Fresh From the Bench: Latest Federal Circuit Court Case

CASE OF THE WEEK

CyWee Grp. Ltd. v. Google LLC, Appeal No. 20-1565 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 8, 2023)

In its only precedential patent case this week, the Federal Circuit addressed last gasp efforts by CyWee to salvage its IPR losses to Google. The arguments, residual Appointments Clause arguments following Supreme Court and Federal Circuit opinions in Arthrex, Inc. v. Smith & Nephew, were rejected by the Court, which affirmed.

In June 2018, Google filed petitions for IPR. The Board instituted the IPRs. Thereafter, each IPR was joined by a number of other parties. Because of the joinders, the Board extended its deadline for the final written decisions by one month. Within that month, the Board issued its final written decisions finding each challenged claim unpatentable for obviousness.

CyWee appealed. In addition to challenging the ultimate decision on the merits, CyWee challenged the appointment of the Board under the Appointments Claus. The Federal Circuit affirmed.