Federal Circuit grants rehearing en banc in Princo

On 13 October 2009 the Federal Circuit granted petitions by Philips and the U.S. International Trade Commission (“ITC”) for rehearing en banc of Princo Corp. v. ITC and Philips, decided by the Court on 20 April 2009 (see Newsletter 3/2009 p.  2). Petition for rehearing en banc by Princo was, however, denied.

In its earlier decision, which now has been vacated, the Federal Circuit affirmed the rejection by the ITC of a patent misuse defense based on alleged tying of non-essential patents with essential but remanded back to the ITC a misuse claim based on an alleged agreement on not licensing a patent for technologies that could develop into competitors for the CD-R and CD-RW standards. [Juha Vesala]