Latest Case: AntennaSys, Inc. v. AQYR Technologies, Inc. (Intellectual Property)

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AntennaSys, Inc. v. AQYR Technologies, Inc.

Docket: 19-2244

Opinion Date: October 7, 2020

Judge: O'Malley

Areas of Law: Intellectual Property, Patents

Two named inventors of a patent, directed to portable antenna positioners, assigned their interests to their respective employers, AntennaSys and Windmill. Windmill acquired an exclusive license to AntennaSys’s one-half interest in the patent. Windmill formed GBS to hold its interests in the patent and agreed to pay AntennaSys a royalty; if Windmill fails to meet certain minimum sales requirements, its exclusive license to AntennaSys’s interest becomes non-exclusive. The agreement provides that, if Windmill loses its exclusivity, either party may commence a lawsuit against “third-party” infringers. Windmill failed to meet those requirements; its license to AntennaSys’s one-half interest is now non-exclusive. AntennaSys sued AQYR, Windmill’s wholly-owned subsidiary, for infringement. Following claim construction, AntennaSys conceded that it could not prevail. The court entered judgment for the defendants. The Federal Circuit vacated. On remand, the district court should resolve factual issues pertaining to AntennaSys’s ability to bring its infringement claim against AQYR: whether Windmill waived the right to object to AntennaSys’s failure to meet 35 U.S.C 262's prerequisite that each joint owner of a patent may make, use, offer to sell, sell, or import the patented invention, without the consent of or accounting to other owners; whether GBS or Windmill holds or retains an ownership interest in the patent; and whether AntennaSys’s infringement suit is barred because of an express or implied license from the real patent owner to AQYR.