Fresh From the Bench: Latest Precedential Patent Cases

CASE OF THE WEEK

AlexSam, Inc. v. Aetna, Inc., Appeal No. 2022-2036 (Fed. Cir. Oct. 8, 2024)

In the Court’s only precedential patent opinion last week, a panel of the Federal Circuit granted appellant AlexSam a second chance to hold health-care giant Aetna accountable for alleged infringement of its patent claims concerning the use of payment cards in connection with health-care charges. 

The district court had dismissed AlexSam’s claims with prejudice on the pleadings, but the Federal Circuit vacated those aspects of the dismissal which were challenged on appeal.  In the process, the Court expressly held for the first time that a district court’s determination of whether a complaint allegation is “conclusory” for pleading purposes is subject to de novo review, without deference to the lower court’s findings.

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Editors:

Nika Aldrich, IP Litigation Group Leader, Schwabe

Jason A. Wrubleski, Shareholder