1225, 1235–36 (Fed. Cir. 2019). Thus, this opinion will hereinafter refer to the is- sue as a statutory requirement rather than statutory standing. Case: 20-1872 Document: 39-2 Page: 5 Filed: 10/22/2021

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA. v. 5 FUJIFILM MEDICAL SYSTEMS

the right to protect the patent to USFRF.” Id. at 20. The district court determined that the “licensing agreement is silent on the transference of the right to sue,” id. at 6, and “does not limit USF’s ability to bring suit for alleged in- fringement,” id. at 6, 17. The court also concluded that “USF did not exclusively license to USFRF all substantial rights” because “USF reserved to itself . . . the right to make, have made, develop, import and use the ‘Subject Invention’ for their internal research, clinical and educa- tional purposes.” Id. at 15–16. Thus, the court deter- mined that USFRF’s rights to the ’937 patent were “limited by [USF’s] retention.” Id. at 16. The district court then held that USFRF did not meet the statutory requirement of being a patentee under 35 U.S.C. § 281 because USFRF is not an exclusive licensee with all sub- stantial rights in the ’937 patent. Therefore, the court held that USFRF could not bring the action in its own name without joining USF. As to constitutional standing, the district court rea- soned that because the “licensing agreement does not re- fer to the ’937 patent and specifically references the 97A105 invention disclosure form . . .

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