2024 Federal Circuit IP Appeals: Summaries of Key 2024 Decisions

2024 brought exciting developments at the Federal Circuit. The court issued its first en banc decision in a patent case in five years in LKQ, which significantly altered the standard for proving obviousness of a design patent. The court also granted an en banc petition in another patent case with EcoFactor, which will address the standard for admissibility of expert testimony on damages based on allegedly comparable licenses.

Turning to the statistics, the number of appeals from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) dipped dramatically in 2024, while appeals from district court patent cases held steady. Pendency for Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) appeals increased for the third consecutive year to almost 20 months. The pendency for appeals from the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) and district courts also grew.

Appellate results continued to heavily favor appellees, particularly in cases arising out of the ITC and PTAB. Overall, in 2024, in patent cases, the court affirmed 77% of the time, vacated and remanded 14% of the time, and reversed only 7% of the time. While the affirmance rate was higher for ITC and PTAB decisions, the court affirmed district court cases nearly 70% of the time. Additionally, the Federal Circuit issued Rule 36 summary affirmances more than 30% of the time in patent cases. The court issued a precedential opinion less than 30% of the time; the remaining decisions were made via non-precedential opinions.

We have chosen an assortment of cases from 2024. They include the en banc cases discussed above—but they also include cases concerning patent eligibility, claim construction, antisuit injunctions, damages, and the effect of patent term adjustment on obviousness-type double patenting. We cover cases coming from the PTAB, the ITC, and district courts.

The summaries and statistics in this review are the results of a collaborative process. We want to thank our co-authors—Jennifer Meyer Chagnon, Richard Crudo, Kristina Caggiano Kelly, Anna Phillips, Byron Pickard, Trey Powers, and Deirdre Wells. We’d also like to thank Patrick Murray for his contributions to the data and statistics.

We appreciate your interest in this report, and we encourage you to see our firm’s other 2024 year-in-review reports and on-demand webinars, available at sternekessler.com or by request. Please feel free to reach out if you have questions about this report or wish to discuss the future of Federal Circuit appeals.

Download the full report by clicking the Download PDF button or view the individual articles by clicking on the titles below in the Table of Contents. 

Table of Contents

• Data and Trends: AIA PTAB Appeals to the Federal Circuit (Infographics)
• Amarin Pharma, Inc. v. Hikma Pharm. USA Inc., 104 F.4th 1370 (Fed. Cir. 2024) (Moore, Lourie, Albright)
• Dragon Intellectual Property LLC v. DISH Network L.L.C., 101 F.4th 1366 (Fed. Cir. 2024) (Moore, Stoll, Bencivengo)
• Patent Eligibility in 2024: A Sextet of Precedential Decisions
• Celanese Intn’l Corp. v. International Trade Commn., 111 F.4th 1338 (Fed. Cir. 2024) (Reyna, Mayer, Cunningham)
• RAI Strategic Holdings, Inc. v. Philip Morris Products S.A., 92 F.4th 1085 (Fed. Cir. 2024) (Chen, Stoll, Cunningham)
• Crocs, Inc. v. Effervescent, Inc., 119 F.4th 1 (Fed. Cir. 2024) (Reyna, Cunningham, Albright)
• Luv n’ Care, Ltd. v. Laurain, 98 F.4th 1081 (Fed. Cir. 2024) (Reyna, Hughes, Stark)
• Janssen Pharms., Inc. v. Teva Pharms. USA, Inc., 97 F.4th 915 (Fed. Cir. 2024) (Dyk, Prost, Hughes)
• Anti-suit Injunctions and the Global SEP Dance: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson v. Lenovo (United States), Inc., 120 F.4th 864 (Fed. Cir. 2024) (Lourie, Prost, Reyna)
• Cementing a Holistic Approach to the FDA Safe-Harbor: Edwards Lifesciences Corp. v. Meril Life Scis. Pvt. Ltd., 96 F.4th 1347 (Fed. Cir. 2024) (Lourie, Stoll, Cunningham)
• EcoFactor, Inc. v. Google LLC, 115 F.4th 1380 (Fed. Cir. 2024) (en banc)
• Developments in the Domestic Industry Requirement at the ITC: Zircon Corp. v. Int’l Trade Comm’n, 101 F.4th 817 (Fed. Cir. 2024) (Lourie, Bryson, Stark) and Roku, Inc. v. Int’l Trade Comm’n, 90 F.4th 1367 (Fed. Cir. 2024) (Dyk, Hughes, Stoll)
• LKQ Corporation v. GM Global Technology Operations LLC, 102 F.4th 1280 (Fed. Cir. 2024) (en banc, Stoll)
• Platinum Optics Tech. Inc. v. Viavi Sols. Inc., 111 F.4th 1378 (Fed. Cir. Aug. 16, 2024) (Moore, Taranto, Cecchi)
• ParkerVision, Inc. v. Qualcomm Inc., 116 F.4th 1345 (Fed. Cir. Sept. 6, 2024) (Lourie, Mayer, Stark)
• Virtek Vision Int’l ULC v. Assembly Guidance Sys., Inc., 97 F.4th 882 (Fed. Cir. March 27, 2024) (Moore, Hughes, Stark)
• NexStep, Inc. v. Comcast Cable Commc’ns, LLC, 119 F.4th 1355 (Fed. Cir. 2024) (Reyna, Taranto, Chen)
• Google LLC v. EcoFactor, Inc., 92 F.4th 1049 (Fed. Cir. 2024) (Reyna, Taranto, Stark)
• Brumfield v. IBG LLC, 97 F.4th 854 (Fed. Cir. 2024) (Prost, Taranto, Hughes)
• Allergan USA, Inc. v. MSN Labs. Private LTD, 111 F.4th 1358 (Fed. Cir. 2024) (Lourie, Dyk, Reyna)
• Pfizer Inc. v. Sanofi Pasteur Inc., 94 F.4th 1341 (Fed. Cir. 2024) (Lourie, Bryson, Stark)